Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well. Long story short, I booked a Finnair Avios award ticket on October 22, 2024, for travel in Summer 2025, but I needed to cancel the trip. I’ve cancelled British Airways Avios award tickets in the past and the process to get the refunded Avios was almost instant. Unfortunately, that is not the case with Finnair. Finnair’s website quoted 1-3 weeks, but in my case, it took 6-7 weeks for the Finnair Avios to be refunded and for me to receive a refund of the taxes / fees (minus the 50 Euro cancellation fee). In this post, I will document the cancellation process and timeline.
Finnair charges a 50 Euro change / cancellation fee for award flights. I am not sure if you will get a refund if you cancel within 24 hours of departure.
To cancel the Finnair Avios award ticket, I went through the Refund Form. At the top of the page, it states: “Our average refund processing time is currently 1–3 weeks due to the Finnish Air Line Pilots’ Association’s (SLL) industrial action. Thank you for your patience.” I was naïve in thinking my refund was easy and would be processed quicker than the 1-3 weeks stated.
I submitted my cancellation request on February 16, 2025, and set a reminder for 3 weeks.
3 weeks came and went.. and 4 weeks… and 5 weeks… and 6 weeks… until I finally saw that my refund request was processed on April 3, 2025 (6-7 weeks later).
I tracked down the original purchase on my US Bank Altitude Reserve. The original charge was for 2153 Norwegian Krone ($197.82). I was flying from Oslo, Norway, which explains why the charge came through in Norwegian Krone. The refund was for 1587 Norwegian Krone ($151.69).
The 50 Euro cancellation fee should be about 600 Norwegian Krone, but it looks like I was *only* charged 566 Norwegian Krone. Thank you for the small discount, Finnair.
In my Finnair account, it shows the original booking date (October 22, 2024) and the planned travel date (July 2, 2025), but the date the Finnair Avios were redeposited into my account is not listed. It also says my Finnair Avios expire on April 30, 2026 (18 months after my last activity), but I can easily (and freely) transfer the Finnair Avios over to my British Airways Avios account and keep them active there.
I wish the cancellation process was instant, or at least in the 1-3 weeks range (like the website promises). I will keep this turnaround time in mind the next time I consider booking a Finnair Avios award ticket. If you have any questions about the cancellation process, please leave a comment below. Have a great day everyone!
Was there no way to cancel over the phone? I could see the long refund process being an issue if you were trying to cancel something closer in to departure.
Hi Seth, good questions. I didn’t try cancelling over the phone or following up on the refund request since I didn’t have another use for the Finnair Avios. It’s possible that trying those 2 things could have sped up the refund process.