Finnair-Branded Visa Cards
Finnair Visa Credit and Finnair Visa Credit Light are credit cards issued by Aktia Bank for Finnair customers. There are two versions of Finnair Visa with small but meaningful differences. You don't need to be an Aktia Bank customer to apply, but you must be a Finnair Plus loyalty program member. The cards primarily target people who fly with Finnair frequently.
Finnair Visa Credit cards are standard credit cards billed once a month for purchases. The interest-free period is about 30 days. We recommend paying the statement in full by the due date to avoid interest and account management fees. If you use the revolving credit, you end up paying more on average for every transaction.
Pricing
The Finnair Visa Credit card costs €6 per month and its supplementary card €2.50.
Finnair Visa Credit Light has no monthly fee and does not offer a supplementary card.
Users who carry a balance must also pay a €4.50 monthly account management fee, which may come as a surprise.
Benefits of Finnair Visa Credit Cards
As a paid card, Finnair Visa Credit offers more benefits than the Light version.
Overall, the benefits of both cards are limited. Even free credit cards, such as Bank Norwegian Visa, offer better perks.
Avios
At the Basic level of the Finnair Plus program, you earn 1.7 Avios per euro spent with the Finnair Visa Credit card. The most loyal Finnair customers can earn up to 2 Avios per euro. This requires that you are at least on the Finnair Plus Silver tier.
Starting 1.7.2025, a user on the Basic tier earns only one Avios per euro. On higher Finnair Plus tiers, you earn slightly more points.
With the Finnair Visa Light card, you earn only one Avios per two euros. The earn rate on the Light card is therefore significantly lower than on the paid version.
With €1,000 in monthly purchases on the Finnair Visa Credit card, you can earn up to 2,000 Avios. With the Light version, you earn only 500. The value of Avios depends on how you use them, but according to Finnair, one Avios is worth about 0.42 cents, so the cashback equivalent is small. Therefore, a typical Cashback Card may be a better option.
An experienced Finnair Plus member may extract above-average value from Avios by using them optimally, for example, for cabin upgrades. Finnair Visa Credit cards are therefore best suited to those already familiar with the Finnair Plus program who collect Avios seriously.
The Avios earn rate on the Finnair Visa Light card is small, so it cannot be recommended to an active points collector.
Tier Points
When you spend at least €1,500 per month with the Finnair Visa Credit card, Finnair rewards you with 300 tier points in addition to Avios. With a certain number of tier points, you move up to a higher Finnair Plus tier. You can also convert Avios into tier points once a year, free of charge.
Starting 1.7.2025, the reward is 500 tier points.
As a Finnair Visa Credit Light user, you do not receive a tier point bonus and cannot convert Avios into tier points.
As a Finnair Visa Credit cardholder, you can transfer your Avios to another Finnair Plus member free of charge in Finnair Shop. This benefit is not available on the Light version.
Supplementary Card
You can add an inexpensive supplementary card to the Finnair Visa Credit card to speed up Avios earning in the family. The supplementary cardholder earns points to their own account, not the primary cardholder's. Transferring points between accounts is free in Finnair Shop. These benefits are not available with the Light version.
Paid Finnair Visa Credit
Finnair Visa Credit costs €6 per month, i.e., €72 per year. A supplementary card costs €2.50. Possible interest and account management fees are added if you do not pay the statement in full by the due date.
Although the Finnair Visa Credit card offers some minor perks, a €72 annual fee is high for a payment card that does not include travel insurance or other meaningful travel benefits. In addition, the foreign exchange fee (2.75%) is high, as cards on the market offer near-zero FX costs. Given the Finnair Visa Credit card's fee structure, an average traveller will struggle to justify getting it. ATM withdrawals are also expensive.
Curve Pay and Saldo Bank Visa do not charge currency conversion fees.
The interest rates on Finnair Visa cards are reasonable, but if you use revolving credit often, it still becomes expensive.
