Finnair revamps loyalty program with move to Avios
Finnair is moving to adopt Avios as its new loyalty currency from 2024
Finnair has announced a series of improvements to its Finnair Plus loyalty programme, including free messaging onboard.
Partnering with IAG Loyalty, Finnair will adopt Avios as its loyalty currency from early 2024 as it moves to a new spend-based platform.
“The move to a spend-based program rewards customers directly for their spend, just like many retail loyalty programs do. These moves allow us to leverage the full potential of our loyalty program and make it attractive to a wider audience,” said Ole Orvér, Finnair’s Chief Commercial Officer in a recent statement.
The program will feature new milestone benefits to enable members to receive extra rewards, such as additional upgrade benefits, when reaching certain point limits within their existing tier. Finnair Plus members will be able to shop online with thousands of leading brands via shopping.ba.com and with IAG Loyalty’s growing list of partners around the world that range from BP, Nectar, and Uber in the UK, Areas airport retail, and Cabify in Spain and Bilt in the US.
Members will be able to move from one tier to another based on the money spent on Finnair’s flights and travel extras. Tier limits will be revised to reflect the switch to Avios and the new spend-based earn of tier points. Collecting tier points and loyalty currency on partner-marketed or -operated flights will continue to be based on the travel class, booking class, and distance flown.
Finnair will communicate the exact date for the changes to the members later this year.
To encourage passengers to join the Finnair Plus program, members will now also receive complimentary internet access for messaging as a new benefit on Finnair’s short-haul European flights operated with the narrow-body Airbus fleet, regardless of their tier status.
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.
As part of the changes, Finnair will also increase the number of award seats — the most popular award among members — and guarantee at least four award seats on Finnair flights within Europe and eight on Finnair long-haul flights.
