mechu

Still trying to figure out the AY plus program and hoping to get some help with the following questions:

1. The points required for round trip redemption to Asia and North America is shown as 200,000 in the award chart. Not sure if the award chart is assuming the origin to be Europe. How about a round trip redemption between Asia and North America via Europe? How would that be priced?

2. See there's a one way redemption possible with slightly more miles. Is the one way redemption option available also for a Junior award?

3. Will the AY elite tier bonus apply for non Finnair operated flights with AY codes and when using the finnair plus calculator can I select Finnair as the airline to see the miles that I will earn for these codeshare flights?

intuition

Yes, but there is no junior discount on oneways. So a junior would redeem at that same rate.

intuition

Yes, there will be elite tier bonus on flights marketed as AY flights (AY flight number), as long as they are operated by a oneworld member or associate.

I'm not sure you can use the calculator. Points will be based on distance in km, and if you use gcmap.com you'll get almost the right number. Then multiply by class-of-service bonus and then by AY-elite-tier bonus.

For example, flying SIN-SYD in business on AY5915 (operated by BA15) as platinum tier yields 15 690 points.
(Calculated with GC-distance: 6290 km x 2 x 1,25 = 15 725)

WilcoRoger

1/ My guess is that it'll be 2x200k, even if it's ticketed on one ticket. But CS will know for sure.

3/ As long as it's AY coded flight, you'll get the tier bonus

mechu

Not very familiar with codeshares. AY plus is the only program that got me interested to find out more My basic understanding is that a carrier chooses to codeshare certain routes with other carriers to expand their "network". I am assuming this means that the flights have to be marketed and ticketed by AY for the elite bonus to apply i.e. buying a SIN-SYD ticket from BA will not work?

Courmisch

I think that the base tier earnings and tier bonus applies to all flown Finnair-marketed flight tickets, regardless of operaror - including unaffiliated operators.

mechu

Have a few more questions after doing more research (couldn't find clear answers for them):

1. Are there any restrictions on fare class or fare type (campaign/basic/value/pro) of original booking if one is using 50,000 points or the AY+ LH vouchers to upgrade a LH segment?

2. For AY operated flights, the points earned seem to be fixed based on certain zones and not the actual distance flown e.g. HEL-HKG and HEL-SIN will both earn 12,000 points on full economy fare Y. 12,000 points seem quite a fair bit more than the distance flown as well. Is this the earn rate for pro fares which has a 150% factor applied?

3. I am quite confused with the campaign/basic/value/pro classification. Saw some really attractive economy fares from ARN/OSL-HKG where the value fare is just marginally more but supposedly earn 100% AY points. Checking the AY+ calculator using the indicated R/O fare class shows an earn rate of 4,000 points though which looks more like an accrual rate of 50%. Is there something I am not understanding correctly?

cistavoda

No restrictions on fare class or type for upgrades.

Correct. Try the calculator.

The YBHKMPT... class is for the base fare. The Light/Value/Pro adds on top of that. I think there's a post by intuition somewhere with more details about this. So the points are awarded according to the Light/Value/Pro thing.

ffay005

Yes. By paying only some dozens of euros more, you will earn 100% instead of 50%, both for European as well as Asian flights. For longhauls, it's very good value.

intuition

1 - No

2 - All Finnair operated flights earn according to zones, that only aproximates the distances. Domestic and Northern Europe 1000 points, Europe 2000 points, Longhaul 8000 points. From these numbers, uses the COS bonus, that ranges from 0,25 to 2. In your example, PRO fare is factor 1,5, so 8000 becomes 12000

3 - the campaign/basic/value/pro classification is to make things easier. The idea is that you are not supposed to check the exact fare class. Each category has a COS bonus, normally as: Campaign 0,25 / Basic 0,5 / Value 1,0 / Pro 1,5 / Business 2,0

These categories are called ticket types. They vary slightly from market to market so you need to research for your market.

For some destinations, no ticket types exists at all. Then, and only then, should you use the fare class in the calculator to find the COS bonus.

And yes, Value ticket can sometimes be only slightly more expensive and still earn much better. This is because the ticket types are an add-on - if you buy that R fare, you can chose to get it as a Value or as a Basic but both tickets will be priced against R fare. This in not something you need to know or understand - just learn the ticket types and go from there.

mechu

Thanks and really appreciate the comprehensive explanations guys Have a much better understanding now of AY+ and think I am ready to book my first flight. Just thinking about when I should signup as a AY+ member and start my tracking period based on my upcoming travel plans

mechu

Btw I know child fares do not earn any tier points but I hope they still accumulate at least the normal distance based AY+ points as a non elite adult fare would?

The child discount is not much really and I would much rather earn the points and pay the same fare.

intuition

Child and youth fares earn same number of points as adult fares.

Technically, a child with a Finnair Junior account will also earn tier points, but the junior account has no tiers and does not have a membership year, so it might seem pointless. However, juniors do accumulate lifetime tier points.

mechu

Intuition you seem to have all the answers! ^

It's a bummer that junior account has no tiers but at least they are counting towards lifetime tier points and not going entirely to waste.

Mattered to me since gold/platinum can only invite one guest to the lounge meaning I can't invite both my wife and daughter (she's turning 2 soon) to join me if I am the only one with status. Oh well just means that I have to somehow convince my wife to go on some of these mileage runs with me then

Aviating

You are allowed to bring your children less than 18y to the Finnair lounges as Platinum or Gold in addition to the one guest.

This applies to all "Finnair" designated lounges, but not to the OW lounges which are not designated as Finnair lounge.

I my experience those OW lounges are usually flexible saying that the rules do not allow to bring the children in addition to the guest, but makes most of the time an exception and lets in the whole family.

Ps.

When you get Platinum you can of course gift a Gold to your wife...