Tag Archives for finnair.
Finland’s government is seeking a €7.6 million fine from Finnair after investigators said the airline gave misleading information in a case examining how it restricted the display of cheaper fares on online travel agencies. The probe is still ongoing, but regulators say the airline’s responses obstructed their work—creating the unusual scenario of a government moving to penalize its own majority-owned carrier.
Finnair just canceled 40 flights because seats washed with water lost their critical fire-resistance certification, suddenly making them unsafe to fly. Thousands of passengers are now stranded after this bizarre cleaning mistake grounded the airline’s planes.
Finnair, based in Helsinki, is a member of the oneworld alliance. It is even part of the transatlantic joint venture between American Airlines and British Airways, Iberia, and Aer Lingus. But until recently its frequent flyer program wasn’t very useful.
The airline has linked up with British Airways and other partners to use Avios as its currency, now guarantees award availability for at least two business class seats on its own flights when schedules are first released if you’re redeeming Avios, and has revised its award chart to offer some fantastic values.
Finnair business class, Los Angeles – Helsinki, is available via Iberia (a transfer partner of many programs) for just 4,650 points one way.
Finnair will adopt Avios as its frequent flyer currency next year. That’s the same currency as IAG airlines British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, and Vueling, and also that Qatar Airways adopted last year. This will occur “in 2024” and no additional details are provided. That’s great, since some of you bought a whole lot of Finnair points.
American Airlines partner and oneworld member Finnair is offering up to a 100% bonus on purchased miles, and buying miles also earns elite status miles. Through December 27 you can buy miles for an award ticket and become a mid-tier or top tier elite without flying.
EU261 is supposed to provide compensation to passengers for flight cancellations and extreme delays. Instead these passengers delayed by Finnair wound up with a judgment against them after the company they used to pursue their claims went bankrupt and the carrier pursued reimbursement of its legal expenses.
American’s oneworld partner Finnair is offering up to a 100% bonus on purchased points and will give you elite qualifying miles equal to 25% of the miles you buy, too. What’s more, the Finnair Plus program lets you convert miles into elite qualifying miles as well. As a result you can buy that mid-tier elite status easily and access American’s lounges, or even buy top tier oneworld emerald status.
Frequent flyer programs are really two separate and distinct efforts under the same banner: recognition and reward. Reward is mileage earning and redemption. Recognition consists of the (elite) benefits offered.
In the U.S. airline programs are generous by world standards in offering unsold domestic premium cabin seats as upgrades. However they aren’t as generous with service-oriented benefits.
I recently shared the strange story of how Baltimore’s Friendship Airport (“BAL”) became BWI even though that code was already taken by Bewani, Papua New Guinea.
A lot of aviation codes have unique histories. Southwest Airlines couldn’t have SW — that belonged to Seaborn World at the time (it’s now Air Namibia). So they took WN which approximates Western and ultimately works nicely because it can be said to stand for We’re Nuts! Although sadly Southwest no longer serves peanuts.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
