Good afternoon everyone, happy Friday! Last week on the Miles to Memories Podcast, I mentioned my upcoming Summer trip with Laura to Dublin, Helsinki, and Stockholm. I wanted to share my award booking strategy for 2 flights: Finnair flight from Dublin to Helsinki (DUB-HEL) and Finnair flight from Helsinki to Stockholm (HEL-ARN).
I found these flights using the Point.me award search tool and saw that there were many different airline programs that could book the same award. So which airline program was best? Spoiler alert: no single airline program was best for all economy and business class awards, but I will show you the various options available for each flight and tell you which program I picked for each flight.
Flight 1: Finnair from Dublin to Helsinki (DUB-HEL), 3 hour flight
I picked a random date in the Summer (June 5) and the flight was 257.64 EUR ($276.43 USD) for economy and 297.64 EUR ($319.35 USD) for business class. I didn’t pick the cheapest option since I will have more than 8 kilograms (17.6 pounds) of carry on bags and would need to check a bag.
On the Alaska Airlines website, those same flights were bookable for 7,500 miles + $28.00 in economy and 15,000 miles + $28.00 in business class.
On the British Airways website, those same flights were bookable for 13,000 Avios + $30.70 in economy and 20,000 Avios + $30.70 in business class.
Lastly, on the Qatar Airways website, those same flights were bookable for 11,000 Avios + 13.64 EUR ($14.63 USD) in economy and 22,000 Avios + 13.64 EUR ($14.63 USD) in business class.
That is a lot of different pricing, so I put it into a spreadsheet and was able to calculate the cents per point (CPP) of the various airline miles. Alaska Airlines came in first for both economy and business class awards, with economy awards coming in at 3.31 CPP.
| DUB-HEL | Miles | Cash | CPP | DUB-HEL | Miles | Cash | CPP | |
| Finnair Economy | $276.43 | Finnair Business | $319.35 | |||||
| Alaska Airlines | 7,500 | $28.00 | 3.31 | Alaska Airlines | 15,000 | $28.00 | 1.94 | |
| British Airways | 13,000 | $30.70 | 1.89 | British Airways | 20,000 | $30.70 | 1.44 | |
| Qatar Airways | 11,000 | $14.63 | 2.38 | Qatar Airways | 22,000 | $14.63 | 1.39 |
Flight 2: Finnair from Helsinki to Stockholm (HEL-ARN), 1 hour flight
I picked a the same random date in the Summer (June 5) and the flight was 87.72 EUR ($94.12 USD) for economy and 161.72 EUR ($173.51 USD) for business class. I didn’t pick the cheapest option since I will have more than 8 kilograms (17.6 pounds) of carry on bags and would need to check a bag.
On the Alaska Airlines website, those same flights were bookable for 7,500 miles + $32.00 in economy and 15,000 miles + $32.00 in business class.
On the British Airways website, those same flights were bookable for 6,500 Avios + $35.10 in economy and 10,000 Avios + $35.10 in business class.
Lastly, on the Qatar Airways website, those same flights were bookable for 6,000 Avios + 17.72 EUR ($19.01 USD) in economy and 12,500 Avios + 17.72 EUR ($19.01 USD) in business class.
That is a lot of different pricing, so I put it into a spreadsheet and was able to calculate the cents per point (CPP) of the various airline miles. Qatar Airlines came in first for economy (1.25 CPP) and British Airways came in first for business class award (1.38 CPP).
| HEL-ARN | Miles | Cash | CPP | HEL-ARN | Miles | Cash | CPP | |
| Finnair Economy | $94.12 | Finnair Business | $173.51 | |||||
| Alaska Airlines | 7,500 | $28.00 | 0.88 | Alaska Airlines | 15,000 | $28.00 | 0.97 | |
| British Airways | 6,500 | $35.10 | 0.91 | British Airways | 10,000 | $35.10 | 1.38 | |
| Qatar Airways | 6,000 | $19.01 | 1.25 | Qatar Airways | 12,500 | $19.01 | 1.24 |
Based on those numbers, we decided to book flight 1 (DUB-HEL) in economy class with Alaska Airlines Miles and flight 2 (HEL-ARN) in economy with Qatar Airways Avios. I transferred Bilt Points to Alaska Airlines (instant transfer) and then I transferred American Express Membership Rewards Points to British Airways (instant transfer) and then moved the Avios to Qatar (instant transfer). After both awards were booked, I was able to add both reservations to my Finnair account and select economy seats for free. We’ve never flown Finnair or visiting Helsinki or Stockholm, so in a future post, I will ask for recommendations on things to see and do in both cities.
