Open Jaw Flights

fifeken

What dates are you hoping to travel?

Your OP says direct to Cape Town but in post 6 you post an indirect route. Can you clarify what is a must have and what is optional, and which UK airports you are prepared to use?

South Africa from the UK via DXB is a bit of a detour (I did it just over a year ago), but Business Class on Emirates makes it a bit more acceptable.

There were several others came into the mix when we booked, but your requirements need clarified.

pmramsay

Dont forget England Cricket team are playing SA over christmas/new year. I have been keeping an eye out for flights coming available for a while. There are a few direct options starting to appear with BA.

Virgin have dropped this direct route next winter so that will limit things from that perspective.

Other options I have seen include, emirates & qatar flying via doha and also turkish arilnes flying via Istanbul

Check out skyscanner to get a feel for routings and i tend to look at ebookers or expedia for multi city flights. As suggested also take a look at the dublin option as it can be cheaper. Generally when you are looking for premium seats as it drops the APD.

MasterPoo

fifeken wrote: »

What dates are you hoping to travel?

Your OP says direct to Cape Town but in post 6 you post an indirect route. Can you clarify what is a must have and what is optional, and which UK airports you are prepared to use?

South Africa from the UK via DXB is a bit of a detour (I did it just over a year ago), but Business Class on Emirates makes it a bit more acceptable.

There were several others came into the mix when we booked, but your requirements need clarified.

Depart 18/19 December 2015 - I have a hotel reservation in Cape Town for 20 - 27 December.

Return: 7 Jan 16: JNB - DXB
10 Jan 16: DXB - BHX

If it means doing BHX-DXB-CPT to bag cheap Business Class tickets if I can't get a reasonable price for direct flight to CPT, then I really don't seem to have much of a choice.

Budget: £8K for flights for all 3.

Thanks

pmramsay

Your return flights may be pushing up the cost of your search at the moment as they wont exist.

Just as a side, looking at MAN or BHX to CPT on 18th dec you can go turkish airlines business class for around £1150 per person (that has the stop over in istanbul . Air france is coming in closer to 2k. Id be tempted in this myself but I am looking at using airmiles.

Some airlines will be yet to release prices so still time for flights to come up (BA/VIRGIN/SAA etc)

fifeken

I'm not sure about the £1,150 price above. I would expect over £2,000 no matter the airline.

With Turkish you'll have a narrow body on the first leg. Emirates will be wide bodies on both.

Emirates bump up their prices around December 10th for the Xmas period, but this tends to affect Economy Class prices much more than Business Class. Emirates also offer chauffeur drive which Turkish don't, if this is any use to you.

Do you have status with any of the options as I recall a recent thread of yours regarding Emirates? That would also affect my choice.

callum9999

Yeah, the Turkish flight mentioned seems to come in at over £2k when I look for it.

pmramsay

Take a search on skyscanner.... some of the booking agents are coming in cheaper than direct with turkish

If you do go direct to turkish airlines it comes in at £1220 per person (ONE WAY)

Yes it is a narrow body to istanbul but still more space

http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Turkish_Airlines/Turkish_Airlines_Airbus_A321_C_new.php

And the second leg is on an a330, so I am guessing as follows (although there are 2 configs)

http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Turkish_Airlines/Turkish_Airlines_Airbus_A330.php


May not be as high a standard as some of the other business airlines but for around £1200 its not bad

MasterPoo

fifeken wrote: »

Do you have status with any of the options as I recall a recent thread of yours regarding Emirates? That would also affect my choice.

I'm a newbie for Sky rewards etc. and it's benefits., but this is a nice way to build up towards whatever the next level is.

callum9999

pmramsay wrote: »

Take a search on skyscanner.... some of the booking agents are coming in cheaper than direct with turkish

If you do go direct to turkish airlines it comes in at £1220 per person (ONE WAY)

Yes it is a narrow body to istanbul but still more space

http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Turkish_Airlines/Turkish_Airlines_Airbus_A321_C_new.php

And the second leg is on an a330, so I am guessing as follows (although there are 2 configs)

http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Turkish_Airlines/Turkish_Airlines_Airbus_A330.php


May not be as high a standard as some of the other business airlines but for around £1200 its not bad

Oh I see, you're only searching one-way. A one-way on Emirates via Dubai on the way back seems to be available for around £1200 too, so roughly £2400 each in total. You won't get the same protection as you would on one ticket, but that shouldn't matter hugely.

If you're willing to drop your direct requirement then that will be the best option. The BA/Emirates combined ticket I found before is likely to be a lot more than that - well over £3k.

fifeken

pmramsay wrote: »

Yes it is a narrow body to istanbul but still more space

http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Turkish_Airlines/Turkish_Airlines_Airbus_A321_C_new.php

Nonsense. The Turkish Business Class isn't much more than their Economy Class with the centre seat blocked off.

Emirates is a 60" seat pitch and angled lie flat. The drawback with Emirates in Business is the 2 - 3 - 2 configuration, but as the OP is in a party of 3, that is not so significant.