You Now Need a Lot More Finnair Avios to Book American Airlines Awards

A sweet spot for redeeming partner miles to fly on American Airlines has become less advantageous, in some cases by as much as 50%.

That’s because Finnair has updated its award chart for American Airlines, which now shows award prices that are higher by as much as 50%.

Let’s look at this devaluation and what it means for U.S.-based flyers.

Finnair’s New Award Chart for American Airlines Awards

Finnair is one of the airlines that still use an award chart, meaning that award seats go for a fixed price, rather than fluctuate based on demand. That’s the good news. The bad news is that you now need to use significantly more points to book flights on American Airlines using Finnair Avios.

Before this devaluation, which was first reported by Danny the Deal Guru, you would redeem 11,000 Finnair Avios to book an economy award within the continental U.S. and Canada. The price for that same award now is 16,500. That’s a 50% jump!

For first class in the same region, the one-way price in Finnair Avios jumped from 30,000 to 40,000, a more minor but still significant 33% devaluation.

Finnair uses a different award chart for each partner airline. Its website shows the new chart for American Airlines, reflecting the devalued prices:

Note that the amount of Finnair Avios required is less for some redemptions on Finnair’s other U.S. partner, Alaska Airlines, according to the specific Alaska partner chart on the Finnair site:

You’ll Need to Call or Chat Online to Book

Finnair is a member of the Oneworld alliance, along with American and Alaska. Despite this, you cannot book award flights online on those 2 U.S. carriers with Finnair Avios.

According to the Finnair site, you can book award flights online on 6 Oneworld airlines only: British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Qantas, and Qatar Airways.

For all other partner airlines, including American and Alaska, you can use the Finnair Plus online chat or call. Your best bet is to chat with a Finnair rep rather than calling Finland and incurring additional surcharges for booking an award over the phone. If you’re looking to book an American flight with Finnair Avios, look for the chat icon on the bottom right corner of the Finnair website.

Earning Finnair Avios

Finnair ditched its own loyalty currency and adopted Avios in March of this year. That means it is now part of the vast Avios ecosystem, with other major international airlines including British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, Vueling, and Qatar Airways.

You can transfer your Avios between Finnair and British Airways at a 1:1 rate. You can’t transfer between Finnair and the other Avios-using airlines, but you can go around this impediment by transferring from British Airways to each of the rest of these programs.

Finnair does not have a U.S. credit card, but Capital One miles transfer to Finnair Avios at a 1:1 ratio. That is the best bet for U.S. residents who may need to earn Finnair Avios fast and cannot transfer them from other Oneworld airlines.

Final Thoughts

Airlines can reduce the worth of their points by increasing the number of miles required for award bookings. This frequently impacts what are known as “sweet spots,” which represent particularly valuable redemptions using an airline’s loyalty currency to secure seats on a partner carrier.

This particular devaluation makes it less convenient to book seats on American Airlines with Finnair Avios, but fortunately it may not affect a lot of U.S.-based flyers.