xenole

Need to pop over to Helsinki around the 17th-19th October but prices seem to be a lot higher than I want to really pay. Around £677 give or take a bit.
Have had a look at a few redemption options and nothing.

Is there any way of searching European destinations to HEL without trying every one manually? Expertflyer?
Tried a few like AMS, ZRH, FRA, TXL etc., but nothing for days.
Direct flights are not available for a week from LHR (or until at least April from MAN).

Considering MAN-BLL and then seeing what can be done from there as it would be nice to fly on the Avro? they use for that route. Could even have a day at Legoland

Alternate options are to not fly with OW I suppose. Can fly via AMS with KLM etc if push comes to shove. i.e. £112 with SAS on the 17th; £135 with KLM; £247 with BA; £350 with AY

lorcancoyle

Google flights - should support multiple starting points

rossmacd

You could try the Find Me a BA fare thread:

Find me a good British Airways fare - ticket clinic [Beta / draft: BA FARES ONLY]

polochick

Are you looking for J or Y? You can get Y for £222 on AY LHR-HEL and HEL-ARN-LHR.

https://flights.app.goo.gl/BzVc7

mattyw

Half term starts in a lot of schools that weekend, at least that's the excuse I'm using with girlfriend as to why it's too expensive to take her away anywhere

The_Bouncer

Skyscanner allows you to search by country to a particular destination, e.g. GB-HEL, DE-HEL.

xenole

Been looking at a number of routings. Just wanting to position so as cheap as possible really. Also, don't want to have too many paid for short haul flights that would count towards the double Avios promo (would rather have something like 10k Avios for LHR-LAX than a few hundred for LHR-Europe)
Happy to spend a day exploring a new city as well as got a spare couple of days to get there for the 19th.

No RFS from say ARN-HEL so around £61 in taxes for that + 6k or so Avios.

Could take an overnight ferry from Stockholm to Helsinki for around £75+ but seems easier just to fly SAS / KLM from MAN-[CPH/ARN/OSL/AMS]-HEL for £112-£136. Not sure how I would survive the lack of lounge access having no status with them ;(

ahmetdouas

No Amex Platinum to help soften the blow?

xenole

Unfortunately not, but a Boots meal deal will suffice food and drink wise. Unless of course I know someone who works for the handling agents.....

Short of any last minute reward availability appears (not sure if I could force a double Avios reward seat if push came to shove?), it looks as if I'll be taking yet another non-OW flight and saving £130+ in the process.


.

tuonopepper

Assuming LHR as a start point... Could LHR/MAN/HEL work, the Finnair flights I've been on from MAN are rarely full.

Indulging your BLL thinking, you could then transfer to Aarhus and take Sunair up to Stockholm Broma where you could connect to Finnair from Broma to Helsinki.

xenole

Well MAN-HEL on AY is coming in at (one-way in Y):

£271 on the 17th/18th for the late departure. £323 for the early one on the 17th; £409 on the 18th; £578 on the 19th. No rewards until April from what I saw.
Knock £30-£40 off for a return.

TedToToe

It’s a Dornier 328JET on MAN-BLL, isn’t it?

polochick

Seriously if you're positioning why make life difficult for yourself. If I were you I would just pay the £200 and enjoy the lounge. I don't think AY European flights count towards the double avios promo so only the last leg (ARN-LHR on BA) of the (LHR-HEL-ARN-LHR) flight I linked to earlier should count.

Meriahven

You could get the ferry from Stockholm cheaper if you book a ”one day in Helsinki” cruise from Viking Line or Silja Line and don’t use the return leg. And the cruise is somewhat an experience also.