Using Finnair Avios to Book American & Alaska Flights

FinnAir Plus is one of the lesser known points programs that has some very practical uses for US domestic travel, as well as some international routes. 

It’s a relative newcomer as a sweet spot because it only recently became easy to amass points to use on FinnAir. 

On March 9, 2024, FinnAir adopted Avios as the points currency of its loyalty program and opened new possibilities for earning and redeeming points. 

This article focuses specifically on how to book domestic American Airlines flights and Alaska Airlines flights using Finnair Avios. 

Background Info For Beginners

When booking with points and miles, you can often use one airline program’s miles to book a flight but actually fly on a different airline.

This is possible because airlines partner with other airlines and have reciprocal agreements. Airlines often release a limited number of seats for their partner airlines to book as award bookings. Not every flight or every route will have partner award availability, but many do.

This FinnAir redemption is an intermediate or advanced redemption, but it can be a great way to save some points – especially if you’re traveling to Hawaii!

If you’re just getting started with points and miles, I recommend downloading our Travel Points 101 guide and tuning into our podcast – Points for Normal People — starting with Season 1, Episode 1. In Season 3, we are focusing on domestic points redemptions. 

Pros and Cons of Booking Partner Award Tickets

Even though these flights are going to be booked on American or Alaska Airlines, we’re going to book them through Finnair.

Because Finnair, American, and Alaska Airlines are all part of the Oneworld Alliance, you can use Finnair Avios to book onto American or Alaska (as well as several other airline partners).

Why would we do this? Why not just book our American flight through American? You certainly can do that! But there are two main reasons to book with FinnAir instead.

Pro: Cheaper prices

First, you might find that the exact same flight is cheaper when booked through FinnAir.

Booking partner awards is where you can often find award “sweet spots,” or high value redemptions. In some cases, like with Finnair, it takes some extra work to book, but the point savings can be worth it. Especially if you’re booking several tickets!

Pro: Easier to earn the points

Another reason to book these flights through Finnair, is that it is much easier to earn Avios than it is to earn points with Alaska Airlines or American Airlines.

It is possible to earn both American and Alaska miles through opening their respective credit cards, by using their shopping portals, by flying on the airlines. But none of the major banks like Chase, Citi, American Express, or Capital One allow you to transfer their points to American. And right now there is only one backdoor option to transfer points to Alaska (via Hawaiian) which we expect to close soon. 

Now most of those major banks don’t transfer directly to FinnAir either. But if you earn any kind of Avios (British Airways, Qatar, Aer Lingus, and Iberia all share the Avios currency) — you can then transfer those to FinnAir. And every single major bank transfers to one of the Avios partners. 

See the end of the article for screenshots on how to do this. 

Even better: the banks often run transfer bonuses where instead of points transferring at a 1: 1 ratio, you might earn a 20% bonus! That means 1,000 bank points might convert to 1,200 Avios. 

Con: Multi-step process to find availability and book

This is not a good redemption for a beginner who just wants to book a flight in a few minutes. To book this way, you’ll need to spend time finding availability on AA’s website and then using another site to confirm that those flights are bookable by partners. Then you’ll need to book via FinnAir’s chat. After that, you’ll need to pay via email. It’s a lot more convoluted than some other flight booking options. 

Con: High Cancellation Fees

If you book a flight via FinnAir and decide not to take it, you’ll have to pay a 50 euro cancellation fee per person. Your Avios will also be stuck in the Avios program until you use them. 

Pricing for Domestic Flights Booked Through Finnair

Finnair has partner award charts that make pricing really clear and simple. You can see exactly how many points you need to and from each destination. The prices shown are for a one-way ticket.

Here’s the Finnair partner award chart for flights on Alaska Airlines:

And here’s the chart for flights on American Airlines:

Taxes and Fees

Taxes and fees for flights within the US (including to and from Hawaii) are $5.60 each way. FinnAir doesn’t have any additional add-on taxes. 

Sweet Spot Highlight: Hawaii

As you can see from the Award charts, flights from the US to Hawaii are 13,500 points each way when flying on Alaska Airlines and 15,000 points each way flying on American Airlines.

It’s actually cheaper to fly from North America to Hawaii on American Airlines (15,000 points) than it is to fly on American within the Continental United States (16,500 points)!

For Alaska Airlines, most of the available flights to Hawaii are from the West Coast.

But with American, there is much more availability. You can book flights from East Coast airports (non-stop or with a connection) and still pay just 15,000 miles each way.

This is one of the lowest point options for getting to Hawaii from the East Coast! Especially when you can transfer bank points to Avios during a transfer bonus!

Other Sweet Spots

It costs 16,500 Avios each way for American flights within the Continental US and Canada. For Alaska flights it is just 11,000 Avios.

