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Lots of First Class and Business Class Avios availability to Johannesburg has appeared

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Reader stankpa flagged up that a lot of First Class and Business Class availability to Johannesburg on Avios had appeared.

She wasn’t wrong.

Take a look at the screenshot below from SeatSpy, our preferred seat searching tool.

This is based on availability for TWO people. Green circles represent dates with Business Class seats and red circles are dates with First Class seats.

Outbound flights from Heathrow are on the left, return flights are on the right.

Click to enlarge:

Avios Johannesburg seats

The one downside is that British Airways uses an A380 to Johannesburg, which means no Club Suite (you get the old yin-yang Club World seat) and the older First Class seat.

However, it is very unlikely you’d see so much First Class availability if it wasn’t for the fact that an A380 with its big F cabin was being used.

Before anyone asks …. there is not a single day – not one – out of the next 355 days where you can get two Business or First Class Avios seats to Cape Town. If you want these you MUST book at 355 days before departure when the guaranteed four Business Class seats appear.

Our full guide on how to use Avios points for British Airways First Class flights is 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.

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 (42)

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

  • Mark Smith says:
    1 Feb1 February 16:55

    On Cape Town, worth noting that if you use a ‘new’ 241 voucher the LGW CPT route seems to have more of the business class cash fare tickets which you can redeem on than LHR, so worth a look if you miss the 4 seats which normally go a couple of mins after midnight.

  • Save East Coast Rewards says:
    1 Feb1 February 17:16

    The first class on the 380 is the best BA first cabin anyway. Who cares about the door which is the only ‘improvement’ with the new seat? The first class seats on the wide A380 cabin are so spacious and if you’re travelling with someone you can dine together. The newer first class seats have lost the buddy dining capability

    If I had the luxury of choosing which aircraft to fly on in F I’d choose the 380.

  • ATP says:
    1 Feb1 February 17:24

    J (only) availability has actually been there for a while – mentioned this on the forum 2ish weeks ago and they even had lots of seats over Easter. Booked 4 seats and connecting to CPT.

  • stankpa says:
    1 Feb1 February 17:28

    She wasn’t wrong😊 glad I could help

  • Bernard B says:
    1 Feb1 February 17:28

    Quite predictable: BA sale just ended and unsurprisingly they didn’t sell what they expected after sone very uncompetitive sale prices. So now desperate to get inventory filled by avios.
    The A380 F may be older but it’s much more comfortable than the unpadded ‘planks’ in the 787-10. A380 F and middle seats on 14 seat 77W some of the best seats BA had.
    Club is old but after suffering the terrible seat build quality on three A350 flights (lumps in the seat, gaps when reclining and failing IFE) suddenly it looks ok vs the club suite.

  • James says:
    1 Feb1 February 17:35

    I booked Cape town using a 2-4-1 out of Heathrow in December recently. Seemed to be a fair few dates with avaliblity, Which I was suprised at given that December is ment to be more of a peak season month.
    Its also on an A350 with the Club Suite. 190,000 + x2 £450 in taxes.

  • Novice says:
    1 Feb1 February 18:17

    Why is it that everything happens once I’m booked 😂

  • David D says:
    1 Feb1 February 19:45

    A one way LHR-JNB CW redemption on 6 July 2023 for 2 people is pricing up at 180000 Avios + £ 450.00 on BA.com – this is showing as an off peak date so I was expecting it to be 150k avios (75×2). Any idea why this is?

    • BJ says:
      1 Feb1 February 20:06

      Probably at least a dozen articles on HFP so far this years that answervyour question… RFS has gone global and lot’s of people got ‘stuffed’ ( search that on HFP) in the process.

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

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