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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.

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.

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Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

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)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • RIccati says:
    24 Jun24 June 05:33

    They are going to lose on the pound by selling this £975 fare!

  • Jonathan says:
    24 Jun24 June 05:35

    OT: but I’m guessing there’s some travel websites that are a bit slow pricing in the GBP FX fall. Could see some spikes in GBP cost tomorrow.

    • RIccati says:
      24 Jun24 June 05:56

      QF couldn’t foresee this sharp fall in pound when putting the promotion in place.

      • Jonathan says:
        24 Jun24 June 06:10

        Other websites as well price the underlying holiday in USD or EUR and convert to GBP based on fx. There must be a lag in their FX rates.

  • Hingeless says:
    24 Jun24 June 05:59

    OT (or is it): So what happens to European travel as a result of Brexit, do we start to get stamps on our passports again?

    • Jonathan says:
      24 Jun24 June 06:09

      I believe, at the earliest not for another 18 months. To be decided in negotiations over the coming months / years.

    • Bob says:
      24 Jun24 June 06:22

      It should be like for the citizens of Norway or Switzerland, before they joined the schengen area, just a visual control of passport.

      The change may/will be that the EU and the US may not have time to listen to the UK point of vue…

      • John says:
        24 Jun24 June 07:17

        Nobody knows if the UK will remain in the EEA or EFTA yet.

        Norwegian and Swiss citizens have freedom of movement within the EEA, which is not related to Schengen.

        • Alan says:
          24 Jun24 June 09:38

          Indeed and if we do it will likely cost us the same as it does now and we’ll be subject to the same regulations, but with no say in the way they are formed. What a great result…

    • Alan says:
      24 Jun24 June 09:36

      All depends on our future relationship with the EU. If part of the EEA like Norway then we’d still have free movement. Leave campaign of course offered zero detail in that regard…

      • Bob says:
        24 Jun24 June 09:43

        And free movement for us will entail the same in the other direction. Of course. As The Economist puts it, yesterday was ‘a senseless self-inflicted blow’.

        • Alan says:
          24 Jun24 June 10:55

          Absolutely!!

          • harry says:
            24 Jun24 June 11:04

            We have to make the best of it. Too late for UK but it should be a massive wake-up call for the people promoting the ever greater union/ European project thing and with any luck we’ll see a properly reformed EU in 10 years’ time.

            What I worry about immediately is Scotland/ reunification of Ireland but I guess we can handle those if they happen. Don’t fancy Irish violence, though, had enough of that.

            And what about my retirement plans? Hope they don’t get scuppered but I imagine nothing much will change, we’ll still end up with free movement of people (if not the exact same model).

          • John says:
            24 Jun24 June 11:43

            There’s plenty of violence in Dublin and Belfast already (although nothing like the level in, say, New York or parts of Paris).

            The Garda Immigration Bureau carries out regular spotchecks of travellers north to South, but the PSNI/laughable border force rarely bothers in the other direction.

            Any extra controls will be at GB ferry terminals, but since 9/11 that’s hardly a new phenomenon.

            ROI citizens living in UK were able to vote in the referendum for obvious historical reasons, and the Common Travel Area between ROI and UK will continue also.

  • Mark says:
    24 Jun24 June 06:15

    Small point but these fares will earn 400 tier points and not the 360 claimed as the DOH-DXB books into first and so 60 points per sector

    • Raffles says:
      24 Jun24 June 09:45

      I thought they were now selling that as J to stop passengers accessing the F lounge? Food was also being downgraded I thought?

      • Sarah G says:
        24 Jun24 June 10:33

        When I do a dummy booking they are showing as booking into R for the business leg, then A for the First leg from DOH.

        • Rob says:
          24 Jun24 June 10:36

          In that case, 400 TP it is.

          • Janine says:
            24 Jun24 June 13:54

            Flew BRU-DOH-DXB rtn 2 weeks ago, and indeed got both access into the F lounge, and 400 TP

          • Andrew says:
            24 Jun24 June 17:32

            +1. And they do the welcome dates and Arabic coffee which is only offered in F on long-haul.

      • Planeflyer says:
        25 Jun25 June 10:23

        If all the intra-Gulf routes were changed from F to J, then there wouldn’t be anyone in the F lounge! As it is, there’s only longhual F sold to CDG/LHR/BKK.

  • harry says:
    24 Jun24 June 07:00

    Can still buy USD on Sainsbury’s Travel money for £/$1.44

    • Chris says:
      24 Jun24 June 07:19

      Thanks Harry. Seemed sensible in light of this morning so just bought some

  • Boris says:
    24 Jun24 June 07:41

    That price going South…

  • Paul says:
    24 Jun24 June 08:05

    Well if things don’t get better they wont be able to give them away as few will be able to leave the sinking ship

  • James A says:
    24 Jun24 June 08:15

    Turkish have started undercutting this morning, selling returns from MAN for £943.

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