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Finnair Junior account for US-based child (or AA, AS, BA?)
Trying to decide whether to open a Finnair Junior account for a US-based 2 year old. Apparently miles credited will not expire until 3 years after the child ages out at 18.
No plans to take Finnair flights at the moment, so I'm asking about Finnair's program merely as a place to credit BA, AA and other OneWorld (and other partner?) flights only, and then to redeem on BA or AA. According to wheretocredit.com AA O-class earns 100% miles on Finnair. So that seems the best place to credit miles from JFK-LHR which would earn 25% on AS and BA and a small, fare-based amount on AA itself. Am I correct? Is there a catch here? JUNIOR PLUS BENEFITS A 50% discount on the normal point cost of Finnair Classic award flights. Award flights for Finnair Plus Junior members must be booked through the Finnair Plus Service Center on +358 9 818 888. Finnair Plus points collected during Junior Plus membership are valid for the entire duration of the membership, and do not expire until 3 years after moving to the Finnair Plus membership level. |
Am I right in thinking that a JFK-LHR AA flight would earn about 5500 points (km equivalent of 3452 flight miles) on Finnair?
An AA economy r/t JFK-LHR ticket redeemed through Finnair is 130k points. A BA economy r/t JFK-LHR ticket shows as 132k Finnair points. (Why the discrepancy?) Either seems like worse value than AA's own redemptions (takes 11.8 r/t flights JFK-LHR to earn one r/t ticket)... What are the best uses of Finnair points? And can a child account redeem miles for another person like a relative, or only for themselves? On AA a frequent flyer can use their points for anyone else they choose. |
It is true that currently, all AA-coded flights in economy earn 100% on AY+, although this may certainly change by the time your child has turned 18.
In general, I would say partner redemptions are poor value for AY+ points. The best uses are for awards or upgrades on AY metal. If you don't mind flying via HEL, e.g., JFK-HEL-LHR, you can get a r/t junior award for 50% less than an adult award, i.e., 62500 points (+taxes and fees). For intra-European and Finland domestic awards, no YQ is charged on awards. Another way to get decent value for the AY+ points is for upgrades - 50000 points for a one-way long-haul upgrade from any economy booking class. More details on the AY+ points usages can be found here and here. For other discussions on best usages of AY+ points, have a look here and here. |
Thanks for the reply. A few more questions. 1. Can the child account be used to redeem tickets for other relatives or just themselves? 2. I see Finnair lets you transfer points between accounts. Can you transfer points from an adult to a child account and then spend the points on a child redemption? 3. If you can do such a transfer, do the transferred points have the same expiration (until child is 21) as the points the child earns themselves? 4. Can you buy points in a child's account (obviously using a relative's credit card since the child wouldn't have their own credit card)? 5. If so do those purchased points have the same expiration rules (until age 21)? |
Originally Posted by salut0
(Post 29283831)
2. I see Finnair lets you transfer points between accounts. Can you transfer points from an adult to a child account and then spend the points on a child redemption? |
Originally Posted by temppa
(Post 29284111)
No need to transfer points to child account, you can redeem junior award (50% discount on AY) from your own account as long as child has AY account. Can't be done online.
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Originally Posted by salut0
(Post 29283831)
Thanks for the reply. A few more questions. 1. Can the child account be used to redeem tickets for other relatives or just themselves? 2. I see Finnair lets you transfer points between accounts. Can you transfer points from an adult to a child account and then spend the points on a child redemption? 3. If you can do such a transfer, do the transferred points have the same expiration (until child is 21) as the points the child earns themselves? 4. Can you buy points in a child's account (obviously using a relative's credit card since the child wouldn't have their own credit card)? 5. If so do those purchased points have the same expiration rules (until age 21)? 1. Technically, yes. Generic rules says points can be redeemed for As junior redemptions must be made over telephone I am pretty sure someone will react if a child account is used for random awards. I believe, but don't know for sure, they do maintain records of who is guardian for the child in the junior account to avoid abuse. They always keep records of points used for someone else (for example using the FQTR field in the ticket). Also, the normal direction of flow is from parent to junior account (parents redeeming their own points for their children). 2. Yes 3. We can't really tell, since you can't see expiration date for each point batch. But I lean towards a yes. 4. I assume yes, haven't done it. Since you can buy points for anyone (buy & gift in one swoop) it would be odd to not allow you to directly pay for points in someones account, but if you can't for some reason, gifting would be the solution 5. I assume yes but haven't done it personally. |
Checking the AY+ rules, they seem to have updated the rules for awards and now allow booking awards for anyone. The old family requirement is gone. See section 4.2
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Originally Posted by salut0
(Post 29280965)
Apparently miles credited will not expire until 3 years after the child ages out at 18.
Just wondering if after the the recent switch for adults (from a hard expiry of 3 years... to 18 months from last activity) anything has changed for kids' accounts as well. Are we still looking at 3 years from the child's 18th birthday or is it now 18 months (or maybe expiry on their birthday? ;) )? |
I believe it was said that juniors now are protected until 18 y.o and then normal expiration rules apply. So if no flights, points would expire at 19,5 y.o.
I did a quick search of AY pages but coud not find any specific about this. |
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