Hi all,

My wife and I fly in to AUH from JFK at 19:40 on 9/15. We recently heard about Banksy's Dismaland exhibit at Weston-super-Mare, UK, so we decided to go. I researched that the closest airport is BRS. So, I'm still quite new at utilization of points, but I get the concept. I tried to find flights on 9/16 on EY, but no luck even for economy. Next, I checked with googleflights and noticed that KLM flies AUH-AMS, and AMS is less than 500 miles from BRS. Yet, ba does not fly between AMS and BRS. Regarding the former itinerary, my recollection is that KLM can be booked using Flying Blue miles/MR. Now, is there a better way of getting there, and how do I book this? Shall I do AUH-LHR and just take a train to W-S-M? What would be the cheapest in cash/points? For the latter itinerary, how to? Please advise. I'm pretty lost. haha

I'm very confused. You want to fly from Abu Dhabi to London or Bristol, right? While AMS/BRS is less than 500 miles, I think you are overcomplicating things. Why not just fly to London and rent a car or take the train? It's much easier than worrying about another connection in AMS.

easyJet and KLM fly AMS-BRS. There are many other 1 stop options from AUH to BRS.

However, you have provided no information about what points/miles you have and in which programs so it is hard to give any further advice. I would suggest you first compare cash ticket prices, then look at what options your points/miles can be used for on which airlines and check their award availability.

Note that from LHR it is under 3hrs by train to Weston-super-Mare, from BRS it is over 1hr by bus/train. Personally I would look for a direct AUH-LHR flight and take the train, or instead rent a car from either location.

Is your plan just to fly to the UK to visit Dismaland and then return to AUH?

Sorry for the confusion. AUH-LHR w/ train to W-S-M was our initial go-to itinerary, but EY does not have availability in economy for 9/16. I was just trying to find alts from AUH to BRS, and AMS seemed to be the closest airport to BRS. Still new to this. haha We have friends near LHR, so we were going to visit them too, but Dismaland is one of those "once in a lifetime" events, so it would be great to go there even just for that. We plan to stay until the 18th or 19th. Hope I've cleared this up.

We prefer award. We fly coach most of the time. I've already checked AUH-LHR flights and the cheapest, Royal Jordanian, is going for $398 pax ow. So, award flights has to be the go-to. We are only looking for 2 OW flights as we will head over to MUC (which was our original plan) from LHR.

We have:
AA - 105k
DL - 35k
BA - 11k
UR - 110k (would rather save these for Hyatt stays)
MR - 205k

Thoughts? Let me know if I still need to elaborate. I would like to know how to do this too, so I know for the next time.

One way/Round trip: OW
Non-stop/Maximum stops/Any: Any
From: AUH
To: LHR, BRS
Departure dates: We arrive at AUH on 9/15/15 at 19:40, so very late that day or 9/16/15 as early as possible; will try to be flexible, but trying for these dates
Class: Coach
Seats: 2
Alliance/Airline: See post above

Hope this is more detailed for anyone willing to help. Thanks.

You will need to go through each possible airline combination that you can use those points/miles with, looking at all potential routes then search for award availability through the appropriate website - Etihad.com for EY, BA.com for most oneworld carriers.

For example with AA you obviously have EY and oneworld partners, although probably want to avoid BA due to their carrier surcharge. AB is an option via Germany, QR via Doha, etc.

Wikipedia is usually a good start to find all the airlines serving an airport. BRS is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Airport
Look from AUH, to LHR/LGW/LCY/BRS and then all potential transit points.

I've already looked on EY, but no availabilities. Searched BA, but it is a one stop AUH-STR-LHR for 16,500 + $73 pax. Does this sound reasonable for award coach?

Checking the rest right now for the time being.

I assume that is 16,500 avios. What value do you place on your avios? That would allow you to calculate a cash equivalent to allow comparison with other options.

You could otherwise use 20,000 AA miles and perhaps less cash, or use another oneworld frequent flyer program, or buy a revenue fare which may also earn miles.

You could then look at Skyteam, Star Alliance options for award space and then determine which frequent flyer program to use to book that, calculate the number of points needed and compare to all other options.

EK would be another option with a few options to book award travel on.

Deleted

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

"I've already looked on EY, but no availabilities. Searched BA, but it is a one stop AUH-STR-LHR for 16,500 + $73 pax. Does this sound reasonable for award coach?"

That sounds like exceptional value to me! There are no BAEC surcharges when flying on AB, and surcharges on intra-European BA flights have been eliminated.

I would jump on this.

I did! Thanks for the reassurance.