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British Airways drops Abu Dhabi flights for Summer 2025

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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.

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Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (73)

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

  • SteveH says:
    17 Dec17 December 09:39

    I just called and switched to the direct flight to Dubai, which is where I wanted to go anyway so this has worked out well for me

  • SB says:
    17 Dec17 December 09:43

    Wait or not to wait? I waited with the KL cancellation and got direct Malaysian so glad I did.

    I didn’t wait yesterday as I had half term CW seats and so switched to DXB on same dates to get same o/n and daytime rtn flights. Didn’t want to run risk of QR stopover and then see that a direct Etihad deal hadn’t materialised. Also picked up another Avios CW seat on same flight and got plane upgrade to CS.

    As mentioned before, there may well be limited seats for both revenue and redemption over super peak times if the only direct option is BA. IMHO etc.

    • JDB says:
      17 Dec17 December 10:04

      Yes, waiting is often sensible advice, but when there’s a good option already available under the standard guidelines, it can be worth jumping in to secure seats before all the ‘waiters’ who are presumably hoping for Etihad to become an option, one which has its pluses and minuses.

      This route which has such a good alternative just down the road makes the cancellations easier to reroute than most.

  • Mark says:
    17 Dec17 December 10:08

    What business cancelled something without having a policy in place!! Oh yeah. BA just sums up their incompetence.

    • JDB says:
      17 Dec17 December 10:16

      Well, passengers are already being rebooked to their satisfaction under existing guidelines so the system is working just fine and not incompetent at all.

      • Mark says:
        17 Dec17 December 10:43

        What a load of rubbish!

        We’ve seen it time and time again where BA cancel a route but have no robust policy in place for CS staff to offer alternatives. And you seem to forget that 99% of the people on these flights won’t know their rights!

        • JDB says:
          17 Dec17 December 10:51

          @Mark – if they really don’t know their rights (and clearly far more than 1% do) there is a link to those rights on the cancellation email and if they were still uncertain there is just so much information that could be ascertained within seconds on Google.

          The standard guidelines of a reroute on BA or QR are permanently in place, as are various other options.

          • Callum says:
            18 Dec18 December 12:52

            @JDB – It’s 2024. You expect people to have a tiny shred of personal responsibility and inform themselves instead of revelling in ignorance!? Get with the times!

            That being said, I do think it’s ridiculous BA regularly cancel flights then only decide how to help people a few days later. It shouldn’t be beyond their wit to sort it out first. Granted you don’t want to give your competitors months notice of your route planning decisions, but a day or two shouldn’t hurt.

        • Erico1875 says:
          17 Dec17 December 13:58

          I think you are suggesting 99% of passengers to Abu Dhabi don’t know their rights. I would think most do. You are not special

      • Paul says:
        17 Dec17 December 12:12

        Are they? Flying to DXB is not AUH, that would be on EY. The law states that BA must reroute under comparable travel conditions and going to DXB unless that is where you want to go is not AUH. They are again abusing their position and casually ignoring that law.

        • JDB says:
          17 Dec17 December 12:33

          Well, it took until noon for the 261 taliban to turn up. The suggestion that EY is the only lawful alternative BA can offer is just so absurd.

          • Paul says:
            18 Dec18 December 08:12

            One could argue that the BA apologists turned up first. I didn’t say it was the only legal option I said it was comparable. BA deliberately obfuscate and lie to avoid their legal responsibilities.
            When a flight is cancelled it is the passenger who gets to choose, not the airline.

        • Nick says:
          17 Dec17 December 12:42

          Ok here’s the sensible (rather than hyperbolic) answer.

          If you actually want the option that’s available now, i.e. DXB, then there’s no harm at all in calling. It’s available and you’ll get it no problem – obviously a lot of people would have booked AUH for price or availability reasons in the first place so they’ll probably be delighted.

          If you actually want AUH, then wait. Something will be made available later that meets the legal requirements. As a reminder, BA can’t discuss route cancellations with competitors before they’re announced because of competition law (if you disagree with this and are qualified to offer legal advice, please get in touch, otherwise best stay quiet and leave it to the experts).

          If you’re not sure, it’s ok to wait. DXB absolutely will not be full yet – there just aren’t enough passengers booked on AUH to need to take them all. If there were, another route would have been picked instead! The only exception I’d make to this is if you’re booked in F and can’t be flexible on date, then you do want to get ahead of the pack.

          • JDB says:
            17 Dec17 December 13:47

            The DXB option may also work better for PE passengers given that EY doesn’t offer that cabin. Your 261 rights are also preserved sticking to BA.

  • Lumma says:
    17 Dec17 December 12:17

    “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.”

    Should this say “Etihad and Emirates”?

  • Andrea M says:
    17 Dec17 December 12:42

    Ive just phoned they now have an agreement with Etihad in place so just swapped flights for me same dates no extra cost

  • babyg_wc says:
    17 Dec17 December 12:56

    I actually chose QR so i could “hub” via DOHA to AUH earlier this month when my BA flight was cancelled, if you hub you get fly “first” from DOH-AUH and use the nice(r) lounge in DOHA… plus i could WFLounge in T4 which was very pleasant vs the T5 zoos

  • Chas says:
    17 Dec17 December 13:22

    Will my Avios cancellation rights be grandfathered into any new booking, even if that ends up being on a non-OneWorld partner? And how would free seat selection via OW status be treated in such a situation?

    • JDB says:
      17 Dec17 December 13:45

      No, in principle, you would not have any new 261 rights on any return Etihad flight. In theory, you might have them ‘grandfathered’ with BA as your agent for these flights if you are up for a fairly technical legal battle.

    • JDB says:
      17 Dec17 December 13:50

      You will still have the Avios cancellation rights as those are in the gift of BA.

      • Chas says:
        17 Dec17 December 16:49

        Thanks – I wasn’t expecting 261 rights, but was wondering how both cancellation for £35pp and seat selection worked as and when I’m flying with a different airline on what may not be tagged a redemption fare, and without their own status.

  • Kraut says:
    17 Dec17 December 14:06

    Are they cancelling any SYD routes due to the 787? Would be nice to get a Club World flight cancelled and then bumped onto a better carrier

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