If you have any questions about booking Finnair award tickets with any of the above airline programs, please leave a comment below. Have a great weekend everyone!
opportunity cost to do this analysis?
hahahah…
nice. I’m going to bookmark this as I have similar flights. Recently did a lot of comparing between Virgin – BA Avios – United – Aeroplan for North Africa flights.
At first – Virgin was the winner..but then I realized the times sucked for 2 of them..and BA Avios came out ahead for one. And Aeroplan for another.
Time consuming to shop around..but it has its benefits!
The post took longer to write (editing screenshots) than the original analysis did, but ended up saving me some money and miles, plus I learned about booking Qatar Airways awards, which was new to me. Good luck with your award searches :)
yes, preparing the blog post takes more time. Maybe you can ease up on the screenshots? Be more strategic with them rather then showing every shot? Makes me think you are some corporate trainer!
always a semi-thrill to find a new avenue of redemption. I booked my one and only qatar award a few years ago. 70k-75k? for Qsuites West Coast USA to Mykonos via Doha. Already had avios, but transferred in a bunch of TYP on a 25-30% bonus?
It hasn’t occurred to me to look for non Qatar Airways awards with their avios. Maybe I’ll try that for some of these routes in question. See if they beat BA. I seem to think Qatar cancellation is cheaper then BA.
I enjoy walking people through step by step, so the screenshots are helpful. You got a great deal on the Qatar Airways flight to Mykonos, I’ve never flown Qatar Airways or flown through Doha. I believe Qatar Airways cancellation and change fee is only $25 vs $50 for British Airways, according to a few articles I read recently.
8) If you enjoy it – do it! Though I will say, I just scroll by it. It’s too much information and doesn’t add anything for me. Now the mini-table you made at the end — that’s golden. Take as you will.
Yeah, Qsuites is pretty awesome, as I’m sure you’ve read about umpteen million times. Though avoid 1st row…unless you like high magnetic fields making you tired. But that’s another story.
I’ve sat 5k-ish by window and also row 3? in middle. Middle is kind of cool. Flown Qsuites 2x. Will I ever again? Who knows…but my 2 year plan says no. As I’ve never flown Int’l first (Nor DeltaOne nor ANA – The Room)…Qsuites will likely go down as “the best” in-flight experience from a hard product standpoint. Excellent soft product..though I’m not in a position to judge that, nor do I think I care to.
Just looked up my ticket, late 2022 flight (Ticketed in Jan 2022, 9 months before) – it was 85,000 Avios. 70k for Doha, and 15k to Mykonos. Overnight layover in Doha – but since I was able to chill in the awesome Al Mourjan lounge/full service restaurant – no big. Showered and slept there. There is a dark, totally quiet area with large leather sofas in your own large private space….might have to wait – but it’s worth it. Next to the showers.
Otherwise, fixed recline type chairs in the main area which are partially private. The latter you better use an eye shade. More ambient noise.
The Doha-Mykonos connector was not Qsuites, but their 2-2 lie flat on a single aisle!! Very comfy..kind of like AA A321 Transcon…which I flew once — 8 years ago?
https://www.qatarairways.com/en/fleet/airbus-a320.html
1,755 miles, so still nice. And considering it was a 730am flight…nice to lie down for a few hours.
…saw your response to Craig below…I have flown Finnair Business 2x (I think). That was 5+ years ago. I think those were both with AA miles. One time I picked the “throne seat.” Very tight foot space – would not recommend. Bright interiors — maybe too bright I thought – though I did not mind on Air Canada business more recently. .
Planning on next year flying Finnair from Europe-Asia…their new Airlounge product. Darker interior. Like Qatar.
Thank you for sharing all that info about Qatar Airways and Finnair. You have been on some excellent award flights! Currently, I’m in economy for both of my Finnair flights but I would like to switch to their business class on the 3 hour DUB-HEL flight if space opens up. That would only cost 7,500 more Alaska Airlines miles per person, so not a bad price to upgrade.
No comparison of Iberia awards? Sure they’re nonrefundable, but could be cheaper.
