British Airways launches new Cape Town route – with full reward availability

British Airways sprung a pleasant surprise yesterday by launching a new Cape Town service from London Gatwick.

As Cape Town is one of the toughest Avios redemptions to book, this is an excellent opportunity.

Starting on 24th November and only for the Winter season, the flights will be operated by a three-class Boeing 777-200ER aircraft with 48 Club World seats.

The outbound flights will depart on Monday, Thursday and Saturday, returning on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday.  Flights will be overnight in both directions and are perfectly timed for a short break.

Remember that South Africa usually has only a one hour time difference so, in Club World, you can get a good nights sleep and wake up perfectly fresh.

As a new route, Avios availability is very good.  BA opened up two Club World seats and four World Traveller seats on every flight yesterday.

These seats are unlikely to last long so, if you fancy a break in Cape Town, I recommend heading over to ba.com and moving quickly.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

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:

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

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.

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

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.

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.

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