Four First Class Avios seats to Johannesburg bookable across April / May / June 2023

A quick heads up that, following the switch to an A380 on the Johannesburg route for the Summer 2023 flying season, a huge amount of First Class Avios availability has been made available.

You need to be looking at April, May and June, so the best of the weather is behind you, but I know that it will still appeal to many readers.

(EDIT: 2pm Wed. Our readers snapped up these seats quickly. Apologies if you cannot find anything available.)

Here is a screenshot from SeatSpy, our preferred award seach tool, at 9.45am today.

This shows days with FOUR First Class Avios seats available to Johannesburg on British Airways. If you only need one, two or three seats you will find plenty of additional dates. Some dates have six First Class seats available.

The left column shows outbound flights, the right column shows inbound flights:

Obviously, as this is an A380, you are not getting the new First Class suite with the closing door. However, as availability for Avios on the Boeing 777 routes which have the new suite is very, very thin (it is only an eight seat cabin) you should be grateful it is the old seat:

Remember that, since Comair went into receivership, there is no longer any option to use Avios for a connection to Cape Town.

You can learn more about using Avios for First Class seats on British Airways in our guide here.

Here is the recent review by Rhys of the very impressive new British Airways lounge in Johannesburg.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (September 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 26th September 2024, sign up for FREE Barclaycard Avios Mastercard and you will receive a sign-up bonus of 10,000 Avios. This is double the usual bonus! You only need to spend £1,000 within 90 days. Our full review is here. Click here to apply.

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.

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased to up to 80,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 80,000 Avios. You will receive 8 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Gold is increased to up to 40,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 40,000 Avios. You will receive 4 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. The card is FREE for your first year. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

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