Bits: Club World £1060 Dubai fares, BA stops awarding Avios and tier points for airberlin flights

News in brief:

Get £1,060 British Airways Club World fares to Dubai

About 10 years ago, for no logical reason, Lisbon was the holy grail of cheap British Airways Club World tickets.  You could be pretty certain that, wherever you wanted to go, the cheapest route would be by booking a flight out of Portugal.

As a one-off, this deal is back.

You can currently book a Club World return flight from Lisbon (or Porto or Funchal or Faro) to Dubai for €1,152 (£1,060).

There are very few restrictions:

you cannot travel before 1st November

you need to stay away for a Saturday night and

you need to book by 21st September.  

That’s it.  You can book as far in advance as the schedule allows, ie 355 days, as long as the cheapest Club World fare is not sold out.

For flexibility, due to the multiple departures per day, Lisbon is the easiest starting point.  Lisbon flights also go into Heathrow which is where the Dubai flight will depart from.  However, Funchal (Madeira) is 80 tier points to London compared with 40 tier points for Lisbon, Faro or Porto.

This fare will earn (40 + 140 + 140 + 40) 360 tier points if you start in Lisbon, Faro or Porto and (80 + 140 + 140 + 80) 440 tier points if you start in Funchal.

For €100 you are allowed a stopover in London.  On the way to Dubai, this will prove expensive because it will also trigger long haul premium class Air Passenger Duty. On the way back, it will only trigger short haul Air Passenger Duty back to Portugal.  You may want to build in a stopover on the way back and use the last leg for the first part of a weekend away in Portugal at another date.

On the outbound, you can have up to 24 hours in London from your landing time from Portugal without triggering Air Passenger Duty.  You could, for example, land from Lisbon at 21.20 on a Friday, go home (if you live nearby) and then return the next day with your suitcase to catch either the 12.35 or 20.40 flights to Dubai without triggering APD.

This is clearly a bit of a faff but if you are after a cheap fare, tier points, a pile of Avios and fancy a short break in Portugal it is worth a look.  Pop over to ba.com and have a play around.

British Airways no longer crediting airberlin flights

With airberlin and its loyalty scheme, Topbonus, in receivership, it seems that British Airways has decided to cut its losses.

Presumably on the grounds that they will never be paid for the points, you can no longer earn Avios or tier points in British Airways Executive Club from airberlin flights.  The only exception would be an airberlin codeshare carrying a BA flight number.

Whilst the airline still shows as a BA partner on this page of ba.com, you should ignore that.  This page of ba.com explains the new position.

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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 Mastercard

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

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.