Aug 18, 23, 5:44 am
Last edit by: intuition
The real Q&A
What is spend actually?
Fare-component
Travel-extras*
*) Finnair.com says all add-ons are considered spend and linked listing includes hotels, cab and rentalcars. This is likely not true, but clarification is needed.
What is not spend?
"Taxes, fees and other airport- and servicefees"
On 2023-09-20 Finnair webpages changed to specify that everything under "Taxes, fees and charges" is considered not spend, expect something called "Extra fee". What this is and when it will be charged is unknown.
Award flights, regardless of how much you spend on add-ons, will give you zero spend and thus zero Avios and zero tierpoints.
Any spend onboard (eg food and drink items) are not considered spend with Finnair and earns zero.
Currency
Will spend be converted to EUR (or will there be earning tables in each currency)?
If you buy your flight tickets and travel extras in other currency than euro (for example, in USD, GBP or SEK), the total amount of your purchase (excluding taxes, other fees except for possible Extra fee, and other airport and service charges) will be first converted to euros and then multiplied with your tiers multiplier.
How will currency conversion be done (official exchange rates, IATA, Finnair internal?)
Needs clarification
When will currency conversion take place (time of purchase, time of point crediting, time of bookkeping)?
Needs clarification
Tiers
Tiers will have earning multipliers for AY spend - what are they?
Avios = spend x tier multiplier but the multiplying factor needs clarification
Basic 6x
Silver 7x
Gold 8x
Platinum 9x
Lumo 10x
Tiers will have multipliers for partner earnings tables - what are they?
They are said to be between 1,10 and 1,25 depending on tier. The exact multipliers are not disclosed, but likely they will continue as of today (silver 1,1, gold 1,15 and Platinum & lumo 1,25)
The wording on ay.com has changed. There is no longer a mention of tier multipliers for partners. Earning tables are still unknown, but wording on site now is
Tiers will have new thresholds - what will they be?
Same TP requirement for reaching a tier and for renewing a tier.
Finnair Plus Silver 15 000
Finnair Plus Gold 45 000
Finnair Plus Platinum 80 000
Finnair Plus Platinum Lumo 300 000 (of which 250 000 collected from Finnair)
Lifetime tiers - what are their thresholds, how will previous lifetime tier points be accounted for?
Previuis lifetime total will be converted as 3:2.
New tiers are
Gold 2 000 000
Platinum 3 300 000
Tier points
TP is said to be 1:1 with Avios. Will this be true for avios/tp earned on all partner airlines?
Needs clarification
The change-over
When is the change-over done?
Needs clarification
Finnair has communicated different vague things, "early 2024" and "first half of 2024". They have said dates will be anounced "later in 2023".
Finnair have now said end of January as a change over date (also indicating change-over will take several days of processing). The final announcement is said to be 1 month in advance. At this point, we are looking at committing announcement during Christmas break.
What will happen at change-over?
All existing AP and TP at that point will be reduced as 3:2 (-33%).
Tickets booked before change-over will earn according to old rules but with reduction 3:2 (-33%) - a table has been published with values seemingly rounded to nearest 10 avios.
Segment counter will be set to zero and disappear. Regardless of exact change-over date, this text from finnair.com indicates last evaluation will be held 31 January 2024:
What will awards cost?
Needs clarification
Award charts are vaguely said to be reduced by 3:2 on average, but unclear if this Finnair charts or partner charts or a combination. Some charts are not easily reduced 3:2
What is spend actually?
Fare-component
Travel-extras*
*) Finnair.com says all add-ons are considered spend and linked listing includes hotels, cab and rentalcars. This is likely not true, but clarification is needed.
What is not spend?
"Taxes, fees and other airport- and servicefees"
On 2023-09-20 Finnair webpages changed to specify that everything under "Taxes, fees and charges" is considered not spend, expect something called "Extra fee". What this is and when it will be charged is unknown.
Award flights, regardless of how much you spend on add-ons, will give you zero spend and thus zero Avios and zero tierpoints.
Any spend onboard (eg food and drink items) are not considered spend with Finnair and earns zero.
Currency
Will spend be converted to EUR (or will there be earning tables in each currency)?
If you buy your flight tickets and travel extras in other currency than euro (for example, in USD, GBP or SEK), the total amount of your purchase (excluding taxes, other fees except for possible Extra fee, and other airport and service charges) will be first converted to euros and then multiplied with your tiers multiplier.
How will currency conversion be done (official exchange rates, IATA, Finnair internal?)
Needs clarification
When will currency conversion take place (time of purchase, time of point crediting, time of bookkeping)?
Needs clarification
Tiers
Tiers will have earning multipliers for AY spend - what are they?
Avios = spend x tier multiplier but the multiplying factor needs clarification
Basic 6x
Silver 7x
Gold 8x
Platinum 9x
Lumo 10x
Tiers will have multipliers for partner earnings tables - what are they?
The wording on ay.com has changed. There is no longer a mention of tier multipliers for partners. Earning tables are still unknown, but wording on site now is
Tier point qualification and collecting loyalty currency on flights that are marketed or operated* by a partner airline, including Finnair codeshare flights, will continue to be based on the travel class, booking class and distance flown, but the distance flown will be changed from kilometres to miles.
Tiers will have new thresholds - what will they be?
Same TP requirement for reaching a tier and for renewing a tier.
Finnair Plus Silver 15 000
Finnair Plus Gold 45 000
Finnair Plus Platinum 80 000
Finnair Plus Platinum Lumo 300 000 (of which 250 000 collected from Finnair)
Lifetime tiers - what are their thresholds, how will previous lifetime tier points be accounted for?
Previuis lifetime total will be converted as 3:2.
New tiers are
Gold 2 000 000
Platinum 3 300 000
Tier points
TP is said to be 1:1 with Avios. Will this be true for avios/tp earned on all partner airlines?
Needs clarification
The change-over
When is the change-over done?
Needs clarification
Finnair have now said end of January as a change over date (also indicating change-over will take several days of processing). The final announcement is said to be 1 month in advance. At this point, we are looking at committing announcement during Christmas break.
What will happen at change-over?
All existing AP and TP at that point will be reduced as 3:2 (-33%).
Tickets booked before change-over will earn according to old rules but with reduction 3:2 (-33%) - a table has been published with values seemingly rounded to nearest 10 avios.
Segment counter will be set to zero and disappear. Regardless of exact change-over date, this text from finnair.com indicates last evaluation will be held 31 January 2024:
In late January 2024, Finnair Plus program will become spend-based. Starting from 1 February 2024 it is not possible to reach tiers based on the number of flights only. At the same time, we will remove the number of flights from members Finnair Plus profile.Until then, we will count all the scheduled Finnair or other oneworld airlines flights that you have flown. If you have flown enough qualified flights or collected enough tier points by 31 January 2024 to renew your current tier, you will maintain your tier. Or, if you have flown enough qualified flights or collected enough tier points by 31 January 2024 to qualify for a higher tier, you will move up to a higher tier.
Needs clarification
Award charts are vaguely said to be reduced by 3:2 on average, but unclear if this Finnair charts or partner charts or a combination. Some charts are not easily reduced 3:2
Finnair Plus to go spend-based and Avios
Aug 16, 23, 2:28 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2013
Location: HEL
Programs: AY Plat (OWE), SK EBG (*A Gold), KQ Plat (STE+), Accor Plat, Hilton Honors Gold
Posts: 3,043
Finnair Plus to go spend-based and Avios
New era begins:
https://www.finnair.com/en/finnair-plus/finnair-plus-changes
Surely my goodbye to Finnair Plus, can't imagine that the EUR-based earnings would be enough.
https://www.finnair.com/en/finnair-plus/finnair-plus-changes
Surely my goodbye to Finnair Plus, can't imagine that the EUR-based earnings would be enough.
Aug 16, 23, 2:47 am
#5
Moderator, Finnair
Join Date: May 2011
Location: MMX (CPH)
Programs: Eurobonus Diamond, QR Platinum, AY+ Platinum, A3*G, Nordic Choice Lifetime Platinum, SJ Prio Black
Posts: 13,924
Problem is, the avios crowd has billions to spend. QR joined avios earlier and all premium awards was hoovered in an instance.
not that ay is premium or anything but I imagine award seats will be even harder to get.
I'm sure they introduce a lot of novel redemtios though, that will help you waste points on pure nothing.
not that ay is premium or anything but I imagine award seats will be even harder to get.
