soxfanndc

Hi everybody. I'm travelling to CPT again in March of of 2013. I already have my US-JNB ticket and need to purchase JNB-CPT. I refuse to take British Air so my two choices, I think, are SAA and Mango. Both are currently pricing approximately $280 US (Approx 2428 ZAR) for the R/T. I have three questions, please?
1. is this fare likely to decrease at all? that seems a bit high for this route?
2. only the LAST SAA flight that on my arrival day is available. There is nothing before the last flight that has open seats and I don't arrive JNB until approxiamtely 16:45 or so and every flight is sold out in the lower fares until the last flight. any guesses if seats tend to open up on earlier flights in the lower fares?
3. How reliable is Mango? I've just never taken them before and wonder if Mango is a viable option? thanks for any advice and I CAN'T WAIT to get back to CPT!

Austinrunner

Why boycott BA? Air Namibia is another possibility, with a connection in Windhoek.

Cheetah_SA

Mango is an SAA subsidiary - so pretty much as reliable as SAA.

Seems odd that flights are booked out 4 months in advance. This is a commuter route and even at very busy times flights don't book out this early. (I flew JNB/CPT last Friday which was the end of school term and still got seats 4 days before I flew.)

If you look at the fare you will see that only about ZAR 1020 is actual fare - the rest is taxes and fuel levies - which isn't going to change. When they have a "sale" the fare can be as low as ZAR1108 each way - not much less than you are seeing now. (Sign up for newsletters on their site if you want to know about sales and promotions.)

Remember that fares on this route are not cheaper when booked as a return. So it is often cheaper to book the cheapest one-ways you can find on two different carriers.

soxfanndc

thank you, Cheetah. I think this is second time in less than a month you have given me wonderful advice so THANK YOU. your reminder about booking as a One-way are truly appreiated. I did not know about Mango being a subsidiary so that lowers my anxiety about that. I also appreciate your NOT asking why I would not fly BA - it seems that question was quite irrelevant to my OP! Thank you again.

B747-437B

Does your boycott of BA extend to kulula.com?

If not, you can probably get something in the ZAR 900 range each way with them.

BA304

For what it's worth, Mango is a LCC and, for example, has a slightly lower luggage allowance than SAA. I don't know if this matters? I've never flown with Mango so I'm not sure how noticeable the difference between the two carriers is.

Jeeves

I just recently flew a couple of one-way segments. The first was JNB-CPT on SAA and the other was PLZ-JNB on BA Comair. I would say both experiences were very similar but found the service slightly better on the BA Comair flight. I paid $128 for the SAA flight and 4,500 Avios + $33 for the BA Comair segment.

Both airlines allowed me to check one bag at no charge and both provided a snack and free drinks. I found it interesting that most people would ask for 2 drinks during the short beverage service. Some even got 3 drinks at once. The flight attendants didn't seem to mind the requests.

worldiswide

We just fly BA comair fron jnb to cpt and then back a few days later. Service was great on the short flight But our expectations are pretty low coming from us and their service levels and mo food on most flights I even lost my boarding pass in the jnb domestic terminal with the baggage tabs attached and it was returned to the counter t the gate!

Dieuwer

Are there any good J deals JNB-CPT? How about 5th freedom flights? TK maybe?

Cheetah_SA

No airlines carry domestic passengers within ZA as part of their long-haul operations.

On a technicality: doesn't a 5th freedom flight have to operate between 2 countries other than that of the airline?


Somewhat OT but... Your mention of TK reminds me again of the anomaly that one often finds where award seats are available from IST to JNB but not from IST to CPT. Yet by definition that seat will be empty from JNB to CPT (as will many other revenue seats) because TK cannot pick up pax in JNB. So annoying if you live in CPT!

Dieuwer

You are right. It is the 8th freedom: "the right to fly inside a foreign country, continuing to one's own country".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedoms_of_the_air

simons1

Even if you don't use BA you can go direct from Johannesburg to Cape Town on Kulula, SAA, Mango, Safair and Skywise.

I believe of these only SAA is a full service airline.

Dieuwer

How reliable is Kulula?

Steve_ZA

Kulula is operated by Comair who also operate the BA franchise and are probably the best LCC is South Africa.

shuigao

Obviously my single data point isn't going to help much, but I've flown JNB - CPT return once on Kulula and once on Mango and both were on time.