Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Get 25% off Avios redemptions to the Middle East – but not with a BA Amex 241 voucher

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British Airways Executive Club and avios.com are offering a 25% discount on Avios redemptions to the Middle East booked via their respective websites.  Full details can be found here.

This seems a slightly odd time to launch a Middle East sale, with the peak travel period to the region coming up.  I get a feeling that British Airways has been hit by a nasty combination of:

Atlantis Dubai

falling leisure demand (the UAE currencies are pegged to the US$ so everything has got 20% more expensive in £ terms in recent weeks)

increased capacity (Doha and Muscat are to get their own dedicated flights instead of being tagged on to existing services)

falling corporate travel demand post the EU referendum

massively strong competition from Etihad, Emirates and Qatar – exacerbated by the fact that you can earn Avios and tier points on Qatar and, as long as you book it as a Qantas codeshare, Emirates

The 25% discount is valid on:

Abu Dhabi

Bahrain

Doha

Dubai

Muscat

You can travel in:

World Traveller

World Traveller Plus

Club World

…. but not First.

You must book by 7th August and travel before 11th December.

The EARLIEST travel date varies by route:

Abu Dhabi – 1st September for WT, 21st July for WTP, 1st November for CW

Bahrain – 1st September for WT, 1st October for WTP, 1st November for CW

Doha – immediately

Dubai – 1st September for WT, 21st July for WTP and CW

Muscat – immediately

The discount applies to both one-way and return tickets.

Full taxes must be paid – these are not discounted by 25%!

The offer CANNOT be combined with a British Airways American Express 2-4-1 voucher.  This is a rather odd decision in my view – BA either wants to fill seats or it doesn’t.  The Middle East is not exactly a top choice if you want a break on your own compared to, say, New York.  It isn’t clear if you would be blocked from using a Lloyds Avios Rewards upgrade voucher.

It cannot be added retrospectively to an existing booking.  If availability is still there for a booked flight, you need to weigh up the £35 per person cancellation fee against the Avios saved from rebooking.

If you are heading to Dubai, remember my handy tip.  Flying into Abu Dhabi is more sensible – you land three hours earlier than the first BA Dubai flight and you get to fly a new Boeing 787.  A taxi into Dubai will only be £40 and, time wise, it adds 30 minutes at most to your transfer if you staying near The Palm.

Remember that Doha and Muscat are new routes and you will find the best Avios availability there.  From Doha you can use 4,500 Avios each way for connections on Qatar Airways to elsewhere in the region.

Read all the small print before booking – details are on the Executive Club news pages here.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

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 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 card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 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

30,000 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 £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee 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, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

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

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit 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.

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (38)

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

  • Tracy says:
    21 Jul21 July 07:02

    Shame Tel Aviv isn’t included.

  • Alex says:
    21 Jul21 July 07:20

    If I search for 2 people without my companion voucher, the discount is applied. However when I search with my voucher it doesn’t. Can anyone confirm they have managed to book using the 2-4-1 with the 25% discount?

    • Rob says:
      21 Jul21 July 07:47

      Thanks. Darn …. you’re right. Apologies. I couldn’t check this yesterday because I don’t have a 241 in my account but, when these offers have run in the past, they have always combined with the voucher. Article amended.

      This is an odd decision on BA’s behalf.

  • RIccati says:
    21 Jul21 July 08:14

    Can I note, for the record, that I commented about an immediate loss in purchase power for GBP (us going abroad) if the public votes for Brexit to the effect of same number 20% and was, well, heckled.

    The real reason for the weak GBP are problems with the widening current account deficit — the country needs capital inflows. Brexit introduced uncertainty about whether there will be capital inflows sent to the financial hub of London.

    • John says:
      21 Jul21 July 09:05

      But the pound hasn’t actually fallen by 20%, has it? (yet)

      If we use 1.5 (which has not been the case since several months before the referendum was even announced, and only briefly re-touched at the last opportunity to buy “cheap” pounds in the event of REMAIN) then that’s at best a 15% decline

      GBP against EUR is more like a 10% fall

      GBP against AUD is back to where it was 2 years ago though that says more about Australia than the UK

      The only major currency which has done well is JPY

      • Rob says:
        21 Jul21 July 09:34

        A 15% fall is a 17.6% price increase if we’re being picky 🙂

  • Samia says:
    21 Jul21 July 08:32

    If you are using MR points you can also connect through Paris with 4,500 points on BA and then fly with KLM – they are currently offering 50% discount on Economy redemption to Abu Dhabi at the moment (50% on Business to Doha and 25% Economy to Dubai).

  • Simmo says:
    21 Jul21 July 08:48

    Can these fare then be upgraded to First?
    OR would it not take into account the 25% discount? i.e difference between the full price avios amount of First and Club?

  • BlueHorizonUK says:
    21 Jul21 July 09:08

    Are we sure he deal has started as the terms and conditions says it begins at 12

  • Dave says:
    21 Jul21 July 09:15

    OT: Any chance another BA sale will appear before November?

    • Sss says:
      21 Jul21 July 21:37

      I am certain they will, but who knows which cabins and routes will be included. I booked in early October last year and got a rtn to Singapore in WTP for around £1k, pretty sure it was a sale.

  • Simmo says:
    21 Jul21 July 09:21

    After having a play around with this, It seems a great opportunity to take benefit of an ex-EU also.
    I’ve found a nice little way of saving cash for those avios rich, and cash poor.

    LHR-DOH-LHR (British Airways) 150,000 Avios + £ 936 (2 people in Club World)

    LHR-MUC-DOH-LHR (British Airways, Qatar, British Airways) 165,500 Avios + £ 585 (2 people in CE, Business, Club World)

    15,500 Avios to save £351 , can’t complain at that!

    • Rob says:
      21 Jul21 July 09:29

      Surely 3 tickets would be even cheaper because you’d save the long haul premium APD? BA would not check your bags through in Munich though.

      • Simmo says:
        21 Jul21 July 10:40

        Strangely it doesn’t????

        LHR-FRA (British Airways) 9,000 Avios + £ 25.00pp
        FRA-DOH (Qatar) 37,500 Avios + £ 162pp
        DOH-LHR (British Airways, Offpeak) 37,500 Avios + £ 171pp
        x2 =168,000 Avios + £716 for 2

        LHR-FRA-DOH-LHR 165,500 Avios + £ 591 for 2

        Dates I checked 08/09/16 -22/09/16 (off peak)

        • Simmo says:
          21 Jul21 July 10:45

          Ok something very strange is happening…

          LHR-DXB-DOH-LHR (BA, Qatar, BA) – given the Qatar flight is Eco
          = 159,000 Avios + £ 557.70

    • BlueHorizonUK says:
      21 Jul21 July 09:44

      is that booked as one ticket or two?

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

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