Fabulous Fridays: Finnair WhatsApp Support For Platinum & Lumo Members

Airlines and hotels provide premium support for elite members, which has been a more important benefit than ever before due to recent issues that many have faced with rebounding business and the lack of customer support personnel that were let go.

Some airlines offer a chat option on their website or app, while others have outsourced the customer service to Twitter. Hyatt uses personalized Concierges for Globalists.

Although Finnair is the country’s flag carrier whose citizen I am, I had not much used the airline in the past other than domestic flights (I used to live in Oulu).

I participated in the Finnair Plus points sale in late 2021 (read more here and here) that came with elite qualifying points and upgrade certificates that I have put into good use. You could also reach Finnair Plus Platinum (Oneworld Emerald) by converting a small number of awards points to tier ones, and that’s what I did.

One of the benefits of Finnair Plus Platinum or Lumo is their support over WhatsApp, which has worked brilliantly based on my experiences.

I have used it to cancel or change tickets, process upgrades for myself or family members, and sort out other issues, and it has so far never failed me and has been prompt and on the spot.

Here are three examples from this week:

Short-Haul Upgrade

You can generally use short-haul upgrade certs to upgrade even award flights online, but for some reason, this was not an option. So, I used the chat.

Award Change

I realized that I would need to be in Tallinn, and I might as well end the trip there than in Helsinki. This saves a few hours and a boat trip.

The chat processed the change promptly and sent me the updated payment link. The new ticket was issued immediately after I made the payment.

Short-Haul Upgrade

There was one more European flight that I decided to upgrade using the UPG certs, and doing that online was not an option. The chat was processed within a few minutes.

Conclusion

Of course, the best scenario would be that there is no need to contact the customer service in the first place, and you could do everything online or using an app by yourself.

Unfortunate, this is really not an option with any of the programs that I participate in. Something always errors out, or there is a ticketing issue that requires contacting the airline.

These messages with Finnair over WhatsApp are short and to the point, and they get the problem resolved.