Finnair Plus - Are there ever fare sales ex UK?

Does AY ever has fare sales ex UK (like the BA January sale), or is a fare in R (the cheapest fare class) now likely to be the same as a fare in R at any other time?

I need to arrange flights to Osaka and to Seoul for May next year, and Finnair is a good OneWorld choice because of the competitive price and full AA miles on cheap fares.

Currently LHR-KIX is from £684 in R, and LHR-ICN from £710 in O.

Although there is availability to Seoul in R in April, there is currently no availability in R in May, but I would guess that this might be opened up at some point?

I need to decide whether to buy early, or wait for better fares (and I don't have much flexibility with dates). Any hints from previous experience appreciated!

Does AY ever has fare sales ex UK (like the BA January sale), or is a fare in R (the cheapest fare class) now likely to be the same as a fare in R at any other time?

I need to arrange flights to Osaka and to Seoul for May next year, and Finnair is a good OneWorld choice because of the competitive price and full AA miles on cheap fares.

Currently LHR-KIX is from £684 in R, and LHR-ICN from £710 in O.

Although there is availability to Seoul in R in April, there is currently no availability in R in May, but I would guess that this might be opened up at some point?

I need to decide whether to buy early, or wait for better fares (and I don't have much flexibility with dates). Any hints from previous experience appreciated!


I can't directly answer your question about the frequency of Finnair sales, but those fares don't seem ridiculous for flights to Asia around that time of year. I do remember seeing some dirt cheap Finnair fares to Asia last year (e.g., £400 to Hong Kong and £350 to India), but those were for the dead of winter to HK and during the monsoon to India IIRC.

Since I notice that you're EXP on AA, don't forget that R will earn you 1.5 EQPs on AA--the same as if you were flying Full-fare Y or B economy. Surely that's worth paying for now or would you rather run the risk of a cheaper fare coming out which will save you £50-£100, but book into Z or another bucket that only gives you 0.5 points? Z vs. R would be a difference of about 11,000 points! If I were you, I'd grab the R flights to KIX now and then hold out for either a sale or R to ICN....

Finnair has whole the time a kind of fare sales. I believe they choose the locations based on reservations on flights. The prices you have got, specially from LHR-HEL-ICN, not only from HEL are good. If you dont have flexibility on dates, I would go for these alternatives. The price you have got from LHR, is more or the same as from HEL.

Since I notice that you're EXP on AA, don't forget that R will earn you 1.5 EQPs on AA--the same as if you were flying Full-fare Y or B economy.
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As a Finnair card holder, I feel unfairness when reading that you as AA card holder are getting 1.5 EQPs on R flights. We only get 0.25 points.


Code- Business 200%- Turist 100%- Turist 50%----------- Turist 25%
AY---- C D I J-------- Y B H------ V L N S Q O K M P T---- Z R A W G

I used to do well on AY R fares when I could also get also get the anomalous 1.5 EQPs with the W ("web") fares on AA. Now that AA web fares have gone with the harmonisation with BA, I am back to qualifying on miles. :(

Searching my email, I just noticed that AY currently has sale fares to Beijing, Shanghai and Singapore (W fares, but 0.5 EQPs), and there was a similar offer last September. There was a cheap offer to Seoul in March 2010, but not 2011.

So it seems that Finnair are selective about their sales, unlike the wide seasonal sales by BA and AA.

Annoying that although there is currently a valid R fare to Seoul in May next year (which I think is the kind of fare sales that Laajo refers to), currently there is no availability after April. So I think I will be patient for a while.

Note that AY also has a fair bit of special Business class fares they make available through large consolidator travel chains in the UK eg Trailfinders.

Is there a certain online site in the UK that's most useful for getting business class special fares on AY?