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Fly Finnair Business Class to Europe for 62,500 points each way. With recent award chart devaluations (looking at United MileagePlus, and now Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, which just increased the price of ANA Business Class award redemptions) it's more important than ever to plan ahead in order to make the most of one's frequent flyer miles and points. You can remain in Finland and journey to Lapland to see the Northern Lights (your best chance of seeing them is on clear nights in Autumn, from September-November and early Spring, March until early April) or easily venture elsewhere in Europe (see below some of the cities Finnair flies to nonstop from Helsinki).
How to Book Finnair Business Class
We recommend signing up for a free Finnair account for two reasons: if you select Finland as your location, you can reserve two business class award seats for selected dates (partners only have access to one) and you'll also have access to more calendar dates, since Finnair's award calendar opens 359 days in advance, compared to 331 days in advance for American AAdvantage 330 days in advance for Alaska Mileage Plan. To get Avios into your Finnair account, either transfer points directly from Capital One, or transfer your British Airways Avios to Finnair Avios. Ensure that your name, address, and email address match exactly. When logged into British Airways Executive Club, select the “Combine my Avios” option and scroll down the page to select Finnair Plus, where you'll be prompted to log in.
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Don't book using British Airways Avios, because taxes are much higher than with Finnair. That said, if you only need one award ticket and your date is available, you can reserve with 58,000 AAdvantage miles.
Most of the award availability is on Finnair's routes from Chicago ORD, Dallas DFW, Los Angeles LAX, and Miami MIA to/from Helsinki HEL, although there are a few dates on Finnair's seasonal route between Seattle SEA and Helsinki. For example, here's Helsinki to Seattle in Finnair Business Class for two for 125,000 Finnair Plus Avios + EUR 309.14, which is 62,500 points + EUR 154.57 per person.
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Finnair Business Class: Best Seats
If your aircraft is an A330, we recommend trying to secure one of the “throne” window seats that have additional space on each side: 2A, 4A, or 6A. If those aren't available, then we suggest the window seats that are closest to the window: 2L, 4L, or 6L. If it's important to sit together, then we suggest 3A/3C or 5A/5C, since that way one of you will have a window seat.
On Finnair's A350-900, with a 1-2-1 configuration and direct aisle access across all rows, all seats are the same, but we suggest avoiding the first and last rows of the main business class cabin (rows 1 and 8) and also row 9 if your A350 has a second smaller business class cabin, since these are closest to the lavatories and galleys.
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Nonstop Flights from Helsinki
Finnair serves many European destinations from Helsinki, including Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Budapest, Copenhagen, Dublin, Edinburgh, Geneva, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Milan, Munich, Reykjavik, Riga, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna, Zurich, among others.
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