MOVE FAST: New British Airways Cape Town flight added, lots of Avios availability

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• Marina says:

  7 Aug7 August 09:15

  @rob Header incorrect

  • Rob says:

    7 Aug7 August 09:32

    I know! Will be resent at 10.

  • L Allen says:

    7 Aug7 August 09:58

    As in the email subject line that says “The Dubai ‘Avios only’ flight in October half-term is wide open, including First – but with a catch” ?

• TomB says:

  7 Aug7 August 09:16

  We booked a redemption next year but could only get 1st to Johannesburg and back from CPT in CW. Probably not the best use of a 241 voucher but I’m sure the outbound flight will be a great memory.

  • The real Swiss Tony says:

    7 Aug7 August 09:40

    Did 1st to and from Jo’burg a year past April. Was very good as the flight is long enough to have a proper meal, get a decent night of sleep then breakfast before landing. Crew were great, too. Am sure you’ll enjoy.

  • Christopher Sutton says:

    7 Aug7 August 09:51

    How is this not the best use of a 2 for 1 voucher?!

    • The real Swiss Tony says:

      7 Aug7 August 11:06

      What i did was ;-). What TomB has done may have seen him legged over a bit on the “taxes” because of something that happened when BA switched long haul club pricing to RFS. Note, I didn’t find that with a recent LHR-LCA (J) and AUH-LHR (F) redemption but that may be a result of the fact one leg was in Club Europe.

      • TomB says:

        7 Aug7 August 12:10

        Yeah I can’t remember off the top of my head but we ended up paying around £700 each in taxes and maybe around 100k avios. I’m fine with that personally but I guess we could have got a 1st return flight back for not much more %/avios.

  • Richard says:

    7 Aug7 August 12:13

    Hi. Can this be booked online or would I have to call BA for this type of open-jaw redemption? Thanks

    • TomB says:

      7 Aug7 August 14:02

      I used the call center, pretty sure that’s the only way to do it in one go but I’m sure I read some people book legs separately and then use the call center to combine them

• Douglas Woods says:

  7 Aug7 August 09:17

  Still trying to get my head around being informed that BA flights to Cape Town move very fast. Though I am sure they could have been faster in the days of Concorde.

• Paul says:

  7 Aug7 August 09:35

  Thanks Rob. Duly booked. Good availability still at 0930 😉.

  From my point of view it’s the perfect flight and destination combo. Wine tour here we come.

• john says:

  7 Aug7 August 09:41

  Is it me, or is the BA website broken and not letting ppl login in? (A friend is experiencing the same)

  • Alan Vickers says:

    7 Aug7 August 09:45

    Same for me John. BA IT not working properly 🤔 who would have thought 😂

    • Rob says:

      7 Aug7 August 09:48

      Took me about 4 goes but it works eventually.

    • elguiri says:

      7 Aug7 August 10:00

      I gave up with the app and got straight in on the website, pity nothing available for returns in April though

      • Douglas Woods says:

        7 Aug7 August 15:49

        oh, that’s the exact opposite for me. The website constantly says theyre busy while the app lets me straught in!

  • Richard E says:

    7 Aug7 August 09:51

    I always have to open my browser in incognito/private browsing mode. I’m sure there’s something wrong with the cookies somewhere. Mmmm. Cookies.

  • Mouse says:

    7 Aug7 August 10:31

    I’ve noticed this issue if I am using VPN

  • SamG says:

    7 Aug7 August 13:20

    I have to use incognito to be able to log in and search Avios flights atm

    • Occasional Ranter says:

      7 Aug7 August 20:58

      I have a constant problem where the ba website refuses to log me OUT of my account so that my wife can log into her account on the same device. I clear ba cookies to overcome this, but would welcome any better solution.

• Throwawayname says:

  7 Aug7 August 09:59

  Unless you need the flexibility of an Avios ticket, this isn’t much of a deal. Let’s say you value Avios at a penny, it works out to £2250. Anyone who keeps an eye on travel deals, premium-flights etc will certainly recall plenty of ex-EU offers under €2k, most of which also earn a decent chunk of miles. Admittedly if you live in Hounslow or on the Lizzy line or something, being able to catch a direct flight is also an advantage, but I much prefer taking a 12-minute taxi to my local airport and changing planes to driving for hours or having to change trains, take my luggage up and down Tube escalators etc.

