Nearly a year ago, Alaska Airlines and Finnair announced a new partnership which allows frequent flyers to earn and redeem miles on each airline. Since the announcement there has been little done to implement reciprocal awards. Finnair quickly implemented award travel options on Alaska Airlines for Finnair Plus members, but Alaska did not.
Since the announcement in May 2017, Alaska Airlines’ frequent flyers have been able to earn miles on Finnair flights but awards are still unavailable on Finnair.
Alaska Airlines’ frequent flyer are still in the dark when it comes to award travel on Finnair. To date, no award chart is available. How much will Alaska Airlines charge for Finnair awards is unknown. In fact, other than the ability to earn miles, nothing is known.
Last night, while searching for an award ticket to Europe for an award travel customer, I noticed that Finnair is listed on Alaska Airlines award search as a filter option. One would think that this would mean that awards on Finnair are available. Yet, an award chart for Finnair is still not available.
I called customer service this morning and the lovely representative told me that travel on Finnair was “coming soon”. How soon? We still do not know, but this is a step in the right direction. IT is getting ready. A year later…shameful.
The real question though is not when, but IF. Will Alaska Airlines mileage plan members be able to find award space on Finnair? Finnair releases very few award seats. This is true for both their premium or economy class cabins.