From the US to Mexico and the Caribbean it costs 15,000 Avios for American flights and 12,500 for Alaska flights. 

From the US to Central America it costs 15,000 Avios for American flights. 

On many routes within the Continental US/Canada, it might cost fewer points if you have American or Alaska miles to purchase your ticket. But if you don’t, this is a solid option for American and Alaska flights anywhere in the US — especially for longer flights. 

It’s a strong option when:

• You can find available flights (scroll down for tips)
• You don’t have AA or Alaska miles to book the same route
• You are pretty sure you’re going to take the trip (if you cancel there is a 50 Euro fee per person)
• You’re flying a route that’s more expensive in cash

And if you can transfer points over to Avios during a transfer bonus, you’ll pay even less. 

Video Walk Through: Searching and Booking

In this video, I walk through searching for a route from Des Moines, Iowa to Seattle — and also Des Moines, Iowa to Honolulu. 

I show how to

• Filter on the AA website for just American flights
• Use the calendar view
• Cross-check Qantas availability
• Chat with FinnAir to confirm pricing

I also show that sometimes more expensive flights on AA.com are actually released to partners. 

Bonus Video: Using Seats.Aero to Search

Using Seats.Aero can cut your time if you’re looking straight for Qantas awards and then using that info to check on FinnAir. 

Use AA.com to Find Available Flights

The hardest part about booking this way is that you can’t search for availability directly on the Finnair website.

If you search, it will tell you nothing is available– even when the flight is actually bookable.

You have to find availability elsewhere, go back to Finnair to confirm, and then book the ticket.

Searching for American Airlines Flights on AA.com

Since we can’t search directly on FinnAir, you’re going to have to use a few different methods to find flights you can book with FinnAir Avios. 

For most people, we recommend starting at AA.com.

That’s because it is free to search and there’s a nice, 30 day calendar view to see a lot of dates at once. 

But keep in mind: not every American flight will be bookable via FinnAir. We’ll show you how to use the information you find to proceed to the next step — which is double checking the availability. 

Select “Redeem miles” then input your departure and arrival cities, preferred dates, and number of passengers. It’s usually easiest to search for one way at a time, but you can search round trip as well.

Important: you need to filter your results to only show itineraries with American flights. The website will show you mixed airline awards that include Alaska or Hawaiian. You only want AA flights. Click Advanced/Multi City Search to get to this option

At the bottom of the page, you’ll see the option to select only American flights. 

When the results populate, you can browse available flights or go to the calendar view.

If you’re flexible, the calendar view is the easiest way to see which dates have flights available.

You’re looking for lower priced flights. On the calendar, flights that are marked in green (the lowest priced flights) are the ones typically released to partners. But this is a sliding scale!

Broading speaking, you’re going to look for this pricing:

• For flights to Hawaii–look for flights that cost 22,500 miles each way.
• For flights within the US–look for flights that cost 12,500 or less. These used to be called “Saver” awards, but American Airlines doesn’t call them that anymore. But sometimes flights that are more will be bookable via FinnAir and sometimes flights that are less won’t be bookable. 

Important caveat (it’s good news!) — In our search, sometimes we found that flights as high as 18,000 points each way were able to be booked with FinnAir Avios. So this isn’t a perfect system but will help you narrow it down. 

 

To book the flight through Finnair, make sure that the flight is actually on American Airlines (or Alaska Airlines) and not another partner. You can see the carrier under the flight details. As far as we tested, you can’t book a flight that includes one leg on American and one leg on Alaska. 

You can see it says AA here which means this flight is operated by American Airlines. 

To save time later on your chat, you’ll also want to cross-check to see if it has been released to other oneworld partners, which you can check directly on Qantas. You could also use Seats.Aero or PointsYeah.com (see below for screenshots). 

Note: We don’t recommend checking British Airways to confirm availability as they are known to show “phantom” availability. That means they sometimes show award space as available even when it’s not actually available to book.

Searching for Alaska Airlines Flights on AA.com

You can also use the American Airlines website to find Alaska Airlines flights that have been released to partners (these should be bookable by Finnair).

Start the search the same way, then filter the results to show Alaska Airlines only. 

You can search on Alaska Airlines as well, but it’s harder to tell which flights are released to partners that way.

Double Check Availability on Qantas.com

Before starting the booking process with FinnAir, we recommend you double check that the flight you found is showing as bookable on other oneworld partners. The easiest way to check this is to use Qantas’s website.

You’re checking on Qantas because like FinnAir, it’s a oneworld partner — so if American allows Qantas to book onto a flight, it probably is allowing FinnAir the same. 

Using Qantas (free to use)

It’s easy to double check availability on Qantas. You could have started with the Qantas website but it only shows one week at a time so it’s a little easier to use the American website at first. 

Just navigate to Qantas and you’ll be able to search for flights. Make sure the Rewards toggle is on. 

