Atacama40

Morning all ... slight overlap from other posts I've made regarding internal flights but now looking find cheapest way ship family members over from UK airport to JNB in October 2018. Will be roughly 10-12 persons.

Looked at BA & SAA and seem way out of scope. Av economy price looks to be approx £705-£715.

QR seems vary a lot, KLM sometimes in range.

Ideal is to depart from BHX or MAN although London airports (or others doable)

Indirect is fine....via M.E is fine, via Europe is fine ... cost is the main driver this time.

Any advice on optimum cost routing / airlines to watch for / timing of sales and price to aim for would be very welcome .... would appreciate any skills and knowledge in this area. Many thanks in advance

konagirl2

Depends a bit on currency fluctuations, but October is off-peak and JNB is a business rather than leisure route, so direct you should be able to get economy for ~GBP600 and in-direct you could get lucky with less than GBP400 rtn pp. In-direct include Turkish, Ethiopian and the ME3.

Best prices will be 9-3 months out, or a few weeks before but I wouldn't risk that. Prices for Oct 2018 are high now because not all airlines have released seats and airlines have not released all fare buckets this far ahead. Google flights will give you idea if you look 3 months out. Set up a kayak.co.uk alert along the lines of BHX,MAN,LHR,LGW - JNB on specific dates to see when prices come down.

Atacama40

Many thanks Konagirl2 .... yes seen QR at about 550 odd, AF at 700 but no bargains as such yet. Never used kayak or suchlike but will give that go ... new one on me. Yes just waiting on the 355 window to start looking a bit more detail but wanted to get a steer were to focus the search.

So you'd say ME, Turkish and Ethiopian? Any idea when they tend to flag sales? QR is towards year end I think isn't it? Not a regular user of any of those so less familiar with MO.

Many thanks for the steer .... yes I'm definitely hoping to be around the £500 mark ideally. All the best

Stewie Mac

sub-£500 is certainly likely with TK/ET/QR - as konagirl says, they should all be possible at around £400. While they are all indirect, you can start from BHX and/or MAN with both TK and QR which should make it a bit easier. I have done both ET and TK, find the TK option a bit easier as you get a shortish leg to IST in the afternoon and then a longish overnight down - ET means a short (8 hr) overnight to ADD and then a rather long and boring daytime flight from there (and the same in reverse). Also, if you have status then the IST lounge is definitely superior to the ADD lounge, although both airports are too full.

Direct is certainly possible for £600 - I think my best in the last year is around £530 on BA - so keep watching if you'd prefer direct. [full disclosure; I do Sun-Fri weeklong trips, so I get those prices on ebookers adding one night in a hostel, might be worth a try even on a longer trip to see if the IT fares are cheaper than regular. PM if you want more details]

Atacama40

StewieMac many thanks .....very interesting and have to confess enters a world of deal management I've never explored.

So you'd suggest using the intermediaries rather than wait for the main player sales?

Appreciate your offer of support and for sure will do that...is very kind.

propitious

I can’t remember where I saw it, but just earlier this week, I read something that suggested that for groups exceeding 9 people, you can get special quotes from the airlines themselves that are lower than standard rates. Worth a try, I would have thought!