Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Good £1,500 Johannesburg flight deal with Rwandair – and it earns Avios

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It’s rare to find a good flight deal to Johannesburg in the peak (European) winter, so this opportunity from Rwandair is worth a look.

It involves an aircraft change in Kigali, which will be something different for most HfP readers.

Rwandair is a Qatar Airways partner so you can earn Avios in Qatar Airways Privilege Club.

Rwandair Johannesburg flight deal

The fare is £1,520 return. Whilst advertised as ‘Business Saver’ you get all of the expected bells and whistles (eg free seat selection) although the fare is not refundable.

The deal is available for the entire schedule, to January 2026, although there is little in July and little between Christmas and New Year.

Here’s an example for late November which is a great time, weather wise, to visit South Africa:

The key issue is aircraft. Looking at this review, Rwandair has three long haul A330 aircraft of which one does not have fully lie flat seats. It would be surprising if this was put onto London Heathrow but the risk is clearly there.

The short-ish connection from Kigali to Johannesburg is a Boeing 737 which should be 2×2 in business class. This is ‘proper’ 2×2 style and not a BA-style ‘blocked middle seat’.

As far as Avios earning goes, you will need a Qatar Airways Privilege Club account. You can transfer the Avios across to British Airways if you have linked your BA and Qatar accounts.

Assuming that your flight tickets into A or P class, you will earn 125% of miles flown. You will not earn tier points. Full details are on the Qatar Airways airline partner pages here.

This is an exceptional price for a peak season business class flight to South Africa. Rwandair is keen to join the oneworld alliance at some point, and the airline is 49% owned by Qatar Airways, so it is a serious carrier.

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Category

General

Comments (27)

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

  • Dubious says:
    9 Feb9 February 05:05

    Nice.
    I notice that the fare also permits unlimited stopovers of up to 7 days:

    UNLIMITED STOPOVERS PERMITTED ON THE PRICING UNIT IN KGL
    AT USD 100.00 EACH.
    INFANT IS FREE.
    NO STOPOVER OCCURS IF PASSENGER TAKES NEXT AVAILABLE
    FLIGHT WITHIN 8 HOURS HOWEVER A STOPOVER MAY NOT
    EXCEED 7 DAYS.
    NOTE –
    PLEASE REFER TO PARAGRAPH 17 BELOW FOR HIP

  • Will says:
    9 Feb9 February 05:06

    Ideal for Gorilla visit

  • Barrel for Scraping says:
    9 Feb9 February 07:57

    “the airline is 49% owned by Qatar Airways, so it is a serious carrier”

    Airitaly was also owned 49% by QR and they closed it on a whim in 2020 (before covid)

    • JDB says:
      9 Feb9 February 16:52

      It was hardly closed on a whim! The Aga Khan (majority shareholder) refused to put any more money in, they had aircraft grounded after the Max disasters and the US was kicking up a stink about QR’s involvement so not a difficult or unexpected decision

  • Gordon says:
    9 Feb9 February 08:22

    I flew Rwandair last September KGL-NBO on a Bombardier Q-400NG, first time flying on a prop, I was impressed how quiet it was, as it was raining, the ground crew held umbrellas for the passengers from the bus to the air stairs!

  • memesweeper says:
    9 Feb9 February 08:46

    7 Feb was an A330-300 London Kigali. I think that’s the non-flat seat aircraft.

  • Holgs says:
    9 Feb9 February 09:37

    With all the political issues currently going on between Rwanda and DR Congo, they probably have less tourists going hence the food deals?

    • Dubious says:
      9 Feb9 February 10:59

      I doubt it, the relationship between DRC and Rwanda has been going on for years. It’s nothing new. I recall reading Rwanda is safe for asylum seekers, so I assume safe for tourists too…

      • Boardwalk says:
        9 Feb9 February 19:01

        Not to get political, but Supreme Court held otherwise (not safe for asylum-seekers). The conflict with DRC reflects ethnic tensions that flared up in the genocide 30 years ago. Having said that, those sort of tensions have subsided, fighting is a long way from Kigali, and the city / country itself is surprisingly modern and totally worth a stopover for a couple of days.

  • Bob says:
    9 Feb9 February 10:59

    Qatar customer service – when you phone them or speak to them isn’t that of a serious contender. Shocking service and mostly inability to understand what you are saying very easily or simply do not understand you. However, on board great service, and great to fly with. Economy is even pretty good if you ask me.

  • David says:
    9 Feb9 February 11:03

    Frustrating that having a BA Household account seems to prevent transfers between Avios accounts with other airlines.

    • John says:
      9 Feb9 February 11:13

      It doesn’t prevent transfers to QR

    • Swiss Jim says:
      9 Feb9 February 11:27

      Really? Which ones are you thinking of? I’ve not struggled (but haven’t tried them all…).

    • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:
      9 Feb9 February 13:08

      You’ll only be able to transfer YOUR avios out. You won’t be able to transfer out any belonging to other HHA members.

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

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