Help! Cape Town in March, flights just went up £150!

Takecareofthepennies

littlesnuggy wrote: »

Thanks so much for all the responses!
If we booked the KLM/Swissair flights as a 'package' including the two legs, I'm assuming that if the first one is delayed and you miss the connection, it is their responsibility to get you on a later flight... If however we sorted out the legs independently, ie finding a cheap flight from Bristol to Zurich/Amersterdam/wherever and then booked the leg to SA separately, then we'd be up the swanny if the first leg was delayed? Is that right?

You will very likely also find that you won't save any money that way. If you "make your own way" to Amsterdam or Zurich, you'd - as far as KLM or Swiss are concerned - then be buying direct flights to CPT from there. As with the BA flights from LHR, these would probably be more expensive than connecting flights from the same airports.

Again, Kayak is your friend if you want to check out the exact details.

bagand96

Finally, what's Birmingham airport like? Are there cheap parking options? We usually go from Heathrow long haul, where we use a ParkAtMyHouse chap who's very good.

There are plenty of parking options at Birmingham, both onsite, and offsite providers, meaning there is good competition and it keeps prices competitive. The advice on checking the parking at the train station is also good, and there is a monorail link from the train station right into the terminal.

Pesonally I think Birmingham is a great airport to fly from. Its big enough that there is enough to do to kill your time, however not too big that its a pain.

Roger1

There is an option to reduce the price of non-direct flights. Part of the cost of flights is the absurd Air Passenger Duty which goes to Mr Osborne. Broadly, this is based on the destination, so a Bristol-Amsterdam-Cape Town ticket is charged the same amount as London-Cape Town nonstop.

However, if you can break the journey on the way, say at Amsterdam or Zurich, for at least 24 hours, the APD is based on the first sector only. The savings could pay for a hotel and dinner on the way. No problem on the return journey.

If you do a non-direct journey, be careful when buying duty free as bottles over 100 ml are normally not allowed on the second flight.

littlesnuggy

Thanks again for all the advice - bizarrely the Virgin flights went down again yesterday so I have booked direct from LHR which was £716-odd.

Glad I ummed-and-ahhed for an extra day now!

bagand96

littlesnuggy wrote: »

Thanks again for all the advice - bizarrely the Virgin flights went down again yesterday so I have booked direct from LHR which was £716-odd.

Glad I ummed-and-ahhed for an extra day now!

Thats good news. Airline tickets - its like a lottery!