INSANE Avios availability to Sydney in Club World and First

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It is a truth universally accepted that finding Avios redemption availability in Club World or First on the British Airways flight to Sydney is virtually impossible.

With only two business class seats guaranteed per flight, and with competition from people who want the London to Singapore leg on its won, it is the sort of place people call up at midnight 355 days in advance for – and often still miss out.

That has just changed. British Airways has just opened the flood gates for Business and First Class Avios flights to Australia for the next four and a half months.

Take a look at this screenshot from SeatSpy which shows Avios points availability for two people in Club World (business class):

….. and here are the same dates for First Class, again based on two people travelling:

This is a virtually unprecedented amount of availability. If you are a solo traveller you are likely to find even more dates open.

The charts above show dates where there is availability straight through. If you are happy to spend a day or so in Singapore, you will have even more options.

British Airways operates a Boeing 777 to Sydney, so you should expect the legacy Club World seat, not Club Suite. It is well worth upgrading to First Class if you can as the taxes and fees portion of the fare will remain virtually the same and you will fly on a substantially better product.

As these are Avios tickets, you can cancel up to 24 hours before departure with a full refund of Avios and the taxes and fees with nothing more than a £35 penalty per person. That makes them extremely attractive and – if the Coronavirus situation deteriorates – you have a very flexible booking.

Do NOT pay for seat reservations in Club World. These are NOT refundable if you voluntarily cancel your booking later. Either wait until you are 100% certain to fly or simply don’t bother – your flight is likely to be pretty empty anyway. First Class reservations are free.

If you want to travel off-peak to save Avios, the 2021 calendar of peak and off-peak Avios points dates is here. You can see how the British Airways companion voucher works in this article.

To maximise your miles when paying, your best bet is the British Airways American Express Premium Plus card which earns double Avios (3 per £1) when you book at ba.com or via BA Holidays. You do not get double Avios if you book with the free British Airways American Express card.

Another option is American Express Preferred Rewards Gold which offers double points – 2 per £1 – when you book flight tickets directly with an airline.

These tickets are likely to go fast. You can book on the British Airways website here.

How to earn Avios points from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways BA Amex American Express card

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

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, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

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

(Want to earn more Avios? Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)

Category

British Airways and Avios

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

DavidB says:

7 Mar7 March 10:43

When you consider airlines pay themselves and their partners about 10% of the full revenue fare for award tickets (about the cost of provisioning for the seat/flight), BA has its cake and eats it too. They get you to “spend” your Avios points and actually still get you to actually pay that 10% for the seat. No other program charges as much in fees and non-government imposed levies for their awards. Avios is a fool’s paradise and BA is dumping seats it knows it will never otherwise sell so it’s taking your money and drawing down its liability of unspent Avios.

Consider the fees on many of those Club awards and you could buy a WT+ revenue ticket for a few quid more and use far fewer Avios to upgrade into Club…and earn more [useless] Avios points.

And of course, it’s impossible to book awards on many partner airlines when BA flies the same route, even if award seats are available through other OneWorld programs (and of course you’d pay less cash for those awards).
- Shoestring says:
  
  7 Mar7 March 11:45
  
  Avios is no fool’s paradise in Europe – or on LH 2-4-1s in Business/ First
  
  great availability & saves us heaps
  - Harry T says:
    
    7 Mar7 March 12:13
    
    The sweet spot for Avios is definitely short haul, and not just in Europe. I’m flying from Sydney to Hobart tomorrow for 6000 Avios and £20 each. Used to be 4500 Avios before they devalued the partner redemptions.
    - Polly says:
      
      7 Mar7 March 12:38
      
      And we use them for MAS intra Asia in J, when we can, otherwise in Y with usual silver benefits. Really great value for these two old fools! RFS fantastic also for Dublin. Use BA like a bus.
      Enjoy Sydney, well done catching those 2 tkts.
      Would love to use a 241 now in F to Sydney but OH not moving away from home under any circumstance. We are still on self imposed lockdown til Wednesday, 2 weeks after our return from Asia. Even tho no symptoms at all. Just being careful.
      What a golden opportunity to get F all the way to SYD, using a 241. Unreal.
      And of course, health care superb in Oz if you do come down with the dreaded lurgy.
      - Harry T says:
        
        7 Mar7 March 13:27
        
        Thank you, we are having a lovely time. More money to spend on hotels and activities with such cheap flights. I’d definitely jump at using a 241 in F if we weren’t already here!
        
