Dubai: British Airways to announce an ‘Avios only’ flight for October half-term

EDIT: This is now bookable, see this article (click)

On Monday night Sean Doyle, Chairman and CEO of British Airways, invited us round to his lounge for Christmas drinks.

Not the lounge of his house – the Arrivals Lounge in Heathrow Terminal 5.

Despite the grumbling of the assembled media pack on the Heathrow Express (which had cancelled half of its trains), it was a well planned and well run event. Media goodie bags also returned after a four year absence so clearly things are picking up!

Sean made a few surprise announcements, two of which I am covering today.

The first is very interesting for parents. British Airways will run an ‘Avios only’ flight to Dubai during October half-term in 2024.

This will be the first long haul flight to operate under the ‘Avios only’ scheme.

ALL seats in ALL cabins, including Club Suite and First Class, will be made available for redemption. It is likely to be the older First Class seat, not the new version with the door, with an 8-seat cabin.

When will the ‘Avios only’ flight run?

We are expecting the announcement to come during Tuesday, although we can’t be sure about that.

One issue is that October half-term tends to vary amongst schools. Private schools tend to get two weeks off whilst state schools usually have just one week.

It is possible that the flights were loaded overnight and may be bookable by the time you read this.

My best guess is that they will run on Saturday 26th October outbound and Saturday 2nd November inbound, but we could be a week out.

The following flights were mysteriously missing from the timetable on Monday night, based on what is running on the previous / following Saturdays:

• Saturday 26th October – 20.40 Heathrow, lands 07.45 Dubai

• Saturday 2nd November – 13.35 Dubai, lands 17.25 Heathrow

It is likely to be a four-class Boeing 777 with Club Suite.

The pricing options will be something like this (but probably not exactly this) for Club Suite:

• 180,000 Avios + £350
• 150,000 Avios + £537
• 120,000 Avios + £726
• 104,000 Avios + £1,000
• 72,000 Avios + £1,260
• 48,000 Avios + £1,265

If you DO have a British Airways American Express 2-4-1 voucher AND you value an Avios at 1p, the cheapest option is 180,000 Avios + £350 (ie 180,000 Avios + £700 for two people). The 150,000 and 120,000 Avios options are not far off. The worst deal is, oddly, the 72,000 Avios option.

If you do NOT have a companion voucher AND you value an Avios at 1p, the cheapest option is 48,000 Avios + £1,265 per person. The other options are not a lot worse except for the 180,000 Avios deal.

Keep an eye on HfP for updates

If we get an update on this service during Tuesday we’ll run an additional article.

Kudos for British Airways for doing this, because it won’t stack up financially given that it could easily sell this flight for cash at premium school holiday pricing.

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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:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

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.

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.

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

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.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.