Buying miles and points can represent a great deal, especially for premium air travel. Loyalty programmes advertise these sales as discounts or offer a bonus on purchased miles. Finnair has now launched its latest (and perhaps only) promotion on purchased miles), valid through September 18, 2023, 2359 Eastern European Time (EET). Finnair is offering up to a 100% Bonus on purchasing miles in this round of the promotion, which is a tiered one. Also, Finnair is moving into the Avios ecosystem in 2024, so this could be a cheap way to buy Avios.

Buy Finnair Plus Points at a 100% Bonus.

Through Monday, September 18, 2023, Finnair Plus is offering up to a 100% bonus on purchased points. The promotion is tiered, as follows:

• Buy 5,000-19,000 points, get a 40% bonus
• Buy 20,000-49,000 points, get a 60% bonus
• Buy 50,000-99,000 points, get an 80% bonus
• Buy 100,000-200,000 points, get a 100% bonus

The usual price for Finnair points is Euro Cents 1.2875 per point purchased (1.15 INR/1.4 US Cents). However, when you are buying the full 200,000 points through this promotion, you will receive a total of 400,000 points for 2,575 Euros (2,766 USD / 2,29,549 INR), which works out to a rate of Euro Cents 0.65 (INR 0.57/US Cents 0.69) per Finnair point purchased.

Which credit card should you buy United MileagePlus miles with?

Typically, these point purchases are processed through Points.com and not directly by the hotel or airline. However, you will almost always pay in USD/EUR/GBP, not INR. So, the best cards to earn a bonus are Citi Prestige, Axis Reserve or American Express Platinum Charge Card, as these cards offer an international spending bonus. Beyond these, look at any card that provides a reduced foreign exchange spend conversion or one where you want to meet minimum spend requirements.

Why Buy Finnair Plus Points?

Because they are cheap, that is the starting point. In 2024, Finnair Plus will transition to Avios as its rewards currency, making it possible to convert your Finnair Plus Points into Avios in a 3:2 Ratio. If you are going to buy to convert into Avios, you can look at it as acquiring Avios for US Cents 1.04/ INR 0.855 / Euro cents 0.975  per Avios. But that option will involve holding on to these points for a while.

Also, you can use Finnair Plus points for upgrades from Economy to Business Class, which cost anywhere between 10,000 to 60,000 points one-way, depending on the distance flown. For intercontinental travel, remember you will need a minimum of 25,000 points for an upgrade.

Also, just buying points for redemptions will help because you can get an India – Finland flight for just 95,000 points (INR 54150). There is a minor surcharge (40 Euros) for flights from or to India and different fuel surcharges for other destinations.

Bottomline

Finnair Plus has launched a promotion on purchased points, offering up to a 100% bonus when buying points, allowing members to acquire points for 0.69 US cents /INR 0.57 each. As Finnair transitions to Avios in 2024, you can see this as a way to acquire Avios cheaply. There are also many other use cases for these points if you intend to travel in the Finnair network as well (upgrades/redemptions, etc.). As usual, do the numbers before you buy.

What do you think of the Finnair Plus Points promotion? Anyone buying?

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