South Africa Christmas Week

[tsgirl]

For those of you who have taken the South Africa trip, what did you do for your air travel? What are the best airlines? Did you stop for a night on the way? I started looking into airfares and I've seen $2,000 round trip as the least expensive, but it goes up to over $5,000. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[sayhello]

Has anyone done or even started planning for the South Africa trip Christmas week? I was hoping to take my family in December 2013, but I just looked at the airfare for this December and it was scary. The minimum fare seemed to be over $5,000 per person. Any help, advice, suggestions? Thanks!

And I thought $1500 per person to Greece was high!

Sayhello

 

[NoraG]

We just got back from South Africa in June. You are going to love it. We booked about 4 months out and it was about $2200 per person RT. We flew Delta, which is not my favorite airline, but it was okay. We flew Orlando to Atlanta to Amsterdam to Cape Town on the way there. Then Johannesburg directly to Atlanta to Orlando. It would have been cheaper if we'd taken an extra stop coming back, but we were exhausted at the end of the trip and luckily we got some uninterrupted sleep on the way back. It's a long time to sit, but it's great not to have to switch planes again. On the way there, we barely made our transfer in Amsterdam. We left late out of the Atlanta, by about an hour, so it was very tight. Another family (from CA, so West Coast) flew Turkish Airlines and had a stop in Instanbul. Of course I have no idea how much their flights were, but that may be an option if you are coming from the West Coast. The only other option I remember was a stop in Dakar, Senegal on the way home. Just in case you're wondering, the direct flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg was full on the way there, so that's why we didn't do it. You'd have to connect to Cape Town, but I think you have many more options should you face a delay. Another couple on the trip was able to get this flight even though we weren't because they booked much earlier than we did. Hope that helps. You're going to have an amazing time.

Just an FYI, I highly recommend a squishable carry-on if you have anything that you do not want gate-checked in South Africa. Rollaboard bags (no matter how tiny) get checked on the internal flights. ABD will give you a duffle, but if you're like me, you have a carry-on when you fly over and really need that ahead of time (i.e. before you leave) to make good use of it. A backpack or duffle bag works very well as they squish to fit in the small overhead compartments. There is also a small space beneath the seat in front of you to store a purse or small backpack. Everyone on our trip got their gate checked bags right away, but I'm a bit paranoid and prefer to have my meds, extra change of clothing, etc. with me at all times.

 

[tufbuf]

On the way there, we barely made our transfer in Amsterdam. We left late out of the Atlanta, by about an hour, so it was very tight.

Did your bags make it to Cape Town with you or were they delayed?

 

[NoraG]

Fortunately, our bags made it safe and sound all the way to Cape Town. We were a bit worried as it took a while to spot them on the carousel, but they were there. We actually ended up with 15 or so minutes to spare, but that's because we practically ran to the gate. It's a big airport and our gate was fairly close (considering the size of the airport). Had we been any farther or been delayed any longer, I doubt we would have made that flight.

OP, if you choose to go through Amsterdam, I'd recommend about 2 hours in between flights in case of delays. We had an hour and a half, which is clearly doable, but two hours would have been less stressful. Of course, with no delays, 1.5 hours is plenty, but I've heard delays to/from this particular airport are frequent.

We also arrived 2 days early to explore on our own, something I highly recommend. It gave us a chance to adjust and do some things not included on the tour.

 

[abbyjt]

We flew South African Air (or airways something like that) in 2009 for our ABD to South Africa. Even back then it was about $1800 a person. We were scheduled to fly out of JFK, but that was cancelled and we flew JFK to DC, DC to Johanessburg with a stop over in Dakar Senegal but you could not get off the plane. A few passengers joined us then. It was 17 hours to JOBurg and we had a 2 hour layover then a 2 hour flight to Cape Town. By the time we reached the hotel in Cape Town it was 10PM and we just passed out.
South African Air was really nice. They provided sleep masks and socks and toothbrushes and paste. They served 3 or 4 meals and snacks. Wine was complimentary. (Limit of 2 glasses per meal). There were individual entertainment units in the seat backs (didn't have that on the flight to Greece this summer, and you really miss it). The seats were kind of hard, and we had read that in some airline reviews, so we brought seat things. It was one of the nicest airlines we have used.
BTW, the airlines that they use within the itinerary are star alliance members, so bring your airline miles numbers with you if you want to get credit for those flights.