Airfare to Capetown, South Africa
Jul 1, 2013, 1:28 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Athens, OH
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 8
Airfare to Capetown, South Africa
Hello all,
I was searching for flights to Cape Town, SA with a departure date of 7 January and return 25 January. AA's fare is ~$4600, which is approximately $2600 more than other domestic airlines (Delta/United). The lowest fare offered by AA is refundable economy. Even BA is cheaper than AA (even though BA is the carrier from LHR to CPT for the AA codeshare). I've flown AA to SA last year and paid approximately $1900. Any thoughts about why AA so much higher?
I was searching for flights to Cape Town, SA with a departure date of 7 January and return 25 January. AA's fare is ~$4600, which is approximately $2600 more than other domestic airlines (Delta/United). The lowest fare offered by AA is refundable economy. Even BA is cheaper than AA (even though BA is the carrier from LHR to CPT for the AA codeshare). I've flown AA to SA last year and paid approximately $1900. Any thoughts about why AA so much higher?
Jul 1, 2013, 1:55 pm
#2
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: USA and UK
Programs: British Airways Executive Club Silver, Alitalia Freccia Alata
Posts: 1,351
Can you give us your starting destination please? There could be several possible reasons why this could be the case. And it is not unheard of for the operating airline to have more access to its avialibility and therefore, easier for it to offer the passenger a cheaper rate. AA and BA update their revenue booking systems every two hours.
Jul 1, 2013, 2:19 pm
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Athens, OH
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 8
Right, sorry about that. My home airport is Columbus, Ohio (CMH). On a side note, I also have to fly to Sydney after the South Africa trip and looked at a multi-city routing rather than flying round trip to SA. The route CMH - CPT - SYD - CMH (layovers are not included) works out to $4700. The airlines involved are US Air (CMH to PHL), AA codeshare on BA (PHL - LHR - CPT), Emirates (CPT - MEL), and AA codeshare on Quantas (MEL - SYD), (SYD - DFW), and finally AA. Could either end up being an exceptional trip!
Jul 1, 2013, 4:14 pm
#4
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: LAX
Posts: 3,639
BA will haