Just like any other airline, Oneworld British Airways had to cut a massive amount of prestigious routes during the Covid-19 pandemic. For example, the airline has yet to re-implement flights to Seoul and will return to Bangkok on a regular basis at the end of October this year. The British legacy carrier’s return to Abu Dhabi happened even earlier, as BA resumed its nonstop service between London and the United Arab Emirates’ capital last Saturday.
From now on, a Boeing 787-9 rotates daily between Heathrow and Abu Dhabi, sporting flight number BA 73 on the eastbound journey and BA 72 on the way back home. Here is the bare data for these trips:
BA 73: LondonLHR22.25 – Abu DhabiAUH08.10 +1BA 72: Abu DhabiAUH10.10 – LondonLHR15.20
The plane British Airways picked for this flight comes with a four-class configuration with 42 seats in business (2-3-2), 39 premium economy seats (2-3-2) and 127 economy class chairs (3-3-3). While the lack of Club Suites in business is a disappointment, the plane also carries 8 first class seats in a 1-2-1 configuration. All-in-all, this is a very premium heavy configuration. This makes sense, as most travellers will try to catch some sleep during the overnight eastbound. That BA is targeting wealthier customers with this service is also a valid assumption.
The cheapest tickets we were able to find are €503 (~£430) economy class roundtrips from London in September 2024. With premium economy in the quadruple digits and business class tickets starting well above €2,000, there are currently no bargains to be made for nonstop flights.
British Airways competes with Abu Dhabi’s native Etihad Airways on this route. The gulf carrier offers four daily nonstops to Heathrow, one of them operated by their Airbus A380 fleet.
Comeback of a Tier Point Run
While the news are nothing to be excited about regarding super-cheap trips to the Middle East, they mark the potential comeback of a tier point run we have published in 2019. While the article needs updates (and probably will be updated soon), it still works in principle:
By combining a British Airways roundtrip from basically any airport in Europe (except London-Heathrow) to Abu Dhabi in economy class with a Sri Lankan Airlines business class ticket to Jakarta, you earn enough tier points and segments on a single trip to achieve British Airways Executive Club Silver. That equals Oneworld Sapphire status, granting perks like lounge access on Oneworld flights.
Source: BA Press Release
Cover Picture: Photo by David Rodrigo on Unsplash