View Full Version : Airfare To South Africa
DuckDodgers
18th Apr 2004, 20:20
Will be heading to SA in December this year with the intention of staying initially in Durban then moving to Cape Town returning home in early Jan. Just after who has the best fares, is it cheaper to fly to J'burg then internal to Durban or any other advice to beat the ludicrous prices at this time of year......Thought i'd ask here b4 pestering my other source in the Branson Corporation........
Thanks D2
Globaliser
18th Apr 2004, 21:00
My partner regularly flies to her family in Durban, and you can often get tix to JNB so much cheaper than tix to DUR that it's worth buying the domestics separately. Also, if you do it like that, you can have the fun of pitting all the current operators against each other - SA, BA (ops Comair), Nationwide, Kulula (ops Comair), etc. etc.
The only thing is that you often need to have a tame contact within South Africa to pick up or receive the tix.
Globaliser.....you can check all the fares on internet and then book through a travel agency - did that last time and the fares were cheaper than on the net!
PAXboy
19th Apr 2004, 15:55
Sensible replies. There are no direct services to Durban from the UK, only JNB and CPT. I agree that re-booking from JNB is cheapest.
The carriers for direct services are:
BA ~ LHR
VS ~ LHR
SA ~ LHR
CE ~ LGW
This last is new and is the SA carrier Nationwide who recently started a service three times a week (I think).
The main carriers from LHR all offer services to CPT and have a large amount of capacity. As you will know, you are flying at peak season and these will book very early. Discounts are not something you find often for this time of year. Consolidators do not get much of a look in.
If money is the key, consider an indirect routing of:
KLM
Air France
Lufthansa (The service from Munich makes a far better transit than Frankfurt)
TAP
Swiss
Olympic
Alitalia
ElAl
... and there may be more. Then there are the Inclusive Tour companies and agents, some of these may be worth taking and just throwing the accomodation away.
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"I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you any different." Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.