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[lonkmu]

To all you frequent fliers out there:

I am trying to fly my family (two adults, baby and three year old) out to South Africa direct on 13 May for two weeks.

I have tried Lastminute.com, Opodo, Expedia, Dial a Flight etc. The lowest quote I got was Opodo on Thursday and this morning it has gone up by £200 all of a sudden.

Any advice/tips would be appreciated

Regards
L

[PAXboy]

To get direct between these destinations, you have three carriers at LHR and one (three times a week) from LGW. You do not state if you want JNB or CPT, as that makes a differance at this time of year.

The market is very strong and in a typical week, it looks like this (although I sit to be corrected on recent changes to the timetables). LGW has Nationwide (a ZA company) three times on a 767 and doing nicely. LHR: SAA has 9 x 744s to JNB. BA has 9 x 744 to JNB. VS has 4 x 343 and 3 x 744 to JNB. That makes something like 7,500+ seats between these airports each and week and they are BOOKED. The CPT flights are fewer and fuller.

So, you have to take what you can get. There are very few deals available for South Africa because demand (particularly to Cape Town) is very strong. You might get some dregs close to departure but it sounds as if you have to be there on a particular date.

So, book now with the best that you can get from any source or go indirect. These are: LH, AF, KL, (also TAP I think) which are fairly short delays. Emirates will add much to the time, as would Olympic.

Sorry to be so unhelpful but this route makes big money and no one is giving seats away with demand like they have at present. My family, friends and I have been traversing this route for 39 years and have yet to find a true bargain!

You have tried all the main online folks, although you do not mention ebookers. You may find a package in which you can use the hotel and/or car from an ICT supplier (inclusive tour) and then throw away the bit you don't want. These folks have block booked seats and get very good deals. These two routes will be solidly booked through into Feb next year.

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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.

[Globaliser]

What sort of fares are you getting? The lowest published fares (which you can always get directly from the airline) are about £514 for JNB and £559 for CPT (plus tax). There's lots of availability in May at those levels, at least on BA which is the only place I've looked.

IME, these days you don't save very much if anything on most long-haul routes by going to other sources - a tenner or two here and there per person. Normally, Travelocity and Opodo are worse channels on which to book than going straight to BA because they add on fees which BA doesn't if you book online with them.

Is that consistent with what you've been finding?

If you need to get the lowest possible price for every ticket, one trick is to try pricing for one passenger rather than 4. You might for example be able to get one seat at the lowest price, and then pay the next level of fare for every one else.

[manintheback]

Only one I can add to that is Airline Network who have had in the past good deals with BA and Virgin.

[lonkmu]

Thanks for all the help everyone.

After much surfing and phoning around I finally settled with a price of around £450.00 each incl. taxes which I do not think is bad.

Thanks again!

L

[Globaliser]

That's a good price - congratulations!

[PAXboy]

Yes, VERY good. May one ask which carrier /routing and the agent? Well worth writing down.

[lonkmu]

Strangely enough we went through the flybmi.com website.

The airline is SAA and its direct Heathrow - Joburg and returning two weeks later.

Perhaps the cheap price is down to the fact that we are travelling on Friday the 13th May

Regards
L

[Globaliser]

You've definitely done well - BD's lowest published fares are £514 for JNB and £559 for CPT (plus tax). I'm not sure how you got the fare you did, but it's a steal!