I'm sure they introduce a lot of novel redemtios though, that will help you waste points on pure nothing.
Aug 16, 23, 2:48 am
#6
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Germany
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 370
That's it. It was nice while it lasted. But when going revenue-based with status points, there's no benefit of AY Plus over other Oneworld programs anymore.
While booking Oneworld codeshares might work, it's better to credit these with BA anyway. I do expect BA Executive Club to follow with revenue-based status points, however.
While booking Oneworld codeshares might work, it's better to credit these with BA anyway. I do expect BA Executive Club to follow with revenue-based status points, however.
Aug 16, 23, 2:50 am
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2013
Location: HEL
Programs: AY Plat (OWE), SK EBG (*A Gold), KQ Plat (STE+), Accor Plat, Hilton Honors Gold
Posts: 3,043
I find it a wet rag in our faces by AY that they are not disclosing the point accrual details along with this announcement.
Showing absolutely zero respect towards your current customers.
Even BA showed comparisons with old and new ways of accrual with their revenue-based Avios announcement (albeit they were not the fairest comparisons).
Showing absolutely zero respect towards your current customers.
Even BA showed comparisons with old and new ways of accrual with their revenue-based Avios announcement (albeit they were not the fairest comparisons).
Aug 16, 23, 2:57 am
#9
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Switzerland / Estonia
Programs: AY+ Platinum, BAEC Silver, airbaltic VIP, HH Diamond, Radisson VIP, IHG Diamond Elite
Posts: 6,433
FAQ totally useless too 
:
:
Will there be more seats also for travel class upgrades?
Business Class and Premium Economy seats can also be used for travel class upgrade
Will there be more seats also for travel class upgrades?
Business Class and Premium Economy seats can also be used for travel class upgrade
Business Class and Premium Economy seats can also be used for travel class upgrade
Aug 16, 23, 2:57 am
#10
Moderator, Finnair
Join Date: May 2011
Location: MMX (CPH)
Programs: Eurobonus Diamond, QR Platinum, AY+ Platinum, A3*G, Nordic Choice Lifetime Platinum, SJ Prio Black
Posts: 13,924
I find it a wet rag in our faces by AY that they are not disclosing the point accrual details along with this announcement.
Showing absolutely zero respect towards your current customers.
Even BA showed comparisons with old and new ways of accrual with their revenue-based Avios announcement (albeit they were not the fairest comparisons).
Showing absolutely zero respect towards your current customers.
Even BA showed comparisons with old and new ways of accrual with their revenue-based Avios announcement (albeit they were not the fairest comparisons).
Lovely.
Aug 16, 23, 2:59 am
#11
Join Date: Jul 2020
Location: HEL
Programs: SK EBG, AY+ Gold (until 06/24), BT VIP
Posts: 64
They do not mention the date when this improvement is launched. Only that it happens sometime in early 2024. So no point for me to book any flights any more for the purpose of earning status as I am not sure when I should do it.
Aug 16, 23, 3:00 am
#12
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Switzerland / Estonia
Programs: AY+ Platinum, BAEC Silver, airbaltic VIP, HH Diamond, Radisson VIP, IHG Diamond Elite
Posts: 6,433
Aug 16, 23, 3:02 am
#13
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2013
Location: HEL
Programs: AY Plat (OWE), SK EBG (*A Gold), KQ Plat (STE+), Accor Plat, Hilton Honors Gold
Posts: 3,043
Schengen lounge to move to new premises:
Finnair will also invest in new, more spacious lounge premises on the Schengen side of Helsinki Airport, Finnair’s home hub. The lounge will move to new premises in 2024 and feature a dedicated area for top-tier members. The current Schengen lounge will continue to serve customers until the new lounge opens.
Aug 16, 23, 3:10 am
#15
Moderator, Finnair
Join Date: May 2011
Location: MMX (CPH)
Programs: Eurobonus Diamond, QR Platinum, AY+ Platinum, A3*G, Nordic Choice Lifetime Platinum, SJ Prio Black
Posts: 13,924
If the Qr implementation is anything to go by, that is exactly what people will need to do.
The availability BA has for BAEC members is not bookable from partners like QR You must transfer avios a a BAEC account to redeem.
The availability BA has for BAEC members is not bookable from partners like QR You must transfer avios a a BAEC account to redeem.
