Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

INSANE Avios availability to Sydney in Club World and First

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It is a truth universally accepted that finding Avios redemption availability in Club World or First on the British Airways flight to Sydney is virtually impossible.

With only two business class seats guaranteed per flight, and with competition from people who want the London to Singapore leg on its won, it is the sort of place people call up at midnight 355 days in advance for – and often still miss out.

That has just changed. British Airways has just opened the flood gates for Business and First Class Avios flights to Australia for the next four and a half months.

Take a look at this screenshot from SeatSpy which shows Avios points availability for two people in Club World (business class):

Excellent Avios points flight availability to Sydney

….. and here are the same dates for First Class, again based on two people travelling:

 Excellent Avios points flight availability to Sydney

This is a virtually unprecedented amount of availability. If you are a solo traveller you are likely to find even more dates open.

The charts above show dates where there is availability straight through.  If you are happy to spend a day or so in Singapore, you will have even more options.

British Airways operates a Boeing 777 to Sydney, so you should expect the legacy Club World seat, not Club Suite.  It is well worth upgrading to First Class if you can as the taxes and fees portion of the fare will remain virtually the same and you will fly on a substantially better product.

As these are Avios tickets, you can cancel up to 24 hours before departure with a full refund of Avios and the taxes and fees with nothing more than a £35 penalty per person.  That makes them extremely attractive and – if the Coronavirus situation deteriorates – you have a very flexible booking.

Do NOT pay for seat reservations in Club World.  These are NOT refundable if you voluntarily cancel your booking later.  Either wait until you are 100% certain to fly or simply don’t bother – your flight is likely to be pretty empty anyway.  First Class reservations are free.

If you want to travel off-peak to save Avios, the 2021 calendar of peak and off-peak Avios points dates is here. You can see how the British Airways companion voucher works in this article.

To maximise your miles when paying, your best bet is the British Airways American Express Premium Plus card which 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 double points – 2 per £1 – when you book flight tickets directly with an airline.

These tickets are likely to go fast.  You can book on the British Airways website here.


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.

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.

Comments (99)

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

  • Rob says:

    Took it from the HFP comments!

  • Hunter says:

    Am wondering when IAG starts to become a ‘buy’…..c30% in 1 month, and now PE of 4, is looking pretty good value..?!

    • Hunter says:

      *30% down

    • Mac says:

      Question is what the P/E will look like in a few months time

    • TripRep says:

      Watching with interest, I’m also looking for other high dividend plays to get into when this bottoms out.

      For IAG there’s a cluster of support here at current price down to 380 from the lows of November 2016

      If the Covid19 situation gets really serious we could go test the low 300s or even high 200s

      • Rob says:

        The share price hovered around 140p for many years before profits started shooting up IIRC ….

  • Clive says:

    Thats not Monty (Hunter) is it

  • T0ptrader says:

    Wort remembering North Queensland , Townsville northwards, and the Northerm Territory(Darwin) perfect time to visit is early June till late July.

    • Harry T says:

      That’s an ideal time to visit the NT, it’s true.

    • Tom says:

      Shame BA doesn’t fly there…..

      Would need an independent flight.

  • Harry T says:

    Shame I’m already there, looking at the harbour bridge and opera house from my room at the IC 😉

    • Lady London says:

      Do I detect a hint of smugness, @Harry T?

      • Jill (Kinkell) says:

        Who can blame him! I really enjoyed our stay here with great views and fab lounge.

        • Harry T says:

          @Lady London – just a tiny bit of smugness! The sub has finally come out in force too after a rainy first day.

          @Jill we are really enjoying the IC and the Club Lounge. I think it was your glowing recommendation of the IC that led me to book here, so thank you. We are using my Ambassador certificate on a Club Signature Harbour Suite.

    • Matt says:

      I’ve just left Sydney. Glad you’re enjoying the IC. We stayed at the IC in Double Bay and loved it.

      • Harry T says:

        @Matt
        Glad you enjoyed your stay, it’s a wonderful city. We wanted to be in Circular Quay for my gf’s first visit, otherwise the IC Double Bay would have been a serious consideration.

    • Edi says:

      Hope you’ve got enough toilet roll 😉

    • Dawn says:

      We’re in the Gold Coast atm – we do home exchange so are here and in different areas for 3 months – (not trying to be smug Lady London, I promise)
      We’ve had rain virtually the whole trip….and there are no toilet rolls in the shops either lol

      • Harry T says:

        Plenty of loo roll in the IC!

        • Polly says:

          How was the Y flight? Did you have exit seats or bulkhead?

          • Harry T says:

            Couldn’t get bulkhead or exit row seats but we did get some seats on the upper deck in the mini Y cabin. Fairly comfortable seats (unlike new BA economy seats) and the crew were brilliant, especially from LHR to SIN. I think it was well worth booking upper deck seats at T-80. Quieter and probably better service. Less claustrophobic and oppressive too.

          • Lyn says:

            @HarryT – Glad you enjoyed the upstairs economy cabin on the Qantas A380. We were up there a few days ago and the crew were brilliant, as they often are in that cabin. It makes such a difference. We were also lucky enough to have my favourite bulkhead window seats, with the unusual (for economy) combination of leg room and somewhere to store everything. Hope you and your partner enjoy Australia.

          • Harry T says:

            Thanks, Lyn, glad you got the bulkhead seats. I’ve got some of the exit seats booked on the upper deck for the way back but I want to get better ones I.e. bulkhead or 35JK. I shall try my luck at T-80!

    • TripRep says:

      Bonzer, well played dude have a good one

      • Harry T says:

        Not sure if a reply to me, but thanks anyway. I owe it all to HFP making me aware of the Qantas golden tickets!

        • Jeff says:

          Did you from from UK to Oz in economy?

          • Jeff says:

            And translated into English:

            “Did you travel from UK to Oz in economy?”

          • Harry T says:

            @Jeff
            Yes, my gf and I got two of the Qantas golden tickets – returns from LHR to Sydney for £194 each. Couldn’t resist a price like that.

          • Rob says:

            And Rhys is there now on the same deal.

  • John says:

    It is a truth universally acknowledged*

  • Tom says:

    During their winter….

    Maybe not the best time…..

  • Confused_of_Glos says:

    The article suggests you can book a flight to Sydney with a couple of days stopover in Singapore as part of a single Avios booking. Can I please check that:

    A) that is actually the case, and;
    B) You could use an AmEx 2-4-1 voucher to do that?!

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

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