Fly premium economy from more than 150 US cities to Helsinki, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo and Warsaw, starting at $900

In case you missed it, there's a new player in the premium economy market. Finnair launched a new premium economy cabin in February, and I will be trying it for the first time this fall when flying to Asia.

If you too are looking to experience Finnair's new class, check out this deal, which features round-trip flights to the Nordic region and Poland, starting at less than $900.

This deal includes flights from more than 150 U.S. cities to Helsinki; Copenhagen; Stockholm; Oslo, Norway; and Warsaw, Poland. Because of the broad scope, you'll find a large range of prices, from the high $800s to more than $1,200, depending on the exact route. There are also flights on American Airlines and Scandinavian Airlines.

These fares — which are available for travel from September through March — offer savings of 25% to more than 50% off their normal prices.

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Deal basics

Airlines: American, Finnair and Scandinavian.
Routes: New York, Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Houston, Memphis, Nashville, Newark, Seattle, Phoenix, Philadelphia and others to Helsinki, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo and Warsaw.
How to book: Browse Google Flights and book directly with the airline.
Travel dates: September 2022-March 2023; exact availability depends on the route and some include flights over Thanksgiving.
Book by: One-two days.

Shoutout to Scott’s Cheap Flights for alerting us to this deal. Get deals up to 90% off via its Premium membership, which new users can try for free for 14 days, then $49 per year. Or, upgrade to the Elite tier for $199 per year to receive all the Premium deals plus premium economy, business-class and first-class alerts. To celebrate Scott’s Cheap Flights’ upcoming birthday, users can save on one-, two- and five-year memberships purchased through Aug. 30. For more information on this and other birthday sweepstakes, see here.

Sample flights

This deal is the broadest in scope I've seen in a while, with flights departing from more than 150 U.S. cities. Given its scope, I will break down this deal by each destination.

The best flights in this deal are to Helsinki Airport (HEL) since the majority of these flights cost less than $900, including routes from:

• John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)/O'Hare International Airport (ORD), starting at $883.
• Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI)/Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)/Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS)/Denver International Airport (DEN), starting at $898.

For the rest of the cities in this deal — Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo and Warsaw — you'll find flights are a bit more expensive overall. Still, you can find some in the $900 range, including the below options to Stockholm Arlanda Airport (ARN) from:

• JFK, starting at $909.
• ORD, starting at $920.
• Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT), starting at $922.
• AUS/Boston Logan International Airport (BOS), starting at $923.

While most of the fights to Warsaw Chopin Airport (WAW), Copenhagen Airport (CPH) and Olso Airport (OSL) exceed $1,000 round-trip, there are a few notable exceptions, including:

• Miami International Airport (MIA) to CPH, starting at $753.
• Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to CPH, starting at $853.
• JFK/ORD to WAW, starting at $897.
• JFK to CPH, starting at $911.
• JFK to OSL, starting at $923.

Read more: Finnair launches new business-class seat and 1st premium economy

Given the nature of this deal, I would start your search on Google Flights, filtering results based on your departure airport and final destination. For example, you would find this round-trip flight from JFK to HEL over Thanksgiving for $883. Although Google Flights advertises this flight as being available for $861, that price reflects booking through a third-party site. We recommend paying more to book directly with the airline for more flexibility should you need to make changes down the line or have any issues with your flight.

You’ll notice this flight is available to book through both Finnair and American for the same price. The flight will be operated by Finnair with an American codeshare, regardless of which airline you book through.

For the sake of this story, I will demonstrate how to book with Finnair to explore its premium economy fare. This fare class offers passengers one free carry-on, two free checked bags, a three-course main meal, large entertainment screens, spacious seats and footrests. However, unlike premium economy on other carriers such as American, Finnair does not offer premium boarding or check-in, nor does it provide free seat selection.

If you are a frequent American Airlines flyer like me, you could still earn American AAdvantage miles and Loyalty Points by entering your American frequent flyer number when booking online through Finnair.

In searching this deal, you may come across flights on Scandinavian Airlines, which as a Star Alliance member allows you to earn United MileagePlus miles. Just note that SAS is currently operating under bankruptcy protection, but with normal operations.

As mentioned, because this deal is quite broad, it's worth spending some time searching the various routes available, particularly if you have flexible travel dates or live by multiple airports.

Maximize your purchase

Should you book this deal, use a card that earns bonus points on airfare purchases, such as the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® (2 AAdvantage miles for every $1 spent on eligible American Airlines purchases), The Platinum Card® from American Express (5 points per dollar on airfare booked directly with the airline or through American Express Travel, on up to $500,000 on these purchases per calendar year), the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card (2 points per dollar on travel) or the Chase Sapphire Reserve (3 points per dollar on airfare).

For more options, check out this post on the best ways to maximize airfare purchases.

Bottom line

This deal is rare because it features flights from various U.S. cities, meaning flights from your home airport or a nearby city are likely to be included. Although these flights don't have a specific window in which travel must be booked, we don't expect them to last more than 48 hours.

Related: 9 things to know about flying premium economy