World Cup Flights to South Africa

Stretchryan

Hey All,

Ok so has anybody booked their flights yet to SA. I will be
travelling even if we dont qualify(think we will get france in the playoff and beat them).

Already looking at flights at about 1k, if we dont qualify i am gonna base myself in Durban as have tickets for all the games there already.

So anyone any advice on cheap flights?

Many Thanks for Looking

Mike

Maire2009

Hi Mike,

I was reading about this in the Sunday Times a few weeks back and I reckon you'll need more that 1k for even flights.

As with everything else - prices will go up because of the World Cup.

Try here for prices http://www.cheapflights.co.uk

KLM, Air France and Eithad might all be worth a look.

leincar

I'm travelling to South Africa next February and will be flying in once or twice a week for the following six months. If you can get flights now for around €1000 then grab them.

Some of the flights I'm taking are up into €3000 and €4000 territory especially from the second half of May.

finbarrk

Hey Mike, I booked one from Heathrow to Cape Town for the first 9 days of the tournament. I have tickets for the Cape Town games. It cost around €1,000. I could have done it a couple of hundred cheaper but it wouldn't be direct.
Check out the foot.ie forum for info also.
pm me if you want any info.
Fin.

shanagarry

First off E1k isn't a bad price at all.

Options to look at are flying with Emirates/Quatar/Ethiad through the Middle East, Eygpt Air through Cairo, through Istanbul with Turkish Air, maybe flying into Windhoek in Namibia and connecting on from there?

But even at non-peak times you don't get flights much less than about e650, so don't set your expectations too high.

LaMer

My dad has a couple tickets for Cape Town, Durban and Bloemfontein, so he's hoping to head down with my brother and a friend so he's been looking at flights. Just for the craic there I had a look and I've found flights for 870 euro with Iberia for the 14th June until 9 July to Johannesburg, thats the best you're gonna get I think, I managed to get a flight in July of this year to Johannesburg for about 500, and that the best I've ever ever seen it, that was with (L)Iberia aswell.

What my dad was also thinking was to book your flights to say Windhoek, Harare, Gaborone, Maputo, etc. in Southern Africa, so your flight routes through Jo'burg, and then ditch the onward flight to wherever. Doesn;t seem any use though.

EDIT: Did abit of an extra search, found flights for my auld lad for 540 to Johannesburg, then its a matter of booking a cheap ass domestic flight with 1time, kulula or mango and you're sorted, not bad at all.

LaMer

Well an update here, there is still cheap enough flights, depends what date you want to go. I got flights for 540 to Jo'burg 17th June, perfect for the 5 or 6 games I have tickets for, would be surprised if anybody gets better than that, if so, fair play. Problem now is that the internal flights are grossly inflated, from being there in July myself it was R399 to fly from Durban to Cape Town, or Cape Town - Jo'burg. We are now looking at R1999 one way, or R2999 return, major rip, even for the domestic low fare airlines.

netwhizkid

People are aware that they are probably going to the most dangerous location on Earth, I personally would take my chances in downtown Baghdad before going down to SA for the WC. The amount of crime there is unreal and every scumbag on the continent will descend for the easy pickings of western tourists. I would not recommend any woman to travel unless she has an armed body guard and gang rapes there are actually part of their culture and usually end up with the woman both getting pregnant and contracting HIV.

Be careful down there people, the locals are hostile and dangerous and as UN-PC as it sounds it is true. Everyone is talking about security down there and the German team is going to wear Bullet proof vests. I can see the average Asian camera touting tourists being like lambs to the slaughter, wheras your average Brit or German will fight and fight to the death.

LaMer

netwhizkid wrote: »

People are aware that they are probably going to the most dangerous location on Earth, I personally would take my chances in downtown Baghdad before going down to SA for the WC. The amount of crime there is unreal and every scumbag on the continent will descend for the easy pickings of western tourists. I would not recommend any woman to travel unless she has an armed body guard and gang rapes there are actually part of their culture and usually end up with the woman both getting pregnant and contracting HIV.

