Today, Finnair announced it will increase the number of weekly flights from several U.S. cities, including Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and Seattle, to Helsinki Airport (HEL) in summer 2025. With the announcement, TPG has found a slew of great award availability.
The expansion will see the airline begin departing from Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) for HEL 11 times a week; that’s an 83% increase in departures compared to its current schedule from the airport. Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) will both see five flights per week, and Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport (ORD) to HEL will become a daily service (up from its current schedule of five flights per week). TPG recently found great business-class award availability from the U.S. across all these routes between March and October 2025 (with the best availability occurring during the summer months).
At the time of writing, you can snap up business-class fares for as little as 62,500 Avios plus $140.70 in taxes and fees, though we’re also seeing decent availability across all other fare classes. Based on TPG’s October 2024 valuations, Avios are currently valued at 1.4 cents each, making this business-class redemption’s cash value worth around $875.
Deal basics
Airline: Finnair
Routes: LAX, SEA, ORD and DFW to HEL, with limited availability from a select number of other U.S. airports, including New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)
Cost: 62,500 Avios plus $140.70 in taxes and fees for business class, 43,500 Avios plus $102.80 in taxes and fees for premium economy and 30,000 Avios plus $81.10 in taxes and fees for economy
Travel dates: March through October 2025
Book by: ASAP
Sample flights
Availability across all routes is spread out between March and October 2025.
For the best options across all fare classes, you should search flights departing from ORD, SEA, LAX and DFW during the summer months.
We found great availability, for example, for flights departing from ORD in July.
We also found some deals for flights leaving DFW in August — both routes offer business-class fares for 62,500 Avios. There’s strong availability across all other cabins, too.
How to book
To take advantage of these prices, you’ll need to have a preexisting stash of Avios or Avios-friendly transferable points, such as American Express Membership Rewards points, which you can transfer to your British Airways Executive Club account at a 1:1 ratio.
From there, you can link your British Airways Executive Club account with your Finnair Plus account and transfer Avios between the two at a 1:1 ratio. You can find out more in our guide to transferring Avios to and from the Finnair Plus loyalty program. Once you have transferred the required amount of points, you can book directly through Finnair.
Maximize your purchase
When you book this deal or any flights, be sure to use a credit card that earns bonus points on airfare purchases, such as:
- Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card: 2 points per dollar spent on travel
- American Express® Gold Card: 3 points per dollar spent on airfare when booked directly with the airline or through amextravel.com
- The Platinum Card® from American Express: 5 points per dollar spent on airfare when booked directly with the airline or through American Express Travel (on up to $500,000 of these purchases per calendar year, then 1 point per dollar)
- Chase Sapphire Reserve®: 3 points per dollar spent on travel
Bottom line
Next summer, Finnair will increase its flights from Chicago, Seattle, Dallas and Los Angeles to Helsinki. There’s also great award availability across all these routes, making it possible to minimize out of pocket costs when traveling to Finland and back.
