BREAKING: Transfer your Avios to and from Finnair and British Airways Executive Club

I previously covered the basics of Finnair adopting Avios as its currency in this interview (a transcript of the interview will be coming shortly).

However, until now, you could not transfer Avios between Finnauir and BA, making it rather pointless for those who have BA Executive Club accounts. Today, Finnair has announced that you will shortly be able to transfer Avios between accounts from Wednesday, 22 May 2024.

From this date, you can link your Finnair Plus and British Airways Executive Club accounts and transfer your Avios between them. We don’t know the exact mechanics of this, but it is expected to be similar to Qatar with instant transfers once you link your accounts. This means that your opportunities to collect and use Avios are significantly wider than previously, as you will have access to British Airways Executive Club redemptions but also Finnair Plus awards and partner network.

Transferring Avios between your accounts is free of charge, and you can do it as often as you wish. To be able to link our accounts you need to enable two-factor authentication. Finnair recommends you download the authentication app for a smoother experience.

It will also mean you can potentially transfer Avios from Iberia or Qatar to Finnair by linking them to your British Airways Executive Club and transferring into BA before moving them to Finnair.

So why would you want to transfer Avios to Finnair?

• Upgrades – Currently you can’t use BA to upgrade on Avios. Now you will be able to buy a cash economy fare and upgrade using Avios. 
• Extra partners to redeem on.
  • Here is a selection of the most relevant additions:
    • Two more airlines Swedish BRA (Braathens) Regional Airlines and Juneyao 
    • ALL Accor 4,600 Avios = 1,000 ALL points
    • Scandic hotels
    • Sokos hotels
    • IHG – details not yet released
• Extra availability –  Finnair guarantees a minimum number of seats for Avios redemption on almost all Finnair flights, with two business class and two premium economy award seats on most long-haul flights. The exceptions are flights that do not pass through Helsinki (such as from Stockholm) and flights to/from Doha. 
• Substantially lower taxes and charges on Avios redemptions – compared to flying with BA or even booking via BA.com, taxes and charges can be amazing value with prices starting from around £60 return in business class on long haul if you book from Helsinki and aren’t travelling to US or Japan, although those are still cheaper than with BA at around £400-550 return in business class. 

Here is the Finnair award chart in Avios:

You can find more details about redeeming and earning Avios with Finnair here.