        Hope you don’t get any symptoms and survive your self imposed quarantine without going bonkers!
      - Lady London says:
        
        7 Mar7 March 18:03
        
        Well done @Polly and DH on your self-imposed quarantine. Shows consideration for others.
      - Mikeact says:
        
        8 Mar8 March 00:55
        
        @Lady London. Port Arthur is a village and historic site in southern Tasmania, Australia. Sitting on the Tasman Peninsula, it was a 19th-century penal settlement and is now an open-air museum. Ruins include the huge penitentiary and the remaining shell of the Convict Church, which was built by inmates. Solitary confinement cells in the Separate Prison building were used to inflict mental punishment in place of floggings. You need all day as there is a lot to see. Also the scene of the ghastly massacre in ’96, when 35 people, including children, were murdered by a lone gunman. The old original cafe is now a memorial. My wife was really upset.
    - Mikeact says:
      
      7 Mar7 March 14:15
      
      @Harry T. Do make sure you vist Port Arthur while you’re in Tasmania, very sobering.
      - Lady London says:
        
        7 Mar7 March 18:04
        
        @Mikeact can you explain more so I will remember when I go to Tassie?
      - Shoestring says:
        
        7 Mar7 March 18:07
        
        just a guess but they slaughtered the natives
      - Anthony Edwards says:
        
        7 Mar7 March 21:38
        
        Port Arthur is great but if travelling from Hobart for the day leave early – Richmond (via detour) tessellated pavement, Tasman arch, dog line at Eaglehawk neck all on the way. Stay late for the ghost tour at port Arthur you’re staying overnight. There is also a devil park too if you’ve got time.
    - Anthony Edwards says:
      
      7 Mar7 March 21:31
      
      Hobart is my home town! I love seeing it referred to On here and hope you like it 🙂
      - Harry T says:
        
        8 Mar8 March 13:05
        
        In Hobart now! Probably won’t have time for Port Arthur this time, as we are heading North and only have a few days. Good excuse to justify coming back next year though – always more to see in Australia!
  - Secret Squirrel says:
    
    7 Mar7 March 15:56
    
    None of the routes we want to fly work out a little more in cash in WT+, i check regularly so for us avios & 241 means we fly in F & J for less than WT+.
- mvcvz says:
  
  7 Mar7 March 13:41
  
  In what universe is flying in business or on occasions first class for less than the cost of an economy seat a fool’s paradise? It always seems like a great deal to me. But then again, I’m not the CEO of an FT100 company, so what would I know?
  - Shoestring says:
    
    7 Mar7 March 16:03
    
    I’m sure we’ve got a few senior FTSE100 people kicking around but as Cat mentioned, it was tongue in cheek these days as whilst I did manage a country for a FTSE100 co I certainly wasn’t on the top level (only 2 away, though!) – it was all about getting more surveys on erewards etc, not that I do anything like that these days except ClubOpinions to earn Iberia points once every couple of years (keeps the a/cs alive)
Andy S says:

7 Mar7 March 17:44

Hi can anyone explain lhr – syd shows as 240 tier points each way, yet lhr – sin is 160 and sin -syd is 140. I’m confused Is there a way to maximise tier earning lhr-syd
- Lady London says:
  
  7 Mar7 March 18:08
  
  Yes. You make sure you have 2 different flight numbers, breaking, say, at SIN, HKG or DOH.
- Rob says:
  
  7 Mar7 March 20:22
  
  Yes. Do not get the onward flight straight away. Get the one the next day.
  - Charlieface says:
    
    8 Mar8 March 01:32
    
    Technically I suppose you could book onto the same flight but as two separate legs with a stopover, I think it would count separately then. You’d prob need a travel agent to do it. Also it’s probably under the minimum connection time.