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British Airways relaunches Abu Dhabi flights, wide open for Avios redemptions

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British Airways is returning to Abu Dhabi after a four year break.

Flights will operate year-round and start on 20th April 2024.

For the summer 2024 season it will be operated with a Boeing 787-9, which means the old Club World seat unless you get lucky. Only the 787-10 fleet came with Club Suite installed on delivery. It is implied that the aircraft type may change for the busier winter season although it currently shows a Boeing 787.

British Airways to relaunch Abu Dhabi flights

Even better, British Airways will be using the brand new Terminal A at Abu Dhabi, as seen in the latest Mission Impossible film. This is due to open to the public in two weeks after a bizarrely long construction period.

Whilst Abu Dhabi is well worth a holiday in its own right, it is also a surprisingly quick and cheap taxi ride to Dubai as the airport is on the Dubai side of the city. I have have done this many times, either due to cheaper fares or better Avios availability into Abu Dhabi vs Dubai, or because I managed to use Etihad Guest miles on Etihad.

There will be no change to the existing Dubai flight pattern, with up to three daily flights continuing.

Special cash deals are available

To promote the new route, British Airways is offering discounted fares for bookings made by 12th November 2023.

World Traveller fares will be offered from £449 whilst Club World will cost from £1,999. Amusingly, because there is no World Traveller Plus offer, Club World is cheaper on some dates.

The 12th November cut-off should mean that you could lock in a deal for October half term 2024, as you would be able to book for travel up to 2nd November 2024 by that point.

What is the service pattern?

Flights will operate daily.

The big problem is that the outbound flight is overnight. You will find yourself in Abu Dhabi in the early morning with a good chance of not having access to your hotel room for another seven hours.

The upside is that the return flight time is civilised.

Outbound flights depart Heathrow at 22.25, arriving in Abu Dhabi at 08.30 the next day.

The return flight leaves Abu Dhabi at 10.10, landing at Heathrow at 15.20.

Avios flights are now bookable

Flights are already bookable for cash or Avios.

Remember that there are four guaranteed Club World seats per flight available, plus two guaranteed World Traveller Plus seats and eight in World Travellers.

Club World pricing on a typical off peak date is:

  • 160,000 Avios + £350
  • 130,000 Avios + £640
  • 100,000 Avios + £850
  • 88,000 Avios + £1,240
  • 64,000 Avios + £1,480
  • 50,000 Avios + £1,790

Using a notional 1p per Avios valuation, the best value option would be 100,000 Avios + £850. However, if you are using a British Airways American Express 2-4-1 companion voucher, the first option is the best deal.

If you wanted to lock in a break for late September next year you can do so now. Tickets for later dates will open up at the usual 355 days before departure.

You can check out pricing and availability on ba.com here. BA Holidays packages will also be available here.

PS. The image at the top is the Emirates Palace hotel which is now run by Mandarin Oriental

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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

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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 (60)

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

  • babyg_wc says:
    19 Oct19 October 15:21

    paying cash (£2k) is a better deal… (obvs without the same flexibility as an Avios booking).. or better still fly QR via points and you will be booked into first class for the DOH-AUH leg…

  • Vit says:
    19 Oct19 October 15:31

    Brilliant! Now, they can also bring back BKK and KUL. 🙂

  • Aston100 says:
    19 Oct19 October 15:39

    A 10:10 morning departure means a wasted day.
    I for one would prefer an overnight flight.

    • Rob says:
      19 Oct19 October 15:47

      You don’t get much done when you land at 8.30 after 3 hours sleep with a couple of grumpy kids and no hotel room available.

      However, I have been known to do the first night near the airport after landing at 10pm because if you’re paying £500 per night – bare minimum for a decent beach place in season – it makes the first night poor value.

      • Blenz101 says:
        19 Oct19 October 17:37

        Hilton day rooms in the UAE remain cheap as chips and available from 9am. Usually as Diamond you are invited to join for breakfast, plus you can have a shower in the room, let the kids use the pool, grab some rest as needed and head to your beach resort later in the day.

