British Airways adds new Cape Town flights for Winter 2025

EDIT: This article is now out of date. The missing Club World seats appeared around 10.30pm on Thursday night. If you are reading this on Friday morning then some Avios seats in business class should still be there, although probably not for the Christmas and New Year period.

British Airways has just announced an additional (third) daily flight to Cape Town for this winter.

Something weird is happening though. There is NO Avios availability in Club World on these services.

There IS the full roster of World Traveller Plus seats (two per flight) and World Traveller seats (eight per flight) – but not a sausage up front.

The additional flights will operate outbound on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday from Sunday 9th November, with the return flight leaving the following day.

The outbound leaves Heathrow at 8.30pm, arriving in Cape Town at 10.20am.

The inbound leaves Cape Town at 10pm, arriving in Heathrow at 8.00am.

British Airways is using a Boeing 787 which means no First Class. It IS scheduled to have Club Suite.

Where are the business class Avios seats?

Here is a SeatSpy screenshot (SeatSpy is our recommended reward seat notification service) showing World Traveller Plus seats in blue and Club World seats in green.

Click to enlarge:

Yes, lots of blue. The expected two Avios seats per flight in World Traveller Plus are available on all of the new flights as of 2.45pm on Thursday..

No green though. Nothing, not a sausage, in business class.

Given this is BA, let’s not put down to conspiracy that which can be explained by IT.

Let’s assume that those guaranteed four business class seats per flight will appear at some point very soon. If you’re interested in booking, keep an eye on the availability.

The Avios cost, excluding any vouchers you may have is (peak / off-peak):

• World Traveller – 60,000 or 70,000 Avios + £150 return
• World Traveller Plus – 95,000 or 135,000 Avios + £355 return
• Club World – 180,000 or 200,000 Avios + £475 return

This is the ‘most Avios, least cash’ option which is usually the best value choice – and will certainly be the best value choice if using a British Airways American Express 2-4-1 companion voucher. If you have a Barclaycard upgrade voucher, it is your only choice!

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

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:

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

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, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

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.

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