AY points sale with status

[Mattg]

Is there any risk of finnair not being part of OW in future?

Anything is possible but I think it's more likely for Finnair to go out of business than leave Oneworld (i.e. not very likely).

 

[Guvner]

Are there? I mean if I don’t fly aussie domestic, or to PNG? The rest of the award charts, save possibly some AY metal seem quite expensive. There is the multi airline distance based award… but I’d hate to see the taxes and fuel surcharges on that

Just looked at HND>SYD return which is 220k + 37,260￥ on JL with AY points and 180k + 37,530￥ with QF points. So not a massive difference.
Interestingly AY has more frequent availability (JL51/52).

 

[patrickw]

There are some sweet spots though..

Hope this isn't a silly question but aside from longer domestic J flights within Aus, have you or anyone seen other sweet spots? Int'l Y isn't fantastic, and neither is the value of Int'l J on partner airlines (Syd > HND at 2c/pt...)

Also is there to see award availability in an easier way/one go? I've just been doing trial and errors for city pairs + dates at this stage.
Can't find award availability for Syd > Americas at the moment...

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Hope this isn't a silly question but aside from longer domestic J flights within Aus, have you or anyone seen other sweet spots? Int'l Y isn't fantastic, and neither is the value of Int'l J on partner airlines (Syd > HND at 2c/pt...)

Also is there to see award availability in an easier way/one go? I've just been doing trial and errors for city pairs + dates at this stage.
Can't find award availability for Syd > Americas at the moment...

I’m siding with you… great for aussie domestic. International is pricey. Comparing AY’s redemption rates to Qantas’ might make them not so bad, but QF has some of the highest rates anyway.

I’d probably be searching for itineraries through other sites… Qantas, Alaska, American. If you find something you can cross check with AY and see if they have it too. Although as guvner states AY might have some additional availability.

 

[Spazmos]

Yeh not great international business reward availability, especially coming out of Melbourne. And if you are paying for emerald status you would want to either fly out of melb or syd for their international first lounges. Does anyone know once you are finnair platinum do you have access to more reward seats on oneworld airlines?
Also if anyone is interested found a sweet spot on a MEL-CNS business reward on qantas. AY = 36,000 points + $100.55AUD where QF = 41,500 points + $43AUD

 

[puchu]

Did this today. Note that the promo ends 27/12.

 

[Notyourbag]

With QR extending their Platinum status match I decided not to opt in for this. The OW availability to USA with QF and AA was also a factor.

 

[SYD]

Too late for this promo but when they do it again here’s a step by step example.

Finnair Emerald Status Purchase With Upgrade Certificates & Miles

For the second time, Finnair launched a buy miles (calls them points) offer (read more here) that allowed members to earn elite qualifying points in the process that ended yesterday. The piece that I…

loyaltylobby.com

 

[itsjackson]

It looks like flights within Australia have gone up 2k points, but the awards table hasn't been updated to reflect this yet. Could this be the points devaluation everyone's been talking about?

 

[itsjackson]

I just purchased and got my platinum straight away , looks like you don't need to convert 3:1 for additional tier miles , so I still have 400,000 points to redeem.

This happened to me as well, but upon checking today it looks like I've been downgraded to gold sadly. I had a feeling it was too good to be true.

 

[Guvner]

Yes, you need 150,000 for Plat. You have 100k, you acquire 50k.
50/150 meets the rule.
I agree it's a bit unclear, but it works.

Just did it: xmas present to self.

View attachment 267387
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Some on FT are saying that the Gold Gift gets another 12 mths in Dec 2022 as well (as does the Plat).

Just wanted to provide an update on the outcomes of this purchase late last year.
On top of the benefits I listed earlier:

• 1 x OneWorld Emerald (QF Plat) until Dec 2023 with a soft landing to OneWorld Sapphire (QF Gold) until Dec 2024
• 1 x Sapphire to gift until Dec 2023
• 250k points for awards on OneWorld airlines (you could take 4 x QF MEL>CNS return in Business [total 240k AY points] which has a revenue equivalent of approx. $10k at today's fares)
• 4 (Intra Europe) short haul upgrade vouchers for the initial Sapphire status
• 4 short haul and 2 long haul (Inter Continental) upgrade vouchers in 2022 and again in 2023 for the Emerald status
• 4 short haul upgrade vouchers in 2022 and again in 2023 for the gifted Sapphire

I have since also Status matched to UA Premier Platinum, Marriott Platinum and the Velocity Gold/Plat challenge using the AY status. I should easily obtain VA Platinum for 12 months given the reduced earn requirements.

