Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

British Airways drops Abu Dhabi flights for Summer 2025

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

British Airways seems to be dropping Abu Dhabi flights for the summer season next year, which runs from the end of March to the end of October.

This could be a little embarrassing because there is an ‘Avios only’ flight due to depart on 18th April (Good Friday) and returning on Saturday 26th April.

Or at least there WAS an ‘Avios only’ flight running ….

British Airways cancels Abu Dhabi flights summer 2025

The timing is unfortunate. Most schools will break up for Easter on either Friday 28th March or Friday 4th April and return on Tuesday 22nd April.

I would suspect that the Abu Dhabi flights are very full over this period and it may be a squeeze to move everyone onto Dubai services. Qatar Airways is an option but hubbing via Doha is a pain given that Etihad and Abu Dhabi can get you into the region directly.

Has the curse of the 787 struck again?

British Airways returned to Abu Dhabi on 20th April 2024 after a four year break. It is a route operated by a Boeing 787 which is probably the reason for the cancellation.

This is the statement that British Airways put out when the Kuala Lumpur route was cancelled:

We’re disappointed that we’ve had such to make further changes to our schedule as we continue to experience delays to the delivery of engines and parts from Rolls-Royce – particularly in relation to the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines fitted to our 787 aircraft.

We’ve taken this action because we do not believe the issue will be solved quickly, and we want to offer our customers the certainty they deserve for their travel plans. We’ve apologised to those affected and are able to offer the vast majority a flight the same day with British Airways or one of our partner airlines. 

We continue to work closely with Rolls-Royce to ensure the company is aware of the impact its issues are having on our schedule and customers, and seek reassurance of a prompt and reliable solution.

As it happens, Kuala Lumpur is due to finally launch on 1st April. It is possible that British Airways is having to cancel Abu Dhabi to free up an aircraft.

What are you rebooking options?

British Airways has (added on Tuesday afternoon) now released rebooking guidelines – click here.

You can either:

  • rebook onto a British Airways flight to Dubai on ANY date, which could be handy
  • rebook onto an Etihad flight to Abu Dhabi within 14 days of your BA flight date
  • rebook onto a Qatar Airways flight to Abu Dhabi via Doha within 14 days of your BA flight date

In theory BA should give you Avios and tier points if you choose Etihad, although it will need chasing up. If you want a change from British Airways you can take your pick from two excellent airlines, although I’m not sure I would want to be spending time changing planes in Doha if I had a choice.

PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 65,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.

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

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.

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (73)

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

  • Andrew Smith says:
    17 Dec17 December 05:08

    Just received an email cancelling the return leg of an AUH to LHR to AUH booking with no alternative offered or available. Thanks BA! It seems crazy to cancel the route with no explanation and when the Easter holiday flights are always full.

    • @mkcol says:
      17 Dec17 December 07:58

      Will an explanation change the situation you’re now in? If not it’s superfluous.
      However not offering an alternative is poor form to say the least.

      • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:
        17 Dec17 December 08:13

        Except there WIlL be alternatives offered they just take a little time to come in.

  • NigelthePensioner says:
    17 Dec17 December 05:10

    Robbing Peter to pay Paul – great solution 👍🏻.

  • Chas says:
    17 Dec17 December 06:42

    I’m impacted by this cancellation, albeit outside of the key Easter holiday period. No alternatives showing in MMB (was 2 x redemption tickets in CW). As a regular reader I’m fully aware of BA’s obligation to get me to/from my destination, but tactically what’s the best approach here – wait a while until they sort out a rerouting with Etihad, or spend ages on the phone now trying to get through, only to be told “computer says no”?

    • LittleNick says:
      17 Dec17 December 07:15

      QR will be BA’s preferred option if not BA into Dubai. Could be wrong but honestly not sure if you’ll get Etihad directly from BA without going to court etc

      • Chas says:
        17 Dec17 December 08:37

        I’m not surprised that flights to Dubai will be their preference, but it certainly wouldn’t be mine…! Whilst I know that I should be able to reclaim the transfer costs between the two airports, BA cheekily have a message on the MMB page saying that if I accept a different airport then I can’t claim additional costs such as taxis from them.

    • 787driver says:
      17 Dec17 December 07:48

      After the KL cancellation fiasco, I waited a week before using the online chat. After the week wait, the policy was in place with the agents that allowed a replacement flight of my choosing (Malaysian)

  • The Original Nick. says:
    17 Dec17 December 06:50

    No alternative flight showing for me either. I’ll be calling today. I’ll try and get on the LHR – DXB flight.

    • Pbdj says:
      17 Dec17 December 09:04

      As advised so many times on other comments – don’t ring today! They won’t have a policy in place yet

  • Andrew says:
    17 Dec17 December 06:56

    Don’t bother. I’m going with another airline, they’ve done the same with me on another route, after I tried to switch to a partner airline and them being rude and obnoxious I switched out to Virgin Atlantic.

  • SH says:
    17 Dec17 December 07:20

    Here in the UAE market these flights haven’t been marketed very effectively, but they have consistently been trumpeted on the BA UAE website hero section basically as being a cheaper way to get to London than departing from Dubai. But it’s never been that much cheaper.

    Most British expats here are either Emirates-devotees or price conscious enough that they’ll just book whatever is cheapest out of Dubai. Abu Dhabi is a two hour drive down the road and the parking at UAE airports is expensive (unlike the entire rest of the country where it’s cheap as chips).

    BA could have increased British expat traffic if they’d done a deal with Abu Dhabi airport on the parking.

  • LD27 says:
    17 Dec17 December 07:45

    We’ve been looking at Avios flights to Asia for next year. We were surprised at how many off peak business seats were available to Singapore and KL after April. When I saw Abu Dhabi was being dropped over the summer, it did occur to me the plane might be used for KL – they are both scheduled for 787.

  • Bervios says:
    17 Dec17 December 08:14

    It was said many , many times on the KL post, but don’t waste your time calling UNTILL official rebooking guidelines have been released to BA agents for this affected route. This normally takes about a week.

    • marks7389 says:
      17 Dec17 December 08:41

      Often quicker than a week, although it did take a week when KL was cancelled. When it is finalised, the policy will appear here:

      https://www.britishairways.com/travel-partner-connect/disruptions

    • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:
      17 Dec17 December 09:07

      Waiting is good advice for all cancellations (unless the flight is imminent).

      I’ve dropped myself in it before by rushing when if I’d waited I could have cancelled and rebooked for a lower fare or changed my dates after spending a little time to reconsider things.

      Patience is a virtue her bounties to behold.

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Get 25,000 Avios with the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

GET A SIGN-UP BONUS OF 18,000 VIRGIN POINTS!

Latest Forum Posts

Get 80,000 bonus points (worth 80,000 Avios) and £400 of dining credit with The Platinum Card (Offer ends 27th May)

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get up to 10,000 bonus Hilton Honors points

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? GET THE ONLY FREE SMALL BUSINESS CREDIT CARD WHICH CAN EARN AVIOS

Get points worth 30,000 Avios with 'first year free' American Express Gold (ends 27th May)

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.

Got it!