With the 30% transfer bonus to Avios, first one seems like a toss up between Qatar and Alaska. It’s a shame DUB-HEL (stop) -ARN is 10 miles over the 1.5k redemption band, or that would be a very nice use of Alaska’s free stopover.
EDIT: I gave Iberia another try and it wasn’t able to find the nonstop DUB-HEL Finnair flight on a few days I checked. Iberia was able to find the HEL-ARN flight for the same price as British Airways (6,500 Avios + $35), but that award is nonrefundable).
Hi iPod, I tried to look on the Iberia website for these awards, but I have difficulty using the Iberia website, plus the fact that the awards are nonrefundable, was enough for me to give up on that option. Yes, that Alaska stop over deal would have been great if it worked out.
Recently booked unicorn LAX-MAD-xxx (other city in Spain) on J class with BA Avios. Iberia was more expensive! Nevermind Iberia website log in is always such a pain for me. Even if Iberia was slightly cheaper, I would not have changed. it would have to be A LOT cheaper. Like around 10,000 pts/miles at least. Anything under 5,000…I’ll just use BA or Qatar.
At some point convenience matters over jumping through too many hoops.
Agreed, the Iberia website is terrible to navigate and I wouldn’t bother with them unless it was a super simple award on Iberia.
Hey Grant! Have you and Laura decided on hotels yet? I no you mentioned that you’ll be asking for ideas in a future post, but preemptively, Choice is a great choice. I haven’t been to Helsinki, but Stockholm is amazing and I’ll have some thoughts for you when get to that post.
Hi Brant, I still need to book my hotel in Stockholm, but I found a Choice Hotel that looks good (Hotel at Six). I bought Choice points during the Daily Getaways deal on Monday and I’m just waiting for the points to post to my account to book the hotel. Did you have specific Choice Hotel in Stockholm you recommend?
Hi Grant – Great article. I love reading articles by experts like you about your strategies and processes for booking award travel in real life. I feel like I learn more from this type of how-I-analyzed-it-and-how-I-booked-it than any other type of article on the points & miles blogs. Thanks for sharing your expertise & experience!
Thank you Craig, it was a good learning experience for me to find out the award prices for the various airline programs. Do you have any experience using the Qatar Airways website or booking Finnair flights?
I’ve done some searching on the Qatar website. Interestingly, the one time I was ready to book flights using Qatar Avios (an AA domestic flight), the booking errored out as if it was phantom availability. However, I had no problem booking the same award flights using Alaska miles. I’m hoping the Qatar problem was just a one-off and things will go smoothly there in the future.
I’ve booked Finnair flights once. Philly and I flew DFW-HEL-AMS in biz class a couple of years ago, using her AA miles. It was a great deal, 57.5k AA + $5.60 for each ticket. I really liked flying Finnair and transiting in HEL – nice experience and I’d be very happy to fly them again.
I can’t wait to hear about your experiences in Stockholm and Helsinki as those are definitely places on our “to go” list!
I did run into some issues with Qatar Airways. When I tried to transfer points from AMEX MR to Qatar Airways, the transfer failed and I didn’t realize it until I logged back into AMEX MR to check. Instead, I transferred the same number to British Airways and then moved them over to Qatar Airways, but I am not sure if that move was necessary. On the Qatar Airways website, if you link your British Airways account, I think you can redeem BA Avios for a flight booked through the Qatar Airways website. I am not sure, but that is what it appeared was possible.
I always get excited to fly a new airline, especially when a good / great award ticket is available.
You got a great deal on your AA award DFW-HEL-AMS for 57,500 AA miles! We are almost flying the reverse home, HEL-AMS-ORD on KLM then ORD-SNA on UA. I am more excited about Stockholm since there seems to be more to do than in Helsinki, but I will let you know :)
If you like ships or anything from that time period…go to the VASA Warship Museum!!
You cannot miss that.
Went to the Mary Rose in 2022 in the UK (Good experience)…and the Vasa is mucho-more well preserved. I visited in 2006! I *might* visit it again.
Off the top of my head, I would say there is more in Stockholm then Helsinki. I’m not much of a city person anymore though…next year’s trip to Sweden (+Norway, maybe couple days in Finland) I’ll be doing mostly camping / wilderness areas.
The Vasa Museum is definitely on my list for Stockholm, I’m glad you really enjoyed that museum.