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One of the many nice aspects of Finnair Plus frequent flyer program is that it allows members of all levels to buy Tier Points (elite status credits) using Avios.
There are a few simple rules surrounding how many Finnair Tier Points you can buy and how often you can buy them, so I’ve covered these below, and because it’s isn’t immediately obvious how to go about buying Tier Points with your Avios balance, you’ll also find a very basic step-by-step guide to buying Finnair Tier Points with Avios below.
Finnair Plus elite status targets
To earn status with Finnair Plus, these are the Tier Point targets you’re expected to hit:
- Finnair Plus Silver (OneWorld Ruby) – 15,000 Tier Points
- Finnair Plus Gold (OneWorld Sapphire) – 45,000 Tier Points
- Finnair Plus Platinum (OneWorld Emerald) – 80,000 Tier Points
- Finnair Plus Platinum Lumo (OneWorld Emerald) – 300,000 Tier Points*
*Of which 250,000 must collected from flights with Finnair
The basic rules
- One (1) Tier Point costs three (3) Avios
- You can only buy Finnair Tier Points once per collection year (i.e. your elite year)
- Basic members and Silver elites can buy up to 7,500 Tier Points
- Gold elites can buy up to 22,500 Tier Points
- Platinum and Platinum Lumo elites can buy up to 40,000 Tier Points.
You can transfer Avios into a Finnair account to purchase Tier Points (from, for example, another Avios-using program like British Airways Club), so you don’t have to use Avios earned through Finnair to buy Tier Points.
How to buy Tier Points with Avios
The least obvious part of buying Tier Points from Finnair is where you go to buy them.
Applying logic, you may assume that your Finnair Plus account would be the best place to start, but it isn’t.
To start the process of buying Finnair Tier Points, head over to finnairshop.com.
Step 1 – Login using the link at the top of the page
Step 2 – Open the hamburger menu in the top left of the screen
Step 3 – From the list of links which should now be showing, click on “Finnair Plus Services”
Step 4 – You should now see the “Exchange Avios to Tier Points” option appear to the right of the main menu options. Click on this option.
Step 5 – You should now be faced with the “Exchange Avios to Tier Points” page.
Use the slider to select how many Avios you’d like to use or simply type in the number of Tier Points you’d like to generate in the white box.
The cost in Avios (+ a €10 service fee) will be shown and once you’re satisfied that you’re generating the Tier Points you need, click on “add to cart”.
In the example above, I’m using 19,500 Avios to buy 6,500 Tier Points.
A little annoyingly, this page doesn’t show you the number of Tier Point that you’ll have after the Avios to Tier Point conversion, so as you can only use Avios to buy Tier Points once in a collection year, be very careful not to make a mistake here!
Step 6 – To check out, click the cart icon at the top of the screen.
Step 7 – Check that the details in the shopping card are correct and, assuming they are, click “continue to payment information” and complete the payment process as you would any other online transaction (you may need to pass 2-factor authentication).
After you’ve paid, you’ll see a confirmation screen and you’ll receive a confirmation email.
That’s it. That’s how you buy Finnair Tier Points with Avios.
How long before the Tier Points credit?
The good news is that whatever Finnair Tier Points you buy with Avios, they are credited to your account almost immediately and you should be able to see them in the transaction listing of your Finnair Plus account.
More importantly, if your new Tier Point balance has pushed you up to the next elite status level, your new elite status is also updated almost immediately.
Here is my Finnair Tier progress before and after I purchased 6,500 Tier Points.
My Platinum Elite card was showing in my Finnair Plus account as soon as I had purchased the Tier Points.
Bottom line
Finnair allows the members of its Finnair Plus frequent flyer program to use Avios to buy between 7,500 and 40,000 Tier Points per collection year and as I have found, this can be a very useful and economical way to get yourself to the elite status level that you’re aiming for if you have Avios to spare.
If you’re browsing the Finnair website, it’s not immediately obvious where you have to look to buy Tier Points with your Avios balance or how to go about making a purchase, but, hopefully, the basic steps outlined above will help.
