Trip to South Africa ... Cape Town/Johannesburg

Hello everyone,

I have been planning a trip out to South Africa (Cape Town) to see friends "at some point next year". We decided it would probably be a good idea for me to book my flights so we can start booking things in!

Been researching times and prices for a few weeks and because I would like to fly UC (combination of wanting to hit the ground running when I get there and having to go straight back to work when I get home and also because I have the taste for it now!).

I researched LHR to CPT for pretty much all and every date in March, April and May. The cheapest option was 18th April to 6th May and would cost me £3574.25 :0

Several combinations later ... I give up and call Flying Club! They have given me an alternative idea and I would like a second opinion on your thoughts and if anyone has done this route.

17th April 2014 - VS601 LHR 21.00 - JNB 9.05 UC
18th April 2014 - SAA333 JNB 12.00 - CPT 14.10

06th May 2014 - SAA352 CPT 15.00 - JNB 17.50
06th May 2014 - VS602 JNB 20.25 - LHR 6.50 UC

Total cost is 60,000 miles and £1,331.35.

Part of me would like the convenience of flying in and out of Cape Town (return would have to be via JNB anyway as the winter schedule kicks in) but for the 'inconvenience' of flying into Jo'burg, 6 hours hanging around waiting for flights and a new experience of South African Airways, I pretty much save over £2000????

I didn't make a note of the fare codes but it was the heavily discounted, no changes permitted fares but I'm happy with that. I work near enough to Heathrow to either get a lift or I can easily drive (day before Easter's Good Friday) and I would get to experience the LHR Clubhouse for the first time (usually fly from Gatwick).

I am thinking that this a good price for a UC flight but thoughts from you guys would be good!

Thanks

In my view an awesome price for UC to SA.... Is there not a lounge in JNB to kill a few hours? or a good book you have been meaning to read?

Fare code will be dependant on how much 'playing around' the agent did. Is this a MPM fare or an upgradeable ECO? Hazarding a guess I would say upgradeable ECO given the price

Regardless an amazing deal in my eyes y)

It sounds like a great bargain to me.

If you start getting twitchy during the stopover at JNB, just keep telling yourself that £2,000 for 6 hours is a good pay off

It's only a layover if 3 hours or less each leg for a £2000 saving so a no brainier for me. There's no jet lag to be suffering when you arrive so I'd get it booked before the seat disappears .
Cape Town and SA in general is awesome. y)
DL

It's only a layover if 3 hours or less each leg for a £2000 saving so a no brainier for me. There's no jet lag to be suffering when you arrive so I'd get it booked before the seat disappears .
Cape Town and SA in general is awesome. y)
DL

I agree. Normally I always try to take the direct option but in this case as you are travelling all within the same time zone and its such a big saving plus 3hrs is not too long to kill. I would grab a massive mug of coffee and as joeyc said a good book.

Fare code will be dependant on how much 'playing around' the agent did. Is this a MPM fare or an upgradeable ECO? Hazarding a guess I would say upgradeable ECO given the price

Yes, I think it was an upgradeable from Economy. The MPM fares were coming in around the £2,250 mark.

Thanks all for your replies - thought it sounded like a good deal!

Will definitely fill up the Kindle with some good books before heading out and I'm quite happy to people watch for a while anyway! I'm a pretty good faffer!

If you start getting twitchy during the stopover at JNB, just keep telling yourself that £2,000 for 6 hours is a good pay off

Love this!!!

There's no jet lag to be suffering when you arrive so I'd get it booked before the seat disappears .DL

Excellent point - not something I had thought about!! Thank you!

I agree. Normally I always try to take the direct option but in this case as you are travelling all within the same time zone and its such a big saving plus 3hrs is not too long to kill.

Length of a film on the laptop! )

Cape Town and SA in general is awesome. y)
DL

Any recommendations DragonLady? I'm staying with friends but happy for any hints/tips!

In my view an awesome price for UC to SA.... Is there not a lounge in JNB to kill a few hours? or a good book you have been meaning to read?

Sorry Joey ... meant to answer this as well! There is a JNB Clubhouse too. http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/gb/en/travel-information/airport-guides/johannesburg/experience-upper-class.html

When I went to South Africa I came back with money! I know!

That £2k saving will go far there!

In my view an awesome price for UC to SA.... Is there not a lounge in JNB to kill a few hours? or a good book you have been meaning to read?

