British Airways launches flights to Durban – a chance to visit South Africa on Avios this Winter

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• signol says:

  8 May8 May 10:50

  According to a local SA newspaper, bookings will be open tomorrow (Wednesday): https://www.iol.co.za/mercury/now-you-can-fly-directly-from-durban-to-london-14836369

  • Rob says:

    8 May8 May 11:51

    Thanks, edited.

• Justin says:

  8 May8 May 11:09

  Not sure i fancy the day flight on the return

  • Rob says:

    8 May8 May 11:51

    That’s the economics of the route though. Keeping a plane on the ground for 12 hours might just make sense on high rolling Jo’burg and Cape Town but not Durban.

    • signol says:

      8 May8 May 11:55

      Indeed, I’d see DUR as primarily a leisure and VFR destination, rather than mostly business.

  • John says:

    8 May8 May 15:37

    You can always do an open jaw and fly back from JNB/CPT

• pauldb says:

  8 May8 May 12:52

  Hopefully it will be 75k e/w peak J, but you never know with BA – might default to 90k … in which case home via JNB would definitely be preferably.

  • KevMc says:

    8 May8 May 14:41

    Avios rewards are distance based, so you do know…

    LHR to DUR is 5921.87 miles, so will be band 7 (75k J off peak)

    • KevMc says:

      8 May8 May 14:41

      …and 90k peak

      • pauldb says:

        8 May8 May 14:57

        Thanks … and yet CPT is longer but “forced”, along with JNB, into the lower band: 75k … so you don’t really know.

      • KevMc says:

        8 May8 May 15:04

        Oh really? Sorry, I didn’t realise that was the case. I had always assumed both were 75/90.

    • Mikeact says:

      9 May9 May 07:17

      Not always distance based….Boston as one example.

• Caroline says:

  8 May8 May 13:52

  OT: When booking with a 241 voucher, you can use a household account if your companion is in the household, correct? And it will automatically pool from both accounts if I alone am a tad short for the whole lot?

  • pauldb says:

    8 May8 May 14:07

    Yes – your companion must be in your HHA or be on your Friends & Family list. Like any other redemption the avios will be taken from across your HHA, like/need it or not.

    • yen says:

      9 May9 May 10:38

      Currently being priced at 90k peak. Do you think calling up could get them to force it into 75k like CPT & JNB?

• MarkH says:

  8 May8 May 13:57

  Flying F in nov to JNB and was planning to connect on to Durban.

  Got excited for a sec but I see there’s no F cabin. Shame…

• Radiata says:

  8 May8 May 15:10

  A step in the right direction.

  Clearly the morning slot leased from SA for the next five years not used here.

  As regards AVIOS bands, I thought there was some flexibility with some routes creeping into higher bands occasionally treated as the lower? We shall but see.

  The old (?until the late ’90s) direct flights (viz. LHR>JNB>DUR) with a stop in JNB a little better than this scheme as arrival and departure times convenient. Early outbound flight now will render impossible a full day of work (if in London admittedly) and lack of a Friday outbound a pity.

  Day return flight awful for a 12 hour flight – tried it once inadvertently on Swissair around the time of the bankruptcy and where switched to a day flight and vowed not to repeat if possible.

  A redemption LHR>DUR and return JNB>LHR preferable or a cash open jaw LHR>DUR//JNB>LHR. AVIOS or cash DUR>JNB for the return but BA’s new anti-interline policy for the luggage requires picking up at JNB and checking in again even if both flights are BA but not on the same ticket/PNR.

  BAEC status (silver/gold) allows at least two bags even in Y and the domestic BA (Comair) lounges, the SLOW lounges, reasonable. BA’s local franchise (Comair) however states that in this case 2x23kg allowed although the BA website quite clear that ought to be 2x32kg. I have usually walked up to the Business check in desk before having bags wrapped in plastic to remind of this and seek acknowledgement.

  Plastic wrap as pilfering from bags in JNB said to be somewhat risky. Have had bag locks cut or outer compartment ripped on a couple of occasions but fortunately thus far they had chosen the wrong bag..

  • John says:

    8 May8 May 15:38

    Stay a night in JNB and that solves that problem

  • MarcB says:

    8 May8 May 15:43

    Sorry for the stupid question, what’s the downsides of a 12hr day flight?