When you look at flights, make sure they are all on American or all on Alaska. At this point, I don’t think FinnAir agents can book mixed partner itineraries. 

The below screenshot shows one flight on American and one on Alaska. 

Look for connecting flights that are both on the same airline. 

If you can find the flights you want on Qantas, there is a good chance the FinnAir rep will be able to find them, too. Jump down to the section on booking!

Alternate method to search: using award search tools

The search tool websites search a lot of airlines at once! They can help you save time and you could skip the first step of looking on AA.com. FinnAir won’t show up on these search tools so you’ll be looking for which AA or Alaska flights are showing up as bookable via Qantas. 

Seats.Aero (Paid version works best)

If you want to search a lot of dates or cities at once, Seats.Aero is a powerful tool that can help you do that. But really the paid pro version is what you’ll need to make this efficient. 

If you don’t want to subscribe to the paid version, you should use the method above (searching on AA.com and then on Qantas.com).

On Seats.Aero you can click “Search” at the top of the page and then run a search for any routes you’re looking for.  Note that you can only search 60 days out if you have the free account. If you have a pro account, you can search up to one year out and have more options to filter. 

If you have the paid version, you can also filter to show only certain carriers. For AA, you want to enter AA, for Alaska you’d enter AS. 

For my search, I could see Qantas down at the bottom. That’s a pretty good indication it will be available on FinnAir. I can click the little “i” at the far right to see the flights it is showing. 

When I click the little “i” I see these options. I could then click to see them on Qantas’s website, too. 

 

 I could also use flexible dates in my search and then filter to see only flights bookable with Qantas. 

This tool can also be useful if you’re flexible on what airport you depart from, and/or what airport you arrive at. These will let you search multiple options at once. It’s a much faster way to search multiple airports and airlines without having to input each option one by one. 

If you’re looking for more tips on using these tools, we have an in depth video tutorial for Seats.Aero in our free course. We also go over how to use the Routes function which can be helpful. And don’t miss the video walkthrough of using Seats.Aero above in this article!

PointsYeah.Com (free but misses some availability)

PointsYeah.com will let you search further out for free. So you could also use this to search to look for AA flights bookable on Qantas. 

In our tests, we found that sometimes Points.Yeah was missing availability or showing extra availability that wasn’t ultimately bookable by FinnAir agents. The availability seemed to match the best when we found AA flights priced close to the older “saver” levels and then cross checked that with Qantas availability. 

Then with PointsYeah, you can filter to only see Qantas Frequent Flyer. You’re trying to force a view of when American is releasing seats to a partner. 

Now my search shows that I would be flying on American (on the left side in the image below), but using Qantas to book. 

Again, this tool can also be useful if you’re flexible on what airport you depart from, and/or what airport you arrive at. These will let you search multiple options at once. But we’ve found it wasn’t showing us availability with 100% accuracy. 

I’ve also found the same issue with point.me which is why I don’t use or recommend that tool anymore. 

But pointsyeah.com can be a good place to start.  It’s a much faster way to search multiple airports and airlines without having to input each option one by one. 

If you’re looking for more tips on using these awardtools, we have video tutorials for both in our free course. 

Booking Process

You’ve found availability and confirmed that you can see that availability on Qantas. Now you’re ready to attempt to book. Don’t transfer points yet! Wait until you’ve confirmed availability directly with FinnAir. 

For this redemption, you’ll need a Finnair Plus Account.

You can’t book certain partner awards on the Finnair website so you’ll need an agent to do it for you. You can call Finnair to book but I don’t recommend this because they charge a fee to book over the phone.

The best way to book these flights is to use the online chat feature. You can find the chat box on the bottom right-hand corner of any page on the Finnair website.

To start the chat, you’ll put in some basic information like your name, e-mail address, and what the chat is about. If you’re logged in to your Finnair Plus account, most of this information will be prefilled for you.

A virtual agent will ask you some questions. What you want to do is book an award flight with a partner airline, so you’ll select those responses as you progress through the chat.

In this example, I clicked on “Book an award flight” and then “Award flights for partner airlines”. Finally, you’ll choose “Award flight for other partner airlines”.

From here, it will ask a few more questions before transferring you to an agent. You’ll put in the airline you’re looking at (either American Airlines or Alaska Airlines for domestic flights), then it will ask for the departure and arrival cities, followed by the dates.

For dates, you’ll be entering them in with international format so the DAY goes first, followed by month, followed by year. 

So October 31, 2025 would be entered 31/10/2025.

Once you put in all of that information, you’ll be entered into the queue to wait for an agent. Wait times vary. It could be a few minutes, or it could be an hour or more. The chat will tell you your place in line, so you have an idea of how long it will be.

The nice thing is that you can keep working on other things while you wait in line. The tab on your web browser will show when a new message appears, so you don’t miss it.