Sorry Joey ... meant to answer this as well! There is a JNB Clubhouse too. http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/gb/en/travel-information/airport-guides/johannesburg/experience-upper-class.html

Could someone transferring onto a domestic SA flight use this though?

Otherwise I am sure people watching will be entertaining enough, got to love airports for that reason.. so much to see

In my view an awesome price for UC to SA.... Is there not a lounge in JNB to kill a few hours? or a good book you have been meaning to read?

Sorry Joey ... meant to answer this as well! There is a JNB Clubhouse too. http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/gb/en/travel-information/airport-guides/johannesburg/experience-upper-class.html

Could someone transferring onto a domestic SA flight use this though?

Otherwise I am sure people watching will be entertaining enough, got to love airports for that reason.. so much to see

If I can't on the way out of Johannesburg, hope I will be able to on the way back in?! I will ask the question though!

If I can't on the way out of Johannesburg, hope I will be able to on the way back in?! I will ask the question though!

Ha ha, sorry to unnecessarily worry you. You are on the Joburg flight to LHR in UC so of course you can use the clubhouse before the flight home.

I would say give it a pop on the outbound when you are at the airport, they can only say no.. Obviously making sure that the clubhouse is open, the internal flight is leaving from the same terminal and you are at the correct airport

Get booking 8D

You won't have Clubhouse access on the outbound before the SAA flight, but you will on the way home before the VS flight.

As the VS flight departs in the evening from JNB, I'd be very surprised if it's open in the morning anyway.

Domestic lounges in South Africa are pretty good - especially the one in Cape Town. I have pics somewhere.

You won't have Clubhouse access on the outbound before the SAA flight, but you will on the way home before the VS flight.

As the VS flight departs in the evening from JNB, I'd be very surprised if it's open in the morning anyway.

Perfect - thanks for the heads up!

When I went to South Africa I came back with money! I know!

That £2k saving will go far there!

Had no idea of how much to take with me so this has given me food for thought!

[honey lamb]

Obviously making sure that the clubhouse is open, the internal flight is leaving from the same terminal and you are at the correct airport

Get booking 8D

VS arrive in the International Terminal and your SAA flight leaves from the Domestic Terminal although they are linked and easily accessible. There are worse places to wait than in JNB - T3 in LHR for example!

Fare code will be dependant on how much 'playing around' the agent did. Is this a MPM fare or an upgradeable ECO? Hazarding a guess I would say upgradeable ECO given the price

Yes, I think it was an upgradeable from Economy. The MPM fares were coming in around the £2,250 mark.

Thanks all for your replies - thought it sounded like a good deal!

Will definitely fill up the Kindle with some good books before heading out and I'm quite happy to people watch for a while anyway! I'm a pretty good faffer!

If you start getting twitchy during the stopover at JNB, just keep telling yourself that £2,000 for 6 hours is a good pay off

Love this!!!

There's no jet lag to be suffering when you arrive so I'd get it booked before the seat disappears .DL

Excellent point - not something I had thought about!! Thank you!

I agree. Normally I always try to take the direct option but in this case as you are travelling all within the same time zone and its such a big saving plus 3hrs is not too long to kill.

Length of a film on the laptop! )

Cape Town and SA in general is awesome. y)
DL

Any recommendations DragonLady? I'm staying with friends but happy for any hints/tips!

MDVPond visited SA a couple of years ago I recall, his report of the VS604 is very informative and of his normal high standard of entertainment....

Just done the jburg flight upperclass then onto capetown, the 3hrs will go quick, by the time you get off the plane go through security, passport control etc, its a good 11hr night flight, and I got around 6-7hrs in uc.
Just make sure you have nothing of value in Luggage as Jburg is known for case rumbling, and having a UC sticker will draw attention.

Just an update!

"Grrrrr" is all I can say here! Phoned back to book these flights and the agent went through it all only to release the "offer" back into the mix. And then promptly couldn't book it again.

Apparently, someone else had also booked two flights that day and when she let go of "my" G fare, the system cancelled it and wont let us book the deal.

The return G is still available and she said I could book the outbound in Economy ... but the price is now well over £2400. Hmmmmmmmm n( v(

I politely declined but will keep my eyes peeled for another G on the outbound!

"Grrrrr" is all I can say here! Phoned back to book these flights and the agent went through it all only to release the "offer" back into the mix. And then promptly couldn't book it again.

Errrr, customer service agent error has nothing to do with you... They have got to honour the original tickets on hold and book it at price quoted. Hope ya got the name of the CS agent, and gloves off

Give them a bell back and if the CS agent cannot magic the tickets back, speak with a supervisor is my advice.

