Bits: Qatar Airways selling UK-Dubai for £975 in Business, new BA Innsbruck flight launched
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News in brief:
Qatar Airways launches Dubai in business class for £975
Qatar Airways has launched an exceptionally good fare to Dubai – just £975 return. I have NEVER seen flights to the Middle East so cheap in business class from a UK starting point.
At the moment, this is bookable from Birmingham, Edinburgh and Manchester. I have been told that a London sale price will launch next week which may or may not be the same.
Details are on this special webpage here. You must book by 21st July. Seats are available until May 2017 although some dates may be blacked out.
If you are sitting on an Avios redemption to Dubai you need to think about this. Swapping your redemption – with over £500 of taxes – for a £975 cash ticket is well worth considering, especially if you were having to connect via Heathrow from a regional airport.
Remember that Qatar Airways flights earn Avios and British Airways tier points. You would get 360 tier points return for this routing. Here is my review of Qatar’s Boeing 787 business class seating. There is a special Qatar 787 microsite here if your potential flight is on one.
More details are on the Qatar website here. I will let you know if a similar Heathrow fare appears.
British Airways launches Heathrow to Innsbruck
British Airways announced a new service to Innsbruck from Heathrow on Wednesday. This will complement the existing Gatwick service.
It launches on 4th December. There will be four flights per week during the Winter season (Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday) and two per week during Summer 2017.
As always with new routes, there should be excellent Avios availability at the moment as all of the flights should have been loaded into the system with at least two Club Europe and four Euro Traveller seats available.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (June 2023)
As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!
In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.
You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard
Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard
5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review
There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus
25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express
5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £12,000 Read our full review
You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 13th June, the sign-up bonus on The Platinum Card is doubled to 60,000 Membership Rewards points – and you get £200 to spend at Amex Travel too! Apply here.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold
Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express
60,000 points AND a £200 Amex Travel voucher until 13th June! Read our full review
Run your own business?
We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa
Get a 10,000 points bonus plus an extra 500 points for our readers Read our full review
You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.
EDIT: Applications for this card are temporarily suspended due to IT issues with the British Airways On Business SME loyalty scheme.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express
30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review
There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum
40,000 points bonus and a £200 Amex Travel credit every year Read our full review

American Express Business Gold
20,000 points sign-up bonus and free for a year Read our full review
Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.
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