Travel Booking

This skill provides practical, field-tested references for redeeming airline loyalty points and constructing direct booking URLs. The redemption guides pre-calculate points-plus-cash costs, document actual booking workflows and search tools, and record verified dead ends so they are not repeated.

Reward Flight Redemption Guides

• British Airways Avios — UK-origin redemptions: BA Executive Club Avios (earned via Amex Premium Plus Card), Companion Voucher mechanics, Avios group transfer partners (Qatar, Iberia, Finnair), award charts, carrier surcharge comparisons, key routes from London, and availability tools.
• Qantas Points & Amex MR — Australia-origin redemptions: Qantas Frequent Flyer points (via Amex Membership Rewards), Classic vs. Classic Plus vs. Upgrade rewards, the Australia–UK route, carrier charges, and the Flight Reward Finder.

[!TIP] Round-Trip Strategy: For a round trip between the UK and Australia, compare booking each one-way leg separately through the cheaper programme (e.g., BA Avios outbound from London, Qantas Points outbound from Australia) to minimize carrier surcharges.

Finnair Booking URL Engineering

To construct direct booking URLs for Finnair deep-linking to the fare selection screen:

https://www.finnair.com/gb-en/booking/flight-selection?json=<URL-encoded JSON>

JSON Structure & Quick Example

{
  "flights": [
    {
      "origin": "LON",
      "destination": "HEL",
      "departureDate": "2026-12-19"
    },
    {
      "origin": "HEL",
      "destination": "MEL",
      "departureDate": "2026-12-26"
    }
  ],
  "cabin": "ECOPREMIUM",
  "adults": 1,
  "c15s": 0,
  "children": 0,
  "infants": 0
}

Critical Quirks & Gotchas

• Cabin Parameter: Valid values are ECONOMY, ECOPREMIUM, and BUSINESS. Using PREMIUM_ECONOMY or PREMIUM results in a silent redirect to the homepage.
• Passenger Age Banding (c15s): Finnair uses its own age category for young passengers aged 12–15 (c15s), distinct from adults (16+) and children (2–11).
• Cold-Start Access: The URL works from a cold start with no session, login, or cookies required.

Reference Material

• British Airways Avios Reference — UK-origin points pricing, companion vouchers, partner redemptions, and surcharges.
• Qantas Points & Amex MR Reference — Australia-origin points pricing, reward tiers, and carrier fees.
• Finnair Booking URL Reference — Full JSON parameter spec, encoding rules, multi-city examples, and code snippets.
• Travel Booking Meta Reference — Shared standards for volatility tiers, pre-calculations, access levels, and dead-end documentation.