The UA match (3 month trial) gives me lounge access and free seat selection for a few European short hauls on Aegean coming up in October.

The Bonvoy status gave me an upgrade at the Westin in Dubai next month to a club suite for 4 nights . That alone would be $1200 value.

I’ve used the points for QF MEL-PER return in J x2 and have MEL-CNS x2 in J booked. (Flights alone justified the purchase cost)

For my upcoming QR flights I can access the MEL FLounge and I was able to select any seat in QSuites as a OWE.
My partner uses her gifted Sapphire for QF lounge access when flying Y for work. 2 years QF gold for free basically.
She has also been approved for the VA challenge.

All up I think I’ve extracted reasonable value less than a year after purchasing the points and status for $4100.

Posted this not to brag, but for AFFers to consider the possibilities should AY offer this again.

 

[azza007]

Thank you Guvner for posting about your experience.
I have also gotten some good value as well so I will give some details as to my experience thus far.
Like Guvner I also took part in the AY points with status sales however I took part in the 2020 & 2021 sales. By doing so it gave me quite a substantial amount of AY points as well as OWE until the end of 2023.

With AY I currently still have the 8SH and 2LH upgrade vouchers as well as 1 Finnair Gold status to gift which all expire at the end of the this year.

I booked an overseas trip in business class (first time) later this year to Paris for my 40th.
I used Qantas points and snagged a business class seat on QF1 when Qantas did a release earlier in the year. Thanks to my OWE status when booking I was able to select 13A a window seat in the smaller business class cabin on the Qantas A380 which wouldn't have been possible being a lowly Bronze with Qantas. I look forward to visiting the QF F lounges in Sydney & Singapore on my way over.

Using AY points I did manage to book an economy award (45000 points) Sin-Hel-Cdg and upgraded both legs by using a Long Haul & Short Haul voucher. I did end up cancelling this booking to avoid separate bookings to Sin and then to Cdg.

I'm looking at another overseas trip next year and will organise so that I can manage a visit to the Finnair Platinum Wing which will only be possible while I remain OWE.
I might try to use some upgrade vouchers.

Earlier this year I used AY points to book for 3 x J QF A330 Syd-Per return. Theses flights would have been taken anyways except this time in business class (first time) for around the cash price of economy. Will likely have the same trip next year as well. Total outlay points & taxes for one trip above roughly $2.5K compared with normal cash price $15K.
This leaves me with other uses for my Qantas points.
I have also flown syd-mel & syd-bne return in Y (cash) with access to the QF domestic business lounges instead of having no lounge access at all.

I successfully matched to Star Alliance Gold thanks to the Air NZ match a while back. However unfortunately had to cancel the trip & was unable to make use of or successfully complete the match.

I might make a weekend trip to NZ next year and just in case will look around for a Star Alliance Gold status match beforehand (trial period only is fine).

Using my Finnair Platinum status I recently applied for the VA Discover Gold status match only days before the Switch-A-Roo promotion. I should be successful and will easily get the 80SC required to keep VA gold.

I have also emailed Finnair using the email address for Platinum members with reasonably prompt responses both times. Neither required urgent attention.

Just another person who also took part in the AY buy points/status sales & who has also gotten some reasonable value so far from taking part.
Another data point for people to consider should AY offer this again.