        • meta says:
          19 Oct19 October 21:22

          And as a Diamond I have been given early check-ins at from 8am, especially at Conrad. If you choose the hotel that has many rooms, you will be fine. Even if not, they can usually give you a spare room (all hotels keep at least one such room) to use while you actual room is being prepared. You just need to ask.

        • Harry T says:
          19 Oct19 October 21:28

          Was gonna say, it’s really easy to get early check in or late checkout in the UAE.

      • Alex Sm says:
        20 Oct20 October 10:26

        You are over-projecting your own experience on others 🙂

        • meta says:
          20 Oct20 October 11:03

          No, it’s every time. You just ask. Of course, if you don’t ask, you don’t get. I also understand that some people are more adept at asking than others.

  • Miles. OnPoint. says:
    19 Oct19 October 15:52

    Would be great to see the Muscat (MCT) tag flight added back to this route (BA previously flew LHR-AUH-MCT).

    BA 2for1 one redemptions to Oman would be a fantastic addition (not interested in travelling to UAE, personally).

    • Richie says:
      19 Oct19 October 16:54

      BTW Oman Air is joining OW next year.

      • Miles. OnPoint. says:
        19 Oct19 October 18:13

        Yeah, have that on my radar, thank you. Doesn’t change the lack of BA metal (and thus Amex voucher eligibility) on that route but will be interesting to see how much Oman Air awards price up at (especially the fees and charges component).

  • Ted says:
    19 Oct19 October 16:16

    Wish they’d restart BKK and add more Asia reward seats in general.

  • Joan says:
    19 Oct19 October 17:01

    Looking at using a companion voucher for Abu Dhabi maybe October 2024. Any nice hotel recommendations with club lounge ? ( We enjoyed Le Royal Meridien Dubai with club lounge last year … not least because we got a surprise upgrade to a huge suite !)

    • StanTheMan says:
      19 Oct19 October 17:08

      Ritz Carlton or Conrad.

      • Joan says:
        19 Oct19 October 17:17

        Thank you Stan 😊

        • TJ says:
          19 Oct19 October 19:56

          I’ll be at both in a couple of weeks. Rates are pretty good but use Emyr to squeeze some more value out of your stay.

      • Rob says:
        19 Oct19 October 17:44

        We reviewed Conrad when it was the Jumeirah – city hotel with a modest but ok beach.

      • babyg_wc says:
        19 Oct19 October 20:33

        when i was there last year Conrad didn’t have a lounge for its diamond members… just drinks/nibbles in the evening..

        • Rob says:
          19 Oct19 October 20:42

          InterCon has a lounge. We reviewed it about 6-7 years ago, hotel itself is a big knackered but the private beach is impressive. Frankly I’d go for one of the Saadiyat beach resorts though, although I say never having stayed in one!

    • mrs_fussy says:
      20 Oct20 October 08:12

      If you are looking at a beach holiday – check out St Regis Saadiyat. The beach rivals the Maldives and their suites ( if interested ) are AMAZING, we used SNR’s. Plus breakfast is served till 1pm

  • Sam says:
    19 Oct19 October 17:17

    This would have been ideal for us. Unfortunately due to BA’s ongoing IT glitch, the website does not allow me to book a reward flight when I select 2 x adults and 2 x children (despite me having the points to do so).

    I get the usual:
    Error
    There was a problem with your request, please try again later.

    It only takes me to the following flights/availability page when go back and select just 2 adults (with a number of flights showing 8 seats available), so this is clearly an IT issue.
    I’ve raised on the forum, not sure if others are aware.
    It only seems to be an issue with certain destinations (Dubai being another).

  • Novice says:
    19 Oct19 October 19:28

    @Rob or anyone else, I have an upgrade voucher so if I redeem avios for PE and use the voucher as well then can I do that? As in use only avios for PE or Economy and get upgraded or is that only for cash booking?

    Another question is, is the upgrade voucher applied to the entire return leg or just one way?

    Thanks whoever answers 🙏

    • yonasl says:
      19 Oct19 October 19:57

      There is a whole article on how to use the upgrade voucher. The first paragraph on that article basically says “this is not an upgrade voucher”. Go read it, it has all you need.

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