Flying to South Africa 11 (yes 11) times in a year

[Paul Wilson]

A friend needs to fly to Cape Town eleven times over the next year. Now she works as a contractor so needs to minimise time not at work (paid an hourly rate))
My query is which airline would she be using? She'll be paying for all flights out of her own pocket, so there are 2 approaches in my mind. Who'll give her reward/free flights. Or does she go for the best option in terms of upgrades, as a night flight with an upgrade will allow her to sleep and work the following day. Obviously an 0'dark 30 arrival into the UK is actually good news if she's had a nights sleep, as she can work that day.
Any suggestions?

[PAXboy]

You have not stated where your friend is starting from? If we presume London:
If time is of the essence, then only direct flights are considered. There are ONLY two carriers who run LHR~CPT direct = BA + VS. Depending on the time of year, only BA.

If travelling from elsewhere in the UK, then a change of plane HAS to be made. Whether that is in London or Amesterdam/Paris/Frankfurt/Munich etc. If your friend will accept a change then there are at least 9 other routes that I can think of without even checking.

So she should look at projected dates and note the start/stop of the VS summer season and choose accordingly.

As she will be building a certain amount of mileage, it would make sense to stay with one carrier throughout and that would mean BA. However, she may find that she wants to look carefully at tickets and pricing. BA have a lot of capacity and that adds flexibility, twice a week they is a both a 744 and 777 a couple of hours apart.

If money is the essence then it's Y all the way and just be canny about booking your seat - and paying for that - to get the best / least worst.

Premium Economy / World Traveller Plus are both good but the cost is about double the Y fare.

Upgrades? By the time she's done half a dosen trips, that might happen but that's might happen. Bear in mind that this route is one of the most popular and profitable routes out of London, they don't need to need to offer anything.

There are other regulars on this route who'll be along soon.

[ExXB]

For reasons set out in the UK/US fares thread she should look at using a cross border hub. Almost guaranteed lower prices to go one-stop via Europe or the Middle East.

It's usually quicker to earn miles/status by doing two sectors rather than one.

Use Matrix - ITA Software (http://matrix.itasoftware.com) to get you an idea of schedules and prices. They won't sell you a ticket, but you can use their fare constructions at any agents. I've even sent one of their quotes by e-mail to e-bookers who were happy to issue the ticket.

ITA is now owned by google, but they have a very strong history. Their market is to sell fare quote systems to airlines, and to the punters in the future. They offer their service free to maintain their presence in the market.

[mixture]

Any suggestions?

I'm sure there are frequent flyers who'll tell you flying 11 times a year is a drop in the ocean. :cool:

On a more serious note ... find your friend a good travel agent. A travel agent worth their salt will probably be able to come up with deals that are more interesting than anything you can come up with whilst trying to play clever buggers with reward flights.

[parabellum]

Some of the cheaper flights don't carry reward air miles.


My niece used to do this trip a lot, she used Virgin and managed to use the airmiles for upgrades, saved them for the trips when they were the most useful. Probably the same with BA who are all the year round.


SAA direct from London seem to be about 200 pound more than KLM or Lufthansa via Amsterdam or Frankfurt.

[Gibon2]

With such frequent flights to the same destination, be sure to check prices going the other way. I have no idea of relative pricing on this route, but on many routes A-B it is significantly cheaper to buy one A-B-A ticket, with the return in, say, 12 months, and then a series of B-A-B tickets for the trips in between. I used this technique when I was travelling several times a year between Europe and Australia.

[Mr Mac]

Paul Wilson
I assume that your friend London based, and as time is money as you say when contracting, then I am afraid you are on London Airways / Virgin. So tired old 747 / 777 (Don not think that new 777 are on Africa routes according to friend who travels with them in Africa reasonably often, but could be wrong, and him unlucky !) or A340 with SRB but they do not operate as PAXBOY says year round. Mid East is long way round but a lot better, Lufty through Germany would be an option but takes time.


I think you are a bit stuck with BA if I am honest, and just build up the air miles and get up to Gold Card, and just maybe occasionally on a Blue Moon month, you may get an up grade. Would spring for WT + at the very least on that length of flight. As they are contracting you at least can write some of the cost off, and when tendering they should have factored in some form of cost for this item in the bid, or where they going to walk !.

[PAXboy]

All good advice, particularly the A-B-A ticketing.

If your friend knows the dates when she has to travel, then many things are possible and an agent is really good at being able to bundle tickets together, which you cannot do online and need to phone the carriers for.

