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WOW: Spend Christmas in Cape Town with a new ‘Avios only’ BA flight

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Well, this is quite impressive.

British Airways has launched a new ‘Avios only’ flight. This is a flight where EVERY seat in EVERY cabin is bookable for Avios.

Frankly, it’s a cracker and I’m genuinely impressed Avios could pull this off. You could be spending Christmas and New Year in Cape Town.

Avios only flight to Cape Town

These seats are bookable now and will not last long, at least in premium cabins.

You can use British Airways American Express 2-4-1 Companion Vouchers and Barclays Upgrade Vouchers.

Here are the timings:

Outbound:

  • Saturday 20th December 2025
  • Departs Heathrow 18.25, arrives Cape Town 08.05 + 1

Inbound:

  • Friday 2nd January 2026
  • Departs Cape Town 20.55, arrives Heathrow 07.00 + 1

It is a four class service so First Class is bookable. It is a Boeing 777 so you will get Club Suite in business class.

The cost, per person, is (using the ‘most Avios, least cash’ option):

  • World Traveller: 70,000 Avios + £150 return
  • World Traveller Plus: 135,000 Avios + £355 return
  • Club World: 200,000 Avios + £475 return
  • First Class: 200,000 Avios + £900 return

First Class does not use Reward Flight Saver pricing, hence the odd comparison to Club World. Remmeber that you cannot mix Club and First on the same booking without paying excessive amounts of taxes and charges.

Get booking!

If you miss out, keep an eye on ba.com as a lot of people will book immediately and then ask their partner tonight!

If their partner isn’t keen, or they suddenly realise how expensive hotels are in Cape Town at this time of the year, the seats will be cancelled under the 24 hour cooling off period. Set up a SeatSpy seat alert if you have a subscription.

Comments (105)

  • Throwawayname says:

    200k avios and five hundred quid for business isn’t exactly bargainous though, particularly if having to travel on fixed dates. Even during the high season, business class ex-EU fares on QR/ET/EY start from less than £2k all-in and come with a boatload of miles.

    Still, I’m sure that these flights will be very popular with those holding a large amount of avios/CC vouchers and needing to travel during the school holidays. If that’s you, enjoy CPT!

    • Rhys says:

      Cheapest round trip in business for those dates is currently over £5k on Ethiopian.

    • Rob says:

      I have Virgin redemptions for the week before Christmas and, when it was booked in April, Upper Class was already pretty full. You’re not getting down there for Christmas for anything like £2,500.

      • Thomas says:

        Well, a 2 minute search showed BRU to CPT from 17/12 to 1/01 for 2.1k…..OSL same prices.

        • Thomas says:

          Or 1.2k from CAI,….

        • Rhys says:

          Different dates, and a (non-connecting) stopover. Not exactly a comparison!

          • Throwawayname says:

            The dates are comparable precisely because you can play around with them and have some flexibility for date changes (even if they’re not free, there will be some availability). If the BRU fare is on ET, the connection/stopover on SN is a doddle and they’ll happily check your bags through on separate tickets. For those of us in the regions, that’s far easier than having to make one’s way to LHR.

          • Thomas says:

            Fact remains, you do NOT have to pay 5k to go to Cpt for the festive period.

          • Rob says:

            Cape Town is the one route (from London) where you REALLY want to fly direct, given it tends to be overnight. With minimal time difference, if you can sleep well a direct flight lets you arrive feeling great.

          • Throwawayname says:

            Speaking of ET, I can see award availability on them and MS to CPT over various dates around Christmas – a huge array of options in Y, a bit trickier (but still very possible if you’re flexible on departure points) up front.

            Unsurprisingly, what’s the usual level of service/options for a *A flyer can only be matched by oneworld through an one-off special offer which is time-limited, reasonably inflexible and even not particularly keenly-priced.

      • Alastair says:

        You’re braving the old VA Upper Class?

  • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

    If you miss out today then look again tomorrow as some people will have quickly booked but then found out overnight they couldn’t get the time off work of their partner doesn’t want to go or hotels are too expensive for them so will cancel for free and release the seat back for booking.

    • Rob says:

      Oh yes. The hotel prices are going to lead to a LOT of cancellations when people realise its going to be £10,000 on top of the flights ….

      • Sarah says:

        Apartments in the V&A Waterfront village are a great alternative to the hotels in this area – very secure and right next to the One and Only with easy access on foot to the Waterfront complex. One week in a 2 bedroom apartment starts from around £2,400. https://waterfrontvillage.com/ (apartments also available on airbnb and vrbo).

        • SteveJ says:

          Sold out for those dates.

          • Sarah says:

            Seems sold out on the 31st but you can book from 20th – 30th. I can’t imagine wanting to spend the entire time in Cape Town anyway so definitely an option for those looking to stay elsewhere as well.

  • Richard Harmer says:

    I spotted this literally as it was released and just before the HFP post it wasn’t showing any First seats are we sure it’s a 4 class B777 … there’s still business seats there… but BA at its best isn’t allowing you to add on a domestic connection so that will require a call to BA after booking … I was sorely tempted and had a Quick Look at accommodation costs… there are still a few decent apartments/hotels… the nice hotels are upwards of £15k for 12 nights!

    • Rob says:

      First was bookable when I was writing the article but I could see the number of seats ticking down as I typed. How do you think I got the taxes figure?

      • Richard Harmer says:

        Ahh thanks for the insight!

      • Dragonlady says:

        There were 3 F seats out but none on the return ( J sears were there both ways ) when I looked literally a minute after this article posted .

        • Rob says:

          When it posted or when you saw it on social? The social postings are done manually and were done 15-20 minutes after the article went up.

          • Dragonlady says:

            When it posted – I was already logged in my BA account as I’d been looking at something else.

  • Rob says:

    Booked in J, thank you. Keeping a very careful eye on F opening up over the next few hours.

  • Gordon says:

    The only off peak BA calendar date from the 18/12 to 31/12 is Xmas day! Outbound is obviously peak! Still looks good though,
    I am away over the festive period in Asia somewhere, booked on QR J Qsuite.

  • Toppcat says:

    All gone in F / J now, sadly!

    • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

      See my comment up thread and have a look again over the next few days.

      • Rob says:

        I reckon we’ll see a few released tomorrow morning when people get into work and want to cancel (because partner won’t agree to go) before the 24 hours is up.

        I had the Dubai one last year (year before?) on SeatSpy for a while and a LOT of seats were released over the course of a couple of months.

  • Garethgerry says:

    Did BA send out any emails promoting this

  • Garethgerry says:

    Luckily I booked at T-355 with a 241. But not over Xmas when you can’t move for Joeys

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