Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Fare alert: British Airways Amsterdam to Cape Town (Club World) for £1,113 return

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For some reason, Club World flights from Amsterdam to Cape Town are selling for €1275 (£1113) return on ba.com at the moment.

The ONLY dates I can find going out at this price during peak season are Thursday 6th December, Monday 10th December, Tuesday 11th December, Sunday 6th January, Thursday 10th January, Thursday 24th January, Thursday 21st February and Thursday 28th February.  There is more in March – 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th etc.

Christmas Day outbound is available for an extra €300.  This is the only cheap day over the festive period.

Coming back, there is a lot more flexibility.

You might be able to get the price down further by using BA Holidays, although this won’t be possible if your trip involves a Comair connection between Johannesburg and Cape Town.  Find a cheap date where the flights work and then plug the same dates into the BA Holidays website here and see if adding a car or hotel brings the price down further.

Remember that you MUST fly to Amsterdam to pick up the first leg, otherwise your entire booking will be cancelled. Coming back, if you are on hand baggage you won’t – as a one-off offender – have any issues if you skip out at Heathrow. This won’t work if you have a checked case however.

If you don’t have a credit card with 0% foreign exchange fees, your best bet to maximise your miles when paying is with the British Airways American Express Premium Plus card.  This earns double Avios (3 per £1) when you book at ba.com or via BA Holidays.  You do not get double Avios if you book with the free British Airways American Express card. 

Another option is American Express Preferred Rewards Gold which offers triple points – 3 per £1 – when you book flight tickets in a foreign currency, because it triggers both the ‘double points for airline spend’ and the ‘double points for foreign spend’ bonuses.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

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:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

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

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

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.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

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

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable 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.

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.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 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

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.

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year 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.

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (38)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • The Urbanite says:
    7 Nov7 November 16:40

    OT – I transferred some Clubcard points to BAEC today and got this email

    We wanted to take the time to say “thank you” for turning your Tesco Clubcard points into Avios.

    For every Clubcard point you collected on spending before 18 October 2018, we’re giving you a bonus 20% Avios, helping you get one step closer to your next holiday. Don’t forget you can use your Avios towards a part-payment of your next flight, or cabin upgrade.

    Plus, for every £5.00 worth of points turned into Avios you’ll receive 2 entries into our prize draw to win an unforgettable holiday to Durban, including 2 return flights, airport transfers and a 7-night stay at a choice of 4* hotels. So, your next trip really could be closer than you think.

    • LewisB says:
      7 Nov7 November 16:43

      I transferred £14.00 worth of CC vouchers a few days back to my BAEC, I had an email today about the prize entry, but I’ve not received one confirming the % bonus. Hmmm… My CC vouchers avios have been posted too, double hmmm…

    • KevMc says:
      7 Nov7 November 17:03

      I have still not received my Xmas Saver vouchers as there was no record of my £360 top-up. I have sent them the CC receipt and they are now ‘investigating’

      …I think it may have happened because after topping up, I changed the account default back to ‘vouchers’. Has anyone else had a similar problem?

      • JD says:
        7 Nov7 November 17:48

        Yes. Mistake on our part. I did exactly the same. If you go on your points history you will find the payment. I’ve just had a letter through yesterday with a gift card. They’ve basically refunded the money. No bonus, no Christmas savers vouchers and if you read the t&cs it does tell you about this. Miffed!

    • Simon j says:
      7 Nov7 November 20:41

      I’ve received the same email but I can’t see small print for competition-permitted travel dates and which 4 hotels can the winner choose from. Also which class of travel are the flights? I assume Y and sadly I don’t think I could convince the other half to do South Africa in Y.

    • Anna says:
      7 Nov7 November 22:00

      They really want people to go to Durban at the moment!

  • Lumma says:
    7 Nov7 November 18:06

    Is CPT 140 tier points each way? So bronze status gained in one trip? Assuming you fly the leg back to Amsterdam of course

  • Aliks says:
    7 Nov7 November 18:12

    I’m looking on the screen at the moment –
    EUR 1268.75 for flights AMS-LGW-CPT return out on 1st Dec, back on 17th Dec
    Also worth noting that these flights will earn 25,878 Avios (for a silver member)

    I didn’t realise BA flew LGW-CPT, but its tempting. . .

  • ED says:
    7 Nov7 November 19:02

    For those with checked bags might be worth considering coming into LHR and then flying out of LGW to return to AMS, would enable you to try out a different galleries lounge et al.

    • ED says:
      7 Nov7 November 19:02

      Should of been etc

    • Polly says:
      8 Nov8 November 09:53

      Or just hop home, not bother to go back to AMS at all. Handy, as there can be very heavy traffic on the M 25vcausing severe delays and missed flights…..

  • Marcw says:
    7 Nov7 November 19:50

    If anyone wants to sponsor me, I’m in!

  • The Original Nick says:
    7 Nov7 November 19:55

    I found last night AMS – BKK return with BA for most of March-April for around £1200 but forgot to post in bits.

  • Peter K says:
    7 Nov7 November 20:08

    It’d be another ticked off the continents visited list… ????

    • Shoestring says:
      7 Nov7 November 20:21

      I’m not going to Africa.

      Morocco & Red Sea excepted!

      • Peter K says:
        7 Nov7 November 22:04

        I’ve heard Ethiopia is worth a visit ????

      • Shoestring says:
        7 Nov7 November 22:19

        Cultured place, safe these days! They’ll probably still kill you for $50 if you go to the wrong part of town so I’ll stick to the best continent in the world Europe and my SE Asia fave places & Aus/NZ

      • RollingEyes says:
        7 Nov7 November 23:16

        A whole bunch of stabbings in London the other day which were free. I wonder how safe Europe looks using your logic .

      • Louise says:
        8 Nov8 November 08:38

        Harry the offensive OAP bigot strikes again!!!!!! How many times have you changed your name now????? Woe betide you.

        Hear hear, @RollingEyes.

  • David says:
    7 Nov7 November 22:33

    Slightly OT – am I right in thinking that for BA cash bookings through the BA website there is a 24hr cooling off period with no charge for cancellations?

    Thanks!

    • ScienceTeacher says:
      7 Nov7 November 22:34

      Indeed. Do not cancel through the website or you might get stung with a fee. Phone up 🙂

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