  CPT is reasonably safe and pleasant, but it ain’t super exciting and South Africa in general isn’t the most attractive destination. Nevertheless , it is a convenient gateway to some very interesting places such as Namibia and Mozambique.

  • john says:

    7 Aug7 August 10:11

    Depends when you travel. It’s about £1,500 return for economy in Feb half term. A friend just picked up two eco tickets to go visit friends out there in half term for 30500 Avios + £ 1,000 return.

    So 30,500 and a 2for1 to save £2K isn’t bad! 6.5p/avios?!

    • Throwawayname says:

      7 Aug7 August 10:16

      Ah, that’s a great point. In my mind, February is low season, you can likely manage to find decent ex-EU deals and flights from the UK to Frankfurt or CPH aren’t going to be particularly expensive during half-term. On the other hand, I don’t think I would enjoy the prospect of taking a 7 year old on a tour of Senator lounges or whatever, so I appreciate that a direct flight may be more important for those travelling with kids, particularly if they can only go for 5-6 days.

      • john says:

        7 Aug7 August 11:25

        Last time she went, she flew out direct on BA and returned on Lufthansa via Frankfurt as it was cheaper, with her 4 yr old. It wasn’t fun she said! (All in economy)

        It’s probably one of those situations where when you are booking it, you’d rather save the £200 and go indirect, but when you are sat in Frankfurt waiting for the delayed connecting flight, you wish you had paid £500 more to fly direct!

      • David says:

        7 Aug7 August 13:47

        5-6 days? I wouldn’t even entertain that to drive to Dorset from Berkshire.

  • James W says:

    7 Aug7 August 10:58

    If you try and book a business class BA return ticket for the dates I’ve already booked using avios, it’ll cost you a bit over £9,000. So – fair value using avios.

  • Earthman says:

    7 Aug7 August 11:18

    So if you don’t spend them though,what do you do with your avios ?

    • john says:

      7 Aug7 August 11:22

      You could get a raspberry pi set up and link it to a digital display that shows your current avios balance. Perhaps put it on the wall in a frame, so you can admire your achievement, and show it off to visitors! If you were a fancy artist, you could even call this modern art!!

    • Throwawayname says:

      8 Aug8 August 00:04

      Iberia off peak redemptions offer much better value in my opinion.

      • CJD says:

        8 Aug8 August 07:53

        Only if Iberia fly where you want to go.

• Alastair says:

  7 Aug7 August 10:07

  Thanks for the heads up Rob got a 241 booking for January ‘25 after repeated rejections even after supposed payment.
  Anyway have the ticket, well done.

• Talay says:

  7 Aug7 August 10:26

  LGW-BKK used to be 75k off peak and 90k peak but that has morphed into 100k and 110k.

  At 210k plus £575 makes a theoretical value of £2675 in 8 abreast Coffin Club versus identical pricing on Qatar with better business class seats available on other carriers for under £2675.

  Very poor value.

  Seatspy has it incorrectly as 110k and 120k.

  • Mart16 says:

    7 Aug7 August 10:52

    Voucher is totally key here. Used a Barclays upgrade so 100k avios + £450 for 2 persons one way. Back with Qatar obvs on avios

  • TGLoyalty says:

    7 Aug7 August 14:40

    Coffin club? It’s one of the most spacious business seats and far superior for a couple or family.

    The LGW aircraft also had a full refurb only a few years back and I bet the quality is fairing much better than the Club Suite 777’s (ones I travelled on recently look scratched/dented/lose/dirty af) oh and there’s no good seat for a couple or family.

    • Giboo says:

      7 Aug7 August 20:20

      Can’t you accept the seats are dated and people don’t like them?

      We flew on an old club 77w to lax over Easter and with my two boys in the middle seats it was torture. Fair enough they’re animals but we did YVR in suites at Xmas and was so much easier with 2 rows of window/aisle.

      • John says:

        8 Aug8 August 07:07

        “Fair enough they’re animals…” 🤣 🤣

      • MPC says:

        8 Aug8 August 08:06

        Torture?

      • TGLoyalty says:

        8 Aug8 August 09:29

        I can accept people have a preference. I can’t work out why the type of seat was such an issue for your kids? Too much space in the middle two seats for them to mess around? More constrained in the actual coffin suites?

  • MPC says:

    7 Aug7 August 17:46

    Well i paid 150k and £1450 for 2 of us yesterday LGW-BKK with a 241 so even if you add £300 on for the 241 that’s closer to £3250 *shrug*

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