"Grrrrr" is all I can say here! Phoned back to book these flights and the agent went through it all only to release the "offer" back into the mix. And then promptly couldn't book it again.

Errrr, customer service agent error has nothing to do with you... They have got to honour the original tickets on hold and book it at price quoted. Hope ya got the name of the CS agent, and gloves off

Give them a bell back and if the CS agent cannot magic the tickets back, speak with a supervisor is my advice.

I did indeed make another phone call (two in fact as the first one cut me off when she went to "investigate" something!). Did unintentionally get the supervisor who was incredibly helpful. I gave names and times of phone calls over the past week and all of my details matched up with the notes on the system.

I even asked about them honouring the cost of the flight further down the line if another "G" came up. The answer was pretty much the same - if the codes/reward seats aren't released there is nothing they can do. I do understand that it is system based and human interaction has a small part to play but damn frustrating.

I'm not the kind of person to get angry at people on the phone and am incredibly laid back about everything but this has actually wound me up quite a bit! )

The supervisor has promised to call me back today if she can find a way but I'm not holding my breath!!

Thank you for your advice and help!!

I did indeed make another phone call (two in fact as the first one cut me off when she went to "investigate" something!). Did unintentionally get the supervisor who was incredibly helpful. I gave names and times of phone calls over the past week and all of my details matched up with the notes on the system.

I even asked about them honouring the cost of the flight further down the line if another "G" came up. The answer was pretty much the same - if the codes/reward seats aren't released there is nothing they can do. I do understand that it is system based and human interaction has a small part to play but damn frustrating.

I'm not the kind of person to get angry at people on the phone and am incredibly laid back about everything but this has actually wound me up quite a bit! )

The supervisor has promised to call me back today if she can find a way but I'm not holding my breath!!

Thank you for your advice and help!!

Fair play, usually they are good at calling back if they have something to report.. if nothing has changed you may be waiting by the phone a while ii)

As for the whole system based pricing and revenue management line... err yep technically true although computers do not program themselves, not yet at least although keep an eye out for Arnie on your next flight

From my understanding, the supervisors can push certain cases up the chain to honour agreements in case of program glitches/human error/computer revolt etc... If you get this line again, ask them if Skynet is active and how long we have left?

Hope it works out waatp 8D

All is well Joey! No threat of war in 2018 ... at least no press releases are being issued today!!

Well the Supervisor did call back when she said she would and had managed to kick the machine/strangle it/threaten to cut wires until it churned out another G fare for me!

I do feel very lucky and quite relieved. I booked up there and then before something else went wrong.

Only downside is that the price for the SAA flights had increased and no cheap fare codes left so total price was £1,488.85 in the end but still cheaper than the original price I found so not complaining!

I will fire off an email to express my thanks for the Supervisors help ... I think her persistence helped today.

Obviously making sure that the clubhouse is open, the internal flight is leaving from the same terminal and you are at the correct airport

Get booking 8D

VS arrive in the International Terminal and your SAA flight leaves from the Domestic Terminal although they are linked and easily accessible. There are worse places to wait than in JNB - T3 in LHR for example!

Perfect - thank you for that info! My bags won't be checked through to Cape Town so good to know it's easy!!

Fare code will be dependant on how much 'playing around' the agent did. Is this a MPM fare or an upgradeable ECO? Hazarding a guess I would say upgradeable ECO given the price

Yes, I think it was an upgradeable from Economy. The MPM fares were coming in around the £2,250 mark.

Thanks all for your replies - thought it sounded like a good deal!

Will definitely fill up the Kindle with some good books before heading out and I'm quite happy to people watch for a while anyway! I'm a pretty good faffer!

If you start getting twitchy during the stopover at JNB, just keep telling yourself that £2,000 for 6 hours is a good pay off

Love this!!!

There's no jet lag to be suffering when you arrive so I'd get it booked before the seat disappears .DL

Excellent point - not something I had thought about!! Thank you!

I agree. Normally I always try to take the direct option but in this case as you are travelling all within the same time zone and its such a big saving plus 3hrs is not too long to kill.

Length of a film on the laptop! )

Cape Town and SA in general is awesome. y)
DL

Any recommendations DragonLady? I'm staying with friends but happy for any hints/tips!

MDVPond visited SA a couple of years ago I recall, his report of the VS604 is very informative and of his normal high standard of entertainment....

Will check it out! Thanks!