Be careful down there people, the locals are hostile and dangerous and as UN-PC as it sounds it is true. Everyone is talking about security down there and the German team is going to wear Bullet proof vests. I can see the average Asian camera touting tourists being like lambs to the slaughter, wheras your average Brit or German will fight and fight to the death.

You're either pretty ignorant or very stupid.

macca1983

LaMer wrote: »

You're either pretty ignorant or very stupid.

I'll second that. SA is awesome - spent quite a bit of time so i know what im talking about.

shanagarry

Gosh, how I have I survived living here for the last two years at all... And with only a tubby cat to be my bodyguard...

Hopefully most people are far more in touch with reality than you and realise that the WC in SA will be amazing. As I type this I'm watching them testing the lights in the new Greenpoint Stadium in Cape Town - very exciting!

mikedragon32

Please don't rise to the bait, LaMer.

Netwhizkid, there is absolutely nothing of value in your post. The OP was looking fir guidance re getting to SA. Please cop on.

shiibata

LaMer wrote: »

Well an update here, there is still cheap enough flights, depends what date you want to go. I got flights for 540 to Jo'burg 17th June, perfect for the 5 or 6 games I have tickets for, would be surprised if anybody gets better than that, if so, fair play. Problem now is that the internal flights are grossly inflated, from being there in July myself it was R399 to fly from Durban to Cape Town, or Cape Town - Jo'burg. We are now looking at R1999 one way, or R2999 return, major rip, even for the domestic low fare airlines.

At WC2002, we had a 2 week rail pass which covered all the train journies, could this be an option for SA? Must admit though, Ireland were blessed travel wise with the group in Japan.

Stretchryan

Have already been to SA twice as my sister lived there for 15 years and
i didnt witness any trouble apart from the usual post pub/club fights on the street.

The media is making it out its like a war zone,if anything it will be safest time to visit due to all the extra police been drafted.

I will be travelling anyway and cant wait to be honest.

I did have a bullet train pass for Japan, not sure that the train network is that efficent in SA but would be great if someone could confirm if possible
to get such a pass.

As have been told that internal flights have gone through the roof.

shanagarry

The rail network isn't that developed in SA. It might be an option for some of the main venues, but certainly not for everywhere.

I would imagine that the internal flight situation will improve though. A lot of the operators haven't even released their flights for June/July yet. On top of that, I'm sure there will be lots and lots of extra flights put on - the JNB-CPT route is very full always just with normal local traffic, so there is no way they could cope with just the current flights. I read an article in the BA in flight magazine recently where they said they're bringing I think 70 extra planes to SA for the period. So in short, I wouldn't panic yet about getting around.

LaMer

I reckon the security will be well upgraded, more frequent patrols, etc. People need to remember that the vast majority of crime is taking place in the slums and townships, places where tourists rarely go. Saying that crime in a developing country is a fact.

I'm gonna see about the trains, but from what i've heard they're unbelievably slow, 24hrs+ to get to Johannesburg from Cape Town, as people said very inefficient. And I think there's only one carrier I think which is Shosholza Meyl, which is a branch of a freight company. I probably would do rail if it's cheap and I have the time, it's a nice way to see the countryside, unfortunately I don't have the time when I arrive, the first match i have tickets for is the day i arrive. I might use it for Bloem though. The bus services are good; Intercape, Translux, Greyhound are the main ones and from what I have seen of them they are very nice, onboard toilets, reclineable chairs, etc.

macca1983

For internal flights Mango airlines are very cheap. They don't show up on ebookers or anything like that.

For buses maybe use the Baz Bus - a backpacker bus really but does cover the country and is good craic.

LaMer

Mango, 1time and kulula are the cheapest domestic airlines, prices don't change that much between companies, somebody said earlier on thsi thread that all flights havent been released, just checked and its true so hopefully the prices will come down. Saying that I got the flight over for cheap enough so may aswell splashout.

Bazbus would be good to get around, got it from joburg to Durban last summer with stop offs in Nelspruit, Swaziland, St. Lucia, etc. Except it's abit too expensive for just going to see a game.