Atacama40

Morning all, need to organise some paid & some miles seats for October next year in BA First but a relative newbie on this route & certainly never booked miles seats before on it.

Could use advice from you seasoned hands on normal miles seats allocations and likely ease of availability for LHR-JNB and ideally return CPT-LHR. Sounds mad but ideally I need 4 miles seats and 2 paid.

If I read this years BA miles seats correctly, October will likely be an 'off-peak' month? Well on LHR-JNB anyway. Not sure CPT-LHR.

We have options on what days to travel out and back ... can flex to take best advantage or availability.

Can also jump back up to JNB for return if needed but prefer direct from CPT.

Any advice and pointers hugely appreciated before we prep for the 355 and counting game. Many thanks

escape2sun

You maybe lucky with First to/from JNB, but flights to CPT not a chance. Things might improve at the end of October when BA add the BA43/42 rotation, and possibly the LGW-CPT flight

There will be 2-business seats available when BA release the flights, but they don't tend to be there for long, and you will be need to be smart for adding the return leg

mikeyfly

It's a lottery over when / if you will see F seats on any route on any day - all On & Off peak dates are the same for all routes. F reward comes up quite a bit on JNB - far less on CPT

Atacama40

Thanks escape2sun....yes I saw quite a few JNB first seats (up to 6 but more often 4) on odd days but very little CPT.

Sorry can you explain the 43/42 rotation please ... it that a winter schedule extra? And is the LGW flight a likely option emerging?

Just off topic internal business flights from CPT-JNB, are they any good? Have any idea of checked weight allowances for those? If we can get back to JNB and then it could be easier as you mention.

Many thanks

Atacama40

Is weird, I've been very likely on F allocations in the past but only once had to harvest 4 of them....on an easy DXB flight.

When you say On/Off peak dates are same for all routes, you mean across the board or location flights on a certain date?

At least good that F option on JNB is a relatively easy one. Shame about CPT. We got a couple OAP's on trip so trying to minimise the connections etc

Thanks for the advice

escape2sun

BA in the Northern Summer has the BA59/58 flight/rotation, from end of October-end March it adds the BA43/42 flights/rotation as a second daily direct flight.

Last year and this year it has added a 3 times weekly LGW-CPT flight from mid-November to March

From personal experience the LHR-CPT-LHR flights are extremely busy, as it is spring in the Cape, and the weather is often very pleasant, with whale watching in Hermanus and the Spring Flowers up the west coast

Charlie Whiskey

Have just done LHR - CPT and JNB - LHR in First on a 241, but only needed two seats. Both flights found and booked on 30th Sept 16 for travel on 17 Aug 17.

"Just off topic internal business flights from CPT-JNB, are they any good? Have any idea of checked weight allowances for those? If we can get back to JNB and then it could be easier as you mention."

The BA (Comair) internal flights, bookable via ba.com, are fine and good value in Club: better seating and food too. You might find this helpful:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...s-ecomomy.html

Baggage allowance 2 x 23kg in Club if I recall correctly.

Globaliser

The BA-coded Comair-operated domestic flights are fundamentally identical to BA mainline short-haul Club flights in all but fairly fine detail.

This includes the fact that they can sometimes be good value as RFS redemptions, although it's worth noting that the fine detail includes the fact that the cash component needed for Comair is a little bit more than the cash component needed for mainline RFS.

Atacama40

Thanks for clarifying .... is useful data.

Yes we also guilty as charged on the tourist angle.

Atacama40

Going take a look at that link Charlie Whiskey .... many thanks for the data and the time horizon on miles booking.....cause for optimism. Many thanks

Atacama40

Is great advice Globaliser .... no idea why but for some irrational reason I assumed Comair was going to be a rough ride .... good to know at least it's familiar ground.

I've never looked at RFS options. Given our numbers then definitely worth a look.

Appreciate you taking the time as always Globaliser. Cheers

Tdgraves

Just booked my outbound Lhr-Jnb for next year at -355. 2 CW seats available on both flights. 2 first on one flight and 4 on the other, so it is doable....

Cabbage

A couple of extra bits of info

- you can use Tim Rogers baredemptionfinder.com and set up email alerts for redemption availability
- the Comair SLOW domestic lounges are truly excellent

Good luck

Atacama40

Apols for the late reply, been away .... good to know and thanks for advising. Yes about to process mine within the next few days....hope to emulate your success. Thanks

Atacama40

Apologies for the late reply. Will definitely look at the link you mention and thanks for the heads up on lounges ... is really helpful