 

[tristankwilson]

Just wanted to provide an update on the outcomes of this purchase late last year.
On top of the benefits I listed earlier:

• 1 x OneWorld Emerald (QF Plat) until Dec 2023 with a soft landing to OneWorld Sapphire (QF Gold) until Dec 2024
• 1 x Sapphire to gift until Dec 2023
• 250k points for awards on OneWorld airlines (you could take 4 x QF MEL>CNS return in Business [total 240k AY points] which has a revenue equivalent of approx. $10k at today's fares)
• 4 (Intra Europe) short haul upgrade vouchers for the initial Sapphire status
• 4 short haul and 2 long haul (Inter Continental) upgrade vouchers in 2022 and again in 2023 for the Emerald status
• 4 short haul upgrade vouchers in 2022 and again in 2023 for the gifted Sapphire

I have since also Status matched to UA Premier Platinum, Marriott Platinum and the Velocity Gold/Plat challenge using the AY status. I should easily obtain VA Platinum for 12 months given the reduced earn requirements.

The UA match (3 month trial) gives me lounge access and free seat selection for a few European short hauls on Aegean coming up in October.

The Bonvoy status gave me an upgrade at the Westin in Dubai next month to a club suite for 4 nights . That alone would be $1200 value.

I’ve used the points for QF MEL-PER return in J x2 and have MEL-CNS x2 in J booked. (Flights alone justified the purchase cost)

For my upcoming QR flights I can access the MEL FLounge and I was able to select any seat in QSuites as a OWE.
My partner uses her gifted Sapphire for QF lounge access when flying Y for work. 2 years QF gold for free basically.
She has also been approved for the VA challenge.

All up I think I’ve extracted reasonable value less than a year after purchasing the points and status for $4100.

Posted this not to brag, but for AFFers to consider the possibilities should AY offer this again.

May I ask how you utilised the AY Platinum to match to Marriott Platinum?

 

[Guvner]

I matched AY plat to UA Premier Platinum, then used the Marriott partner program to obtain Marriott status.

United Promotions

promo.united.com

United MileagePlus | Marriott Bonvoy

marriottbonvoy.unitedmileageplus.com

 

[neeyuese]

I matched AY plat to UA Premier Platinum, then used the Marriott partner program to obtain Marriott status.

United Promotions

promo.united.com

United MileagePlus | Marriott Bonvoy

marriottbonvoy.unitedmileageplus.com

United Premier Gold, Platinum and 1K receive complimentary Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status not Marriott Platinum.

 

[Guvner]

United Premier Gold, Platinum and 1K receive complimentary Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status not Marriott Platinum.

OK

 

[Notyourbag]

Is this deal back for 2022?

 

[RealtimeY]

I have also received some excellent value from this, far more than I had initially hoped for. At the start of last year it seemed like the benefits would have been mostly limited to domestic flying with QF as a second-rate WP, but fortunately international travel has opened up enough to really get value from it.

• OWE for 2 years, then down to OWS for 1 year
• OWS for 1 year to gift
• Status matched to *G for one year
• Priority seat selection, check-in, extra baggage, int F and dom J lounge access
• Various other recognition here and there on oneworld and Star Alliance airlines
• Platinum support from Finnair - send them a WhatsApp message and even complex queries have been dealt with within minutes.
  
  
• Using the points and upgrade vouchers, made 6 long-haul J redemptions.
• Did not redeem anything on QF as the partner redemption rates are terrible

 

[Notyourbag]

I have also received some excellent value from this, far more than I had initially hoped for. At the start of last year it seemed like the benefits would have been mostly limited to domestic flying with QF as a second-rate WP, but fortunately international travel has opened up enough to really get value from it.

• OWE for 2 years, then down to OWS for 1 year
• OWS for 1 year to gift
• Status matched to *G for one year
• Priority seat selection, check-in, extra baggage, int F and dom J lounge access
• Various other recognition here and there on oneworld and Star Alliance airlines
• Platinum support from Finnair - send them a WhatsApp message and even complex queries have been dealt with within minutes.
  
  
• Using the points and upgrade vouchers, made 6 long-haul J redemptions.
• Did not redeem anything on QF as the partner redemption rates are terrible

What redemptions did you make?

It's a shame this deal wasn't repeated last month.

 

[azza007]

Finnair partner redemptions aren't all that great.
But 60K points for Syd-Per or Syd-Cns return in J on QF are .
The cost with a 100% bonus is $600-$650 + taxes.