One of the best Avios redemptions gets twice as easy to find

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airberlin announced on Tuesday that they are doubling the frequency of their Berlin to Abu Dhabi service. There will now be two flights per day between the two cities.

On the face of it, this is relatively dull news. If you know your Avios, though, you’ll know that this is very positive.

Berlin to Abu Dhabi is one of the best value Avios redemptions you can get.

If you fly British Airways in Club World to Abu Dhabi, return, it will cost you 80,000 Avios points plus £514 tax.

If you fly airberlin in Business Class from Berlin to Abu Dhabi, return, it will cost you only 50,000 Avios plus £50 tax.

The saving – if you are prepared to book your own ticket to/from Berlin – is 30,000 Avios and £464 per person!

On top of this, you will also receive free transfers in Abu Dhabi to anywhere in the Emirates, including Dubai! You will also receive free transfers to and from Tegel in Berlin if you choose not to fly directly on to London.

The reason that Berlin to Abu Dhabi is so cheap is that it just sneaks under the 3,000 miles limit that determines whether a flight is 50,000 Avios or 80,000 Avios return in Business Class.

The actual distance is 2,862 miles. Ironically, airberlin also offers a Dusseldorf to Abu Dhabi flight, but that is 80,000 Avios return in Business Class as it just sneaks over 3,000 miles.

The best bit of news is that the new flight will offer a daylight option both ways. The current Berlin to Abu Dhabi flight is overnight arriving at an inconvenient (for a tourist) 7am. The new service will leave Berlin at 10.45am and lands at 19.50.

Similarly, the new return flight leaves Abu Dhabi at 9.10 and lands in Berlin at 13.00. Given the modest flight time, this is a flight that is best done during the day.

The only downside with airberlin redemptions on this route is the cap on seats. airberlin only has 19 Business Class seats on its Airbus A330 aircraft. You only tend to see two seats per flight released for Avios redemptions, so this is not one that is suitable for a family unless you fly in Economy.

(It is not a bad deal in Economy, of course, given that you only need 25,000 Avios return and the tax is only £50. If you took the day flights it would be totally acceptable.)

This is current airberlin Business Class seat on refurbished planes. There was talk of installing the same seat as Etihad on the Abu Dhabi route but I’m not sure if that has been done:

You can book these flights via ba.com on the normal Avios booking page. These new flights are already available for booking for departures from 26th October.

Do NOT try to add a London connection on the same ticket, as you will have to pay long-haul Air Passenger Duty which will add roughly £150 to the taxes total.

How to earn Avios points from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

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

British Airways BA Amex American Express card

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel 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

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company 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

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

(Want to earn more Avios? Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)

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This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Aeronaut says:

13 Feb13 February 14:24

But I don’t want to go to Abu Dhabi!
pauldb says:

13 Feb13 February 14:59

It’s only of passing relevance to this thread, but I noticed the other day while looking at JTR that flights on Niki (which is confusingly described as AB’s semi-low-cost subsidiary) can now be booked through BAEC via avios. Don’t think Niki is on your comprehensive airline list Raffles.
Seems that they don’t fly to the UK any more (withdrawn from EDI) but they might offer something of interest to the eastern Med bucket-and-spade destinations via Austria. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niki_destinations
- Rob says:
  
  13 Feb13 February 15:31
  
  Thanks Paul. I will take a look and add it to the list. That would make 34 airlines I think that accept Avios!
- Brian says:
  
  13 Feb13 February 23:00
  
  Yes, I’ve done that – most recently Berlin to Vienna for 4,500 Avios plus 27 euros, I believe, if my memory serves me correctly. I’ve flown both Niki and Air Berlin and there doesn’t seem to be much difference in the service, to be honest, so neither is ‘lower-cost’ than the other. Getting reward seat availability on either doesn’t seem to be a problem, either.
Malcolm says:

13 Feb13 February 15:03

“You only tend to see two seats per flight released for Avios redemptions, so this is not one that is suitable for a family unless you fly in Economy.” Unless you have the kids fly in economy, have you not seen Home Alone 2?

In other news, am I correct that you cannot use BAPP 241 on Air Berlin?
- louie-m says:
  
  13 Feb13 February 15:29
  
  @ Malcolm – yes, BAPP 241s can only be used on BA’s own planes.
- Rob says:
  
  13 Feb13 February 15:30
  
  Correct, only BA planes.
  