    • Anna says:

      8 May8 May 15:56

      The only one I can think of if travelling J or F is that you might be driving home from the airport and thus unable to indulge in much Champagne!

    • Kevin H says:

      8 May8 May 16:17

      I like the daytime flights myself – trying to sleep in a BA Club Class seat is never fun. I just flew back (with BA) form Beijing (not quite 12 hours, but almost) and it was no problem at all.

    • Kevin H says:

      8 May8 May 16:19

      I like the daytime flights myself – trying to sleep in a BA Club Class seat is never fun. I just flew back (with BA) from Beijing on a daytime flight (not quite 12 hours, but almost) and it was no problem at all.

    • Rob says:

      8 May8 May 16:56

      It’s boring 🙂

      • John says:

        8 May8 May 18:57

        Especially when BA IFE is such a reliable failure but if this is to be served by a 787 a probable end to that problem for those who wish to risk flying BA

      • Justin says:

        9 May9 May 11:17

        agree

    • Leo says:

      8 May8 May 17:01

      That’s got to be subjective – I have no issue with day flights at all. Just did day flight to SFO and last year CX LGW flight to HKG. You just have to keep yourself entertained!

      • Genghis says:

        9 May9 May 02:38

        Surely LGW-HKG is classified as a night flight? Leaving early afternoon and landing in the morning in HKG means you should try at least to have some sleep

      • John says:

        9 May9 May 06:11

        Many people seem unwilling to adjust to destination timezone until 1-2days after arriving. Not helped by enforced mealtimes especially in the less premium classes.

        • Rob says:

          9 May9 May 07:39

          No jetlag to South Africa though, only 1 hour time difference.

      • Leo says:

        9 May9 May 11:24

        No Genghis I don’t agree – you leave at 12.45pm and it’s a 12 hour flight. That’s a day flight for me and the best I would achieve is a doze.

      • Genghis says:

        9 May9 May 11:33

        Fair enough. As soon as I’m on the plane I’m on destination time so sleep based on that. Eating is more difficult though as you’re generally told when to eat. I get over jet lag fairly quickly.

    • signol says:

      8 May8 May 17:09

      For us, travelling with kids currently 8 and 6, daytime flights are preferable as they’ll entertain themselves quite happily with movies, games etc but struggle to sleep in a seat. I wouldn’t value the cost of J over Y worth it, especially for them. Heck, it’s rarely worth it for just me.

    • Radiata says:

      8 May8 May 17:35

      It is subjective.

      Six hours or so by day, especially in J/F, pleasant enough but I find non-stop flights from the UK/EU to SA for the 11 (to JNB) or 12 (CPT and now DUR) hours tiring. Not to mention the waste of an entire day.

      The night flight usual 1900 to 2100 departure times allow for a day at work if need be, a pleasant interlude in the lounge followed by a movie on the flight perhaps and a decent rest. One awakes to a light breakfast and landing and the full day available.

      The reverse, with the benefit of an arrivals lounge (with BA,VS or SA) at LHR allows for a shower, pressed clothes and straight to work if necessary.

      • Radiata says:

        8 May8 May 17:41

        Remember as SA GMT+2 and so only an hour or two ahead of the UK (depending on the season and so the same time as Paris for half of the year), the 11 or 12 hours overnight more efficient in terms of minimising wasted daylight than a similar journey from the far east.

        When warranted I have flown over and back for a full weekend without missing a day at work.

      • Mark says:

        8 May8 May 19:28

        A lot of people clearly agree, hence the majority of SA services being night flights both ways.

        As Rob says there is a balance to be struck though for the operators, and day flights in one direction or the other are not unprecedented. The 3rd JNB flight that BA operated on some days prior to the introduction of the A380 on the route was a day flight in one direction, as I’m sure some of the CPT flights have been.

        No coincidence that BA has done pilot training in SA for the same reason – it makes use of an aircraft that is otherwise sitting there all day.

• Mikeact says:

  9 May9 May 07:13

  This has been a long time coming….great news……and an excellent destination.

• Alex W says:

  9 May9 May 07:25

  When does this become bookable? Don’t want to get up at 1am again…

  • Alex W says:

    9 May9 May 12:16

    Ah, I was checking baredemptionfinder which said it wasn’t a valid route yet 🙁

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