Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

More BA Avios seats to Dubai and Miami released for December, including First, on the A380

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We ran an article yesterday highlighting the unbelievable Avios reward space available in Club World to Dubai over Christmas and New Year. This was due to an extra British Airways service being added.

If you missed out (and all the seats in Club had gone by last night), don’t worry.

The A380 has just been added to the schedule, replacing an existing flight, and has led to more Club World and some First Class Avios seats being released.

Here is a SeatSpy screenshot showing dates with at least TWO Club World and/or First Class seats available.

It was taken at 4.30pm on Thursday. Green is Business, Red is First.

Unfortuately there is nothing available coming home after Christmas Day, so you will be looking at going out earlier in December.

British AIrways seats to Dubai Avios

Outbound is on the left, return flights are on the right. The darker circles are peak dates in terms of Avios pricing.

There is also a lot of Miami availability. This is for two people in Club World – I don’t know how much is A380 – from SeatSpy at 4.30pm:

Miami Avios availablity

If you’re looking for a Dubai hotel, Rhys has just returned from nine nights in Dubai checking out various Marriott Bonvoy properties. A series of reviews will follow in a couple of weeks.

I would strongly consider buying hotel points over this period, as we did for our Waldorf Astoria The Palm Dubai trip last Christmas. We cut our bill for 5 nights from £3,200 to £1,250. IHG has a bonus running to 8th October, Marriott has a bonus running to 14th October and Hyatt has a bonus running to 31st October – Marriott is the only one with beachside hotels.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

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

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 £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.

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

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a 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, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 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.

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 sign-up bonus 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.

Comments (22)

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

  • Lady London says:

    I am so glad for British Airways that they have been able to have the confidence to reinstate these flights. And very glad to see the A380 brought back.

    • Babyg says:

      I am glad i nabbed my first seats on the a380 and then posted on hfp 🙂 am i right that a plain old gold can guest one person into the CCR when flying first?

      • meta says:

        You can all slum it on BA, I am flying Emirates on award tickets at the same time😂

        • Babyg says:

          you win… sadly i don’t have any meaningful way to acquire emirate points..

          • Save East Coast Rewards says:

            At least you won’t have the urge to gouge your eyes out on BA. Too much bling on EK!

      • Jonathan says:

        Anyone in First is allowed 1 guest in the CCR.

    • ChrisW says:

      It’s a really nice sign of confidence in the return of international travel

      • Chaz says:

        Confidence to a point. This increase is clearly a leisure focused boost and generally, these tickets go for way less than flex / club etc. There are plenty of examples where folk wont travel for work as its “risky” but for a holiday, not a bother.

        So in short, good, but the economics for the airline are totally warped at the moment.

  • Nicholas says:

    Thanks Rob, managed to grab 3 first seats. Amazing that time of the year

  • KBuffett says:

    Looks like First to DXB have pretty much all gone…

  • DK says:

    Has anyone stayed at Crowne Plaza Marina – do they give complementary lounge access for spire members? Alternatively, what are the best areas to stay in? Also thinking hotel indigo in downtown and the new staybridge in internet city.

    • Blenz101 says:

      Depends what kind of trip you are planning. I can’t think why any tourist would want to stay in internet city, it would be like staying in a business park in the U.K. unless all you want is a room and will be out all day / night.

      • DK says:

        The Staybridge in Internet City seems to be very cheap and decent and I was wondering if it was an area easy to access as a tourist. To be honest I have absolutely no idea where to stay, I’ve already booked the flights and I want to spend a few days in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and potentially even Oman if that’s even accessible from the UAE. Any recommendation welcome.

        And Rob, you seem to like Dubai so much you should be writing some article for where to stay /what to do for us who have never been!

        • Blenz101 says:

          The standard of hotels in Dubai is high with spacious rooms and good service levels. My point was that Internet City is a business district so lacks any real facilities tourist or resident may want i.e. you won’t be walking out of your hotel to find food in the evenings. If you just want a room it will be fine and you can easily and very cheaply get a taxi elsewhere in the city. It will priced to reflect this.

          Oman is a 5 hour drive or more sensibly can fly relatively cheaply. Abu Dhabi around an hour.

          In terms of areas to stay Jumeirah, Palm or JBR are popular beach front areas. Marina has its own charms, plenty of bars and restaurants and is a short walk to the beach at JBR plus has easy tram and metro access. Jumeirah has the Madinat again very popular tourist spot. JLT could be another cheap option this time of year as you can cross easily to the Maria via the metro footbridges.

          Downtown is another option if you are not looking for a beach holiday. Very near Dubai Mall, lots of restaurants and nightlife.

          You will see hotels cheaply in old Dubai nearer the airport but I would avoid as there are a distance from where you will likely want to be as a tourist with the exception of seeking the gold and spice souks in the area.

          Also, the Expo is getting great reviews, I am going to have a look this weekend but everyone I’ve spoken to who has been has raved over it.

          If you have never been before just know the city isn’t walkable, it’s designed for cars so even if something looks close on a map if there is a main road it is likely best to assume you can’t cross it.

          • DK says:

            Thanks for your comprehensive report. So would you recommend renting a car?

          • Rob says:

            Good grief no. The standard of driving is terrible and taxis are, effectively, free by British standards. Only airport trips make a dent in your wallet due to the surcharge. You’ll pay, for example, £2 from a Jumeirah Beach hotel to Mall of the Emirates. It’s only £40 to Abu Dhabi or Ras. Uber works fine too.

          • Denis says:

            Blenz, can you please recommend any particular shows/exhibitions etc at Expo? I am in Dubai Oct 19-21 and Dec 20 onwards. Thank you in advance.

          • Blenz101 says:

            Agree with Rob about not needing a car as a tourist. The roads take some getting used to and one wrong turn can double the length of any journey. Nowhere in the city is really more than 20mins from anywhere else. If you stay near a metro line then you have further options.

            Denis – I will report back later next week after I have been first hand. You can download the app to see the programme. I know the red arrows are here from the U.K. today, Australia seem popular with expats as there are doing lots of live music, BBQ and beers. UAE pavilion is supposed to be impressive as well as the sustainability stuff. I think there are 190 countries and the site is vast so plan to spend a few days!

  • Cheshire Pete says:

    Regarding Miami, I wonder if they’ll reinstate the 380 going into February and March also. Like some others a month or so back, we got an involuntary downgrade to CW when they initially pulled it. If so, will we get our seats back before the stampede LOL!

  • Babyg says:

    for those interested, there is bunch more “return” reward seats loaded now… DXB-LHR…

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