Confirm Availability with a Finnair Agent

Once you are connected with an agent, ask them to confirm availability for your preferred flight. Make sure to tell the agent how many seats you need. 

It’s a good idea to have a few dates and flights in mind, that way if your first choice isn’t available, you have an alternative ready to ask the agent about. Agents are only able to check one date at a time. 

You can book either roundtrip or one-way. 

Transfer Points

You can use bank points from any of the major bank programs to book these flights. If you have:

• Chase Ultimate Rewards®
• American Express Membership Rewards
• Capital One Venture Miles
• Citi ThankYou Points

These all can be moved to FinnAir Avios. Even smaller programs like Bilt and Wells Fargo let you transfer to Avios. See the end of the article for screenshots on this. 

Just note that Capital One is the only bank that transfers directly to Finnair Plus.

But if you transfer points to any of the airlines that use Avios, you’ll be able to move them over to FinnAir. This includes:

• British Airways
• Qatar Airways
• Aer Lingus
• Iberia

You can move points within any of your own Avios accounts at any time for free. If you have points in another Avios program like British Airways or Qatar Airways, you can move them over to Finnair.

All of the major banks transfer to at least one Avios partner.

American Express, Bilt Rewards, Capital One, Chase, and Wells Fargo all transfer to British Airways at a 1:1 ratio.

American Express and Citi transfer to Qatar Airways at a 1:1 ratio.

Transfer bonuses are offered frequently, which can help you get even more points!

Again — before transferring any points, it’s always a good idea to confirm availability, so make sure you do that first! Once availability is confirmed, you can go ahead and transfer your points. 

Point transfers are usually instant, so you can do this while the agent is waiting. Finnair is not able to put reservations on hold, so if you can transfer points while the agent waits, that’s the best option.

If the point transfer takes a while and you’re not able to book it immediately (which does happen on occasion) just restart the chat as soon as your points post and proceed with the booking then. Since Finnair uses partner award charts, the price won’t change.

There is always a chance that those open seats could be sold out by the time you go back to book the trip, so try to book as soon as possible after your points post.

Make The Booking

Once the miles post, you can proceed with the booking. You’ll need basic information for each passenger, such as name and birthdate. Passport information can be added later if needed.

Once the agent reserves the flight(s), you’ll receive an e-mail with a link to pay. The agents should not ask you for any credit card information. Don’t give that out in the chat!

Use the link in the e-mail to pay for your flight. You’ll have 5 hours to complete payment after the agent makes the booking.  

If you prefer, you can do this whole process over the phone, just be aware that Finnair does charge a fee to book over the phone. There’s no extra fee to book using the chat.

For a quick overview of these steps when you’re ready to book, download this quick reference guide.

Finnair Cancellation and Change Fees

Finnair charges a 50 Euro fee per ticket to change or cancel an award flight. No changes are allowed after the journey has started.

In case you need to cancel, miles are refunded as long as you cancel at least 24 hours before your scheduled flight. Taxes and fees are not refunded.

Visit the Finnair website to see more detailed information on cancellation and change policies.

How to Get Finnair Avios

Capital One is the only bank that transfers directly to Finnair Plus. However, since Finnair uses Avios, that opens up a lot more options!

You can move points within your own Avios accounts at any time for free. That means if you have points in another Avios program like British Airways or Qatar Airways, you can move them over to Finnair.

All of the major banks transfer to at least one Avios partner.

American Express, Bilt Rewards, Capital One, Chase, and Wells Fargo all transfer to British Airways at a 1:1 ratio.

American Express and Citi transfer to Qatar Airways at a 1:1 ratio.

Transfer bonuses are offered frequently, which can help you get even more points.

How to Connect Your British Airways Account to Finnair

To move Avios between one program and another, you’ll need to first connect your accounts.

Log in to your Finnair Plus account and go to your profile. Select “balance and transactions,” then scroll down until you see “Transfer Avios between your accounts.”

Follow the steps to link your accounts. You’ll be redirected to the British Airways site where you’ll need to sign in with your British Airways account. Once your accounts are linked, you’ll be able to move Avios to/from either program at any time, for free.

Important Note: At this time, British Airways is the only Avios partner that directly connects to all the others. That means if you have Qatar Airways Avios or Iberia Plus Avios, you’ll need to move those to your British Airways account first, and then to Finnair.

You can connect any of your Avios accounts to your British Airways account through a similar process.

Final Thoughts

Finnair Avios offer a valuable, but somewhat complex, way to book domestic American and Alaska Airlines flights, particularly for travel to Hawaii. While finding availability and booking requires extra steps, the potential point savings can be significant, especially when leveraging Avios transfer bonuses. If you’re comfortable with a multi-step process and are looking for cost-effective US travel, Finnair Avios are worth exploring.