You Can Book Finnair Business Class with Alaska Mileage Plan Miles. Previously, it was possible to earn Alaska MileagePlan miles when flying paid Finnair flights, but it's now possible to redeem Alaska miles for Finnair awards, per Nick. A benefit of booking one way awards with Alaska Mileage Plan is that you can build in a stopover at the carrier's hub, so in the case of Finnair, Helsinki. Helsinki is close to St. Petersburg, Russia, which would be a great short visit, with a stay at the Four Seasons St. Petersburg and visits to the Hermitage Museum (include a visit to the General Staff Building to see the extensive Impressionist collection) and Peterhof, Peter the Great's summer palace with even lovelier fountains than Versailles.
The redemption rates aren't as good as for Cathay Pacific Business Class, however, so if Cathay Pacific is available for your dates I'd recommend redeeming for it instead. Alaska hasn't yet published the Finnair award chart, but via searching, business class awards are:
- Finnair Business Class Europe to Asia or Asia to Europe: 60,000 miles one way
- Finnair Business Class U.S. to Europe or Europe to U.S.: 70,000 miles one way
Finnair Business Class Award Availability to Asia
Keep in mind that it's possible to book Cathay Pacific Business Class between Europe and Hong Kong for 42,500 miles each way, and Cathay Pacific First Class between Europe and Hong Kong is 70,000 miles each way, so a much better deal than Finnair if you can find award availability.
A few quick searches for two passengers for Finnair Business Class revealed roughly two days a week of availability on the Helsinki to Tokyo Narita route for many months, typically midweek, although there was no business class award availability at all for October for 2 passengers traveling together.
On the other hand, award availability for Helsinki to Bangkok for two passengers was extremely scarce until March, when awards were available Sundays and Mondays, although there was a good amount of availability in May.
There was next to no Finnair Business Class award availability Helsinki to Singapore for two passengers until May 2019, while Helsinki to Hong Kong for two in Finnair Business Class was virtually non-existent until February, when a handful of dates were available, with none at all in March, and in January, April and May, only 3 dates available in each month.
Finnair Business Class Award Availability to the U.S.
Finnair flies to New York JFK, but unfortunately its routes to Chicago and San Francisco are seasonal and aren't operated during the winter months. The award rate of 70,000 miles each way is the same as United MileagePlus, which charges 70,000 miles each way for partner business class, for example Austrian Business Class, Brussels Business Class, SWISS Business Class, etc. But you can use fewer miles via Aeroplan, which charges 55,000 miles each way.
Unfortunately there is virtually no Finnair Business Class award availability, even for one passenger, let alone two. The below is for July 11, 2019, and will probably already be booked by the time this post goes live, or shortly thereafter. There also isn't award availability on the seasonal nonstop between Helsinki and San Francisco, which would have been better value than JFK-Helsinki, given the length of flight.
Finnair Business Class A350-900
If there's a choice of flights, for example on the Helsinki to Tokyo Narita route, I recommend booking Finnair Business Class A350-900, which has flat bed seats by Zodiac Aerospace in a 1-2-1 reverse herringbone configuration similar to Cathay Pacific Business Class.
The A330 Business Class seats are in an alternating 2-2-1 and 1-2-1 configuration (similar to Brussels Airlines Business Class), and solo travelers will want 2A, 4A or 6A “throne” seats if they can select them.
If you've flown Finnair Business Class, how was your experience?
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