Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Lots of Dubai Club World and First Avios seats (4+ per flight) over October half term

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

A quick note to say that British Airways has opened up a lot of Avios availability to Dubai at the start of the Winter flying season, from Sunday 29th October.

I don’t know if this is a new service or not, but there is an A380 rostered on the route with huge amounts of reward availability showing.

Remember that you don’t get Club Suite on the A380 – it’s the old style business class seat.

British Airways Dubai half term Avios availability

If you’ve got kids AND your October half-term is from 28th October (many schools have half term the week before, but some children get two weeks off from 21st October and some will have the w/c 28th October off) then jump in now.

Here is availability in business class and First Class for FOUR people in late October and early November, courtesy of our preferred seat reward notification partner SeatSpy (and I only know of these seats because I got a SeatSpy alert an hour ago). This was correct at 10am on Thursday:

British Airways Dubai half term Avios availability

A green circle means ‘at least four seats in Club World’. A red circle means ‘at least four seats in First Class’.

If you’re a teacher and only want one or two seats for half term, you’ll find even better availability. The snag is that the seats only appear from Sunday 29th October which is the start of the new flying season which is too late for some schools.


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 (24)

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

  • Robert says:

    The return legs aren’t showing when I’ve gone to book on ba.com

    • Rob says:

      I’ve booked one, they are (were) there. I’m guessing a lot of SeatSpy people got the same notification at 9am.

      • Robert says:

        The ‘full year search’ showed none , but when I searched for my specific dates I managed to get 1st out and Biz back.

        • Rob says:

          Do note that, with the new pricing structure, First out and Business back costs more than First out, First back, so I’d be looking up upgrade the return and get a partial refund!

          https://www.headforpoints.com/2022/12/13/first-class-avios-points-flight-price/

          • Robert says:

            Ah yes, I had forgotten that! There was me thinking the combination might’ve been a sweet spot. I’ll stick to Biz both ways, as it’s a short flight to justify the £’s for 1st when I’ve got the Avios pile to use. Also using my last old type 2-4-1 voucher.

          • Shamrock says:

            Rob, I have return to Dubai from LHR. First out and club back next year. Used BA 2for1. 148k points and £1433 for both.
            Had a look at your link but wonder if I’m missing a trick on the upgrade to first back. Not sure what to do? Thanks

          • Rob says:

            F return (off peak) for 2 people on a 241 is 136k Avios + £1425 using a 241 so, yes, you’ve got a bad deal and will get a refund of 12k Avios and £8 if you upgrade (less £35 per person change fee). Maths is different on peak dates.

  • Qrfan says:

    First would be good but I have you say after taking the a380 club world last year I promised myself I wasn’t spending money on surcharges to take it again. One toilet out of order. Seats not reclining properly all over the cabin. Storage cabinets literally being taped shut with bandage tape from the first aid kit. Really not up to scratch.

    • The real Swiss Tony says:

      Perhaps you got unlucky or BA are no ontop of this stuff. Flew F to JoBurg and back in the A380 – was very impressed by the general condition of the cabin.

      • Qrfan says:

        Neither. You flew in first, which was recently refitted. The club cabin, which I flew in per my post, is in poor condition on the a380.

  • babyg says:

    shame this doesnt cover the f1 weekend in abu dhabi…. i do like flying BA a380 first – both for the plane, and the fact it has the legacy avios pricing…

    • Rob says:

      Look at the new Air France flights to Abu Dhabi, wide open for rewards and bookable with Virgin Points.

      • babyg says:

        cheers rob… on to it!

        • Rob says:

          PS. Whilst you can see availability online, the Virgin website always falls over when it comes to payment so you are very likely to end up calling.

          • gundam says:

            If I find reward seats on Air France using seatspy, is that same availability bookable with Virgin or it’s not that simple?

          • Rob says:

            No. SeatSpy will show availability for every day because AF KLM will sell you any seat for points – they just want 1m points on expensive days! It’s all revenue based.

            You need to manually use the Virgin Atlantic website to search and then (once the booking fails to complete) call Virgin to book.

            It’s not difficult – they show you a matrix with +/- 3 days availability from the initial days you select.

          • TGLoyalty says:

            only if its a standard priced reward

          • babyg says:

            found some AirFrance flights on Virgin, thou very limited availability for the dates i need (nov 22-27 +/-1day)… some additional flights if i do DXB and return to CDG…. thanks rob useful tip…

  • Shamrock says:

    Thanks Rob, phoned BA and they confirmed lower points. No availability at the moment for me to upgrade to first return. Will keep eye if things change. But never knew this so very grateful to you.

  • GeoffreyB says:

    Might go here instead of Spain.

    • Ben says:

      With the added benefit of not being sent to the UK only passport gates when you depart

  • Asdfghjkl says:

    I don’t get it. Aren’t these reward seats supposed to be released a year before?

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

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.