  Ironically, though, given the tax saving it is still attractive going via Berlin at full rate instead of doing a 2-4-1 with BA at 80k plus (between 2 people) £1000-£1100 of tax!
  - Callum says:
    
    13 Feb13 February 22:08
    
    I must apologise as I normally hate it when people correct grammar etc. on the internet, but this is a (ridiculous!) bugbear of mine. It’s not ironic that going via Berlin could be attractive, nor is it ironic that Air Berlin fly from Dusseldorf!
    
    Though I can’t really criticise people for misusing the word “ironic” when the Alanis Morissette song exists – not one single event sung about actually being ironic! I like Ed Byrnes quote on it – “the only ironic thing about that song is it’s called ‘Ironic’ and it’s written by a woman who doesn’t know what irony is”.
    - Brendan Sweeney says:
      
      13 Feb13 February 23:07
      
      I’m pretty sure it’s ironic that it’s twice as expensive to use British Airways’ own frequent flier currency to fly on a British Airways plane than it is to fly on a different airline.
      
      Under the definition:
      “a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often wryly amusing as a result.”
      
      I think that qualifies…
    - John says:
      
      14 Feb14 February 03:40
      
      That was the entire point of the song! Anyone who needed it explained to them on the internet didn’t understand what it was about.
Volker says:

13 Feb13 February 16:07

What is the actual duration of the flight TXL-AUH (how many hours)? Thanks.
- Rob says:
  
  13 Feb13 February 16:10
  
  I’d guess 5+ out and 6+ back but easy enough to check!
  - Volker says:
    
    13 Feb13 February 17:20
    
    Thanks, I know, I am just very busy at the moment and thought you might know without further research as you go East regularly 🙂
    - blot-bang-rub says:
      
      13 Feb13 February 18:14
      
      We’ve (me, wife, 8 month old) just got back from doing this route on Tuesday and can tell you that the flights were 5 and a half hours out and 6 and a half back. There are no bassinet positions in Business so junior shares a seat, but on the return there was an empty seat that I moved to after the crew suggested it. At AUH you’re bussed to and from the terminal which is fine on arrival as there’s a special bus for C pax, but on the way home it was a scrum with the rest of the punters through gate 15. At Tegel we were bussed to terminal C (Business pax bus again), so for a connecting flight home, you’ve got a 5 minute walk to the A terminal. The limo service is easy to book and if you have an infant, they will probably give you a Mercedes mini van to carry all your gear in, but ask to make sure. Hope this helps.
      - Volker says:
        
        14 Feb14 February 08:21
        
        Yes, it does, thanks. I noticed on several occasions in December (travelling between LHR and Germany) that BA obviously provided a separate bus from the plane to the terminal for us Club Europe passengers. A stewardess briefly stopped the economy pax at the exit door till we had got on the bus and departed. From the disturbed looks of my three fellow CE travellers I got the impression that this was something new (4 passengers on a 12 meter bus really felt a bit awkward). As I said, this happened several times – does anybody know anything about that?
andy stock says:

13 Feb13 February 19:09

25000 avios plus £50 is excellent value in economy.
Be bus says:

13 Feb13 February 21:04

Great information as ever raffles , can I ask the lucky so and so how’s in Phuket how he got there from dxb?
Thanks x
- Rob says:
  
  13 Feb13 February 21:33
  
  airberlin flies on from Abu Dhabi to Phuket on certain days. 80,000 + £30 tax return in business.
Daniel says:

13 Feb13 February 22:47

I swear I have seen this somewhere on HFP, but is it true that if you order foreign currency on BA using Amex gold rewards, it doesn’t count as cash advance AND you get membership rewards as well? I know that a friend did this using BA credit card but not sure about Amex gold?
- Rob says:
  
  14 Feb14 February 10:23
  
  Yes and No. It ONLY works if you order from Amex (travelmoneynow.com) and use an Amex-issued Amex.
Daniel says:

14 Feb14 February 00:19

^^further to this, what about MBNA? cuz MBNA amex earns 2.5 miles per 2 pounds so that’s even more than Amex issued amex cards?