Finnair Visa Credit Light With No Monthly Fee
Finnair Visa Credit Light has no monthly fee. Unfortunately, its Avios-earning rate is low, so it is not the best option for collecting Avios. The card lacks other meaningful features and has a higher interest rate. The Finnair Visa Credit Light card is hard to recommend.
Finnair Visa Card Application Process
Applications for Finnair Visa Credit cards are submitted through Aktia Bank's website. As usual, you must provide personal details, information about your income and assets, and complete strong authentication. Based on this information, the bank will approve or reject your application. Your credit history should be clean, as credit entries typically prevent you from getting a credit card.
Experiences With the Finnair Visa Credit Card
We tested the application process for the Finnair Visa Credit card. We would expect the Light version's process to be similar.
The application process for the Finnair Visa Credit card via Aktia Bank's site is simple. The applicant fills out a one-page form, which takes less than 5 minutes. The application asks familiar questions about your situation, income, and assets. Applicants must also authorise Asiakastieto to check income data from their account. Authorisation is done with online banking credentials. You do not need to provide physical or electronic attachments such as payslips. The application is signed with online banking credentials.
We received the card and its PIN quickly after approval. These arrived in separate letters to maximise security. To activate the card, we had to install the Finnair Visa app on our phones, which also lets us track card activity. The app is also used to confirm purchases made with the card.
An Undesirable Billing Practice
In the summer of 2024, Finnair Visa cards saw a significant downgrade. The e-invoice total no longer defaults to the full outstanding balance; Aktia sets the total to the minimum payment only. If the customer does not correct this in online banking, most of the bill rolls over to an interest-bearing credit.
Forgetting easily leads to the unintentional use of credit, which is likely the purpose of the change. Because of the new practice, we cannot recommend the card, and you should consider, for example, the free Bank Norwegian Visa Card.
Which One To Choose: Finnair Visa Credit or Finnair Visa Credit Light?
In our view, there is only one reason to get a Finnair Visa card: an active Avios collector can boost their balance quickly by paying all daily purchases with the Finnair Visa Credit card. In that case, the €6 monthly fee is tolerable. The earn rate on the Finnair Visa Credit card is better than on American Express cards, but in terms of features, it does not match.
We would not choose the Finnair Visa Light. Its earn rate is too low to make it a suitable card for collecting Avios. The card has no other meaningful benefits either. So if you are considering the Finnair Visa Credit card, the paid version is likely the better fit for you.
Contactless Payments With Finnair Visa Cards
Finnair Visa cards support contactless payments up to a €50 limit. Card readers may still ask for a PIN at random for security reasons. You can also link the card to Google and Apple Pay, allowing you to pay with an NFC-enabled phone. For purchases over €50, authentication is completed using the phone's PIN or, for example, a fingerprint.
Our Rating: Finnair Visa Credit Cards
We rate the paid Finnair Visa Credit card at only two stars. There is nothing terrible about the card, but its features are limited. In addition, Aktia's latest billing change made it difficult to pay the complete statement amount. The card's only significant benefit is earning Avios, and even that gets worse starting 1.7.2025.
The Finnair Visa Light card gets half a star more from us because it has no monthly fee. However, the card does not stand out for its features, so we cannot recommend it either. For an active points collector, the Finnair Visa Credit with a monthly fee is the better choice.
Bottom Line
The Finnair Visa Credit cards raised expectations for a fresh take on Finnair Plus program credit cards. Unfortunately, the cards are a disappointment because their features are clearly more limited than many no-fee cards. An average traveller does not get value from the paid version's monthly fee, so we cannot recommend getting the card. The no-fee card is likewise far too limited in features.
An active Avios collector can still get more value from the Finnair Visa Credit card than its monthly fee. The card is a good way to accelerate Avios earning, bringing more Finnair Plus rewards within reach. Getting the best value requires a solid understanding of the Finnair Plus program.