But, as said, if time and lack of hassle is key - then it's only Virgin and BA, as SAA no longer operate the direct route but always via JNB. Sometimes, I think, it's the same aircraft but you have the time of descent, ground waiting for refuel and crew and the the 1.45 flip down to CPT. Many would think the direct worth paying for.

[Paul Wilson]

Much appreciated advice, I shall send her the link to this page. Unfortunately Mr Mac the trips to Cape Town are unconnected to her contracting, and coming out of her own pocket! I'm unsure whether she is self employed or has a Ltd company, if the latter she may be able to offset against tax, but that's probably for another forum.

[Metro man]

LON - CPT in June and staying for a week comes up as:

GBP637 with Emirates with a lengthy journey time stopping in DXB
GBP687 with South African Airways shorter journey stopping in JNB
GBP995 with British Airways direct

CPT - LON

GBP605 with KLM
GBP608 with SAA
GBP644 with BA

The best bet would appear to be purchasing a one year return ticket LHR - CPT - LHR and ten CPT - LHR - CPT returns with BA which should save around GBP3500.

Slightly cheaper fares come up but these involve two stops and lengthy journey time.

[ExXB]

But please, have a look at the airlines' terms and conditions first. Some airlines prohibit 'back to back ticketing' See https://www.united.com/web/format/pdf/Contract_of_Carriage.pdf#page9 rule 6, Paragraph J for example. (Sorry I couldn't copy and paste from that page)

I not defending such rules! But caveat emptor!

[Gibon2]

Agree ExXB, always a good idea to check the small print. But I don't think what is being suggested here is "back-to-back" ticketing, which I understood to mean interleaving tickets to get around minimum-stay fare rules.

But if there is any doubt, just get the LON-CPT-LON ticket from EK, KLM or SAA, and then the 10 CPT-LON-CPT tickets from BA.

[mixture]

But please, have a look at the airlines' terms and conditions first. Some airlines prohibit 'back to back ticketing' See
I not defending such rules! But caveat emptor!

Yup .... and if you go around logging your mileage on your frequent flyer card, you're making life a lot easier for the guys in the Revenue Protection department because you'll be a lot easier to audit !

[Squawk 7500]

I like how the airlines prohibit 'throwaway ticketing'. How they could ever hope to enforce it is beyond me!

As for B-A-Bs vs A-B-As, I can't seem to find any restrictions on this.

[Mr Mac]

Paul Wilson
Sorry I misunderstood with respect to who pays, but I am afraid BA will still minimize the flying time, hence increase /maintain bill able hours in UK. Go for WT+ though if at all possible.

[GemDeveloper]

Be aware that NOT having an 'obvious' return ticket (i.e. a ticket for the B-A sector), can cause a problem with Immigration in South Africa for a non-resident on arrival. And even having the 'left-over' B-A sector ticket from the very first journey (which one would need to have printed off and about one's person, as an E-ticket saved in a laptop apparently is not convincing), may mean that effectively one would be staying longer that Immigration will allow.


This cautionary tale based on the experience of a colleague's daughter who did a B-A-B trip back to U.K. whilst working on a contract in Johannesburg.

[Hartington]

Don't just read the Ts and Cs for tickets. If your friend joins a frequent flyer scheme read those terms as well. BA for instance have a rule about changing addresses between countries. I haven't found it but it wouldn't surprise me if they had a rule about (not) buying ticket SA-UK-SA with a UK address regularly and still getting Avios although I doubt the wording will be that specific (the word "misuse" may be the one to look for).

[PAXboy]

If the person is travelling that often, there is probably a ZA address they have to register for ticketing. If BA, then it would be with their partner Comair but a full BA account.

In the past, BA gave higher rates of rewards to non-UK address don't know if they still do.

[Wannabe Flyer]

While EK is longer their upgrade options as well as places to use your miles in the future is far better. Add to that making sure you get one of those Credit cards with miles that allow you to transfer points to miles. Put together you will have a sizeable balance at the end of the year.

Also do not forgot the hotel loyalty program.........I prefer ACCOR as it is a cash loyalty program which means EU40 for every 2000 points with no blackout restrictions. Als they have a huge spectrum of choices from premium to budget. Hyatt is also good and rapid and very generous with upgrades.

And then there is the rental car............oh I could go on and on.....

Note: 3 trips yes 3 intercontinental trips a month: 1 million bankable miles on credit cards and similar amounts on 2 frequent flyer programs! :ok: