Originally Posted by
ffay005
...
2. Unless your tickets are superexpensive, better to book them no later than early January. Example: book HEL-HKG-HEL in J Classic now and fly FEB23, you earn 40 000 points as Plat. These will be converted to 26 667 Adios late January. Book HEL-HKG-HEL in FEB23 and fly FEB23 for 2500 EUR + taxes, and you earn 22 500 Adios.
Originally Posted by
mpkz
Math is correct but I don't see any HEL-HKG-HEL roundtrips on Google Flights for under 3.3k euros right now (almost 100% fare according to Expedia).. Then again, you cannot lock in the spend-based points now so you risk a higher price in the future.
Now, OP never said HKG as destination, but if we roll with that example and just slightly moves outside the box, HKG is available in that time frame for half the price, eg. from ARN on Star alliance. Perhaps this program change is a strike of genious by Finnair as people are rushing to lock in Finnair flights at high prices to secure a platinum card!