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Bits: Qatar 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.

Qatar 350

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.

(Want to earn more Avios?  Click here to visit our home page for the latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios from current offers and promotions.)

Category

American Express Gold card, American Express Platinum card, British Airways American Express, British Airways and Avios, Marriott Bonvoy, Qatar Airways and Privilege Club

Comments (59)

  • Callum says:
    25 Jun25 June 18:11

    Had booked EDI-LHR-DXB for £1243 plus 38.5k in Avios CW. Saw this, got same dates priced at £1k over xmas, luckily I was in the 24 hr window so got full refund from Ba plus all avios back, and then booked this, looking fwd to Qatar business on 787, thanks Raffles for all your hard work with the site 🙂

  • JacarandaSpa says:
    26 Jun26 June 15:43

    Thought I’d wait for the Heathrow ones, hope they do it now as all the regionals appear to have gone (worried face!).

    • Rob says:
      26 Jun26 June 16:24

      Plan was to launch it tomorrow but things could have changed.

      • JacarandaSpa says:
        26 Jun26 June 16:47

        Expedia had “special” fares with Qatar yesterday (£1018 from Heathrow) but I pontificated because it was only on the A330 and couldn’t work wether they would be on lie flat or angled.

  • Talay says:
    27 Jun27 June 09:08

    OT and sorry to appear daft but just what do I get if I rush to earn BA status points ?

    I usually fly out to Asia long haul and have been using Etihad for the last few years largely because of the (then) very generous 3x and 4x mileage accruals, free chauffeur and a pretty good product.

    Well, as the mileage bonuses have largely dried up and the pricing is all over the place and with me doing more Europe routes then I have the opportunity to a) use BA Club Europe and b) Qatar (BA Club World product does not inspire on my route).

    So from my calculations, I would lose my chauffeur, lose my status (temporarily), have to pay more for Club Europe (I own the company) than an alternative, have to stick to Qatar or BA but would but woul get BA status which offers just what on Qatar and elewhere ?

    Thanks

    • Rob says:
      27 Jun27 June 09:15

      Only major Silver benefit – oneworld lounge access and free BA seat selection

      Only major Gold benefits – book ANY seat on ANY BA flight for double Avios, Galleries First lounge access, book Row 1 in Club Europe

      However, you will get Silver for just 1 Qatar trip to Asia (well, near enough – 560 of the 600 tier points) so you don’t need to move much to BA.

      • Talay says:
        11 Jul11 July 19:02

        As I contemplate moving off Etihad (and their family account which I find useful) do you have a matrix of how many flights in business are required to get a free flight in business ? I know it would not be absolutely accurate but it is a single data point which would be useful.

        I just redeemed one on Etihad and paid around £200 in fees whereas the Avios redemption on the Amex 2 for 1 cost me about £1050.

        What I did notice on Etihad was that when the cash fare went down, the amount of points required to redeem the free ticket went down. In my case from circa 280k to a straight 200k which was a more than pleasant surprise.

  • Premium Fare deals (J and F) - Page 192 - FlyerTalk Forums says:
    28 Jun28 June 08:59

    […] According to this when it was launched last week only BHX, EDI, and MAN. LHR was mentioned as being added this week, which it now has been. https://headforpoints.com/2016/06…usiness-class/ […]

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