Help with Flight from South Africa to London

loobs40

We are booked on a Riviera travel trip to South Africa in Feb. The flights use South Africa airlines, which, on the whole have dreadful reviews and I have heard some true horror stories from friends who have used them.

Total flight time with SAA in economy will be about 17.5 hours back from Cape Town, stopping at JNB and then onto London.

I am contemplating paying extra and making a booking myself for the flight back to UK with Emirates, who on a quick glance on skyscanner are £266 per person via Dubai and appear to have a great reputation.

Ideally I would prefer prem econ or business class for such a long flight, but prices look prohibitive .... Unless of course some of you very savvy frequent flyers can help me

I have just over 100k avios with BAEC but BA prices appear off the scale.

thanks

jpsartre

You can find bad reviews about every airline. SAA is rated 4 stars by Skytrax, the same as Emirates and ahead of BA's 3 stars. Sounds like an overreaction to pay for a new ticket based on a few pieces of anecdotal evidence.

Itsgottabedone

I agree with jps above, and would add that airlines who don't operate a direct service (such as Emirates) are more likely to have competitive prices because they're hoping to entice customers of the direct airlines (SAA and BA, for example) to use their services.

*j*

SAA aircraft are somewhat tired, and the crew have not been very enthusiastic in my experience.

If your return trip has a connection in JNB, then there isn't much difference if you conect in DXB instead. You're likely to have a better standard of equipment and service.
When travelling to South Africa I usually fly to JNB and having tried SAA I choose Swiss, despite the connection in Zurich.

From time to time there are doubts raised about the financial viability of SAA. Politicians and corruption may be having an affect on this.

Teahfc

A once a year trip to Cape Town from London is my treat to myself, loved it when Virgin went direct London/Cape Town but my last trip as that route got cancelled was via Dubai, they flew 777 out of Cape Town to Dubaia and the huge 380 back to London with a kay over of less than 90 minutes. Great airline but walked more steps in Dubai airport than any other Airport I have been to.

PeacefulWaters

Open an Iberia account. Register for their e-rewards survey site. Complete a survey to generate some Avios.

Price up South Africa to Madrid in Avios on Iberia. If acceptable, transfer the Avios from BA to Iberia and book.

Then book reward flight savers from Madrid to London via BA Avios.

jpsartre

PeacefulWaters wrote: »

Open an Iberia account. Register for their e-rewards survey site. Complete a survey to generate some Avios.

Price up South Africa to Madrid in Avios on Iberia. If acceptable, transfer the Avios from BA to Iberia and book.

Then book reward flight savers from Madrid to London via BA Avios.

There's no reason at all for the OP to waste his Avios doing this. Even if seats are available he'd probably be looking at doing CPT-LHR-MAD-LON with separate tickets along the way. It's a no-brainer to stick with what he has.

PeacefulWaters

jpsartre wrote: »

There's no reason at all for the OP to waste his Avios doing this. Even if seats are available he'd probably be looking at doing CPT-LHR-MAD-LON with separate tickets along the way. It's a no-brainer to stick with what he has.

Hence the words "if acceptable".

Opening the Iberia account might save a shed load of "taxes" on a future redemption.

loobs40

I have found a different, though not moneysaving solution. I can get flights from Cape Town to Doha, and then Doha to London using my BA avios on Qatar and BA. *Thanks to Rob from HFP for suggesting this *

We will spend a few pool/beach days in Doha before returning to the sad reality of work on the following MOnday

loobs40

jpsartre wrote: »

There's no reason at all for the OP to waste his Avios doing this. Even if seats are available he'd probably be looking at doing CPT-LHR-MAD-LON with separate tickets along the way. It's a no-brainer to stick with what he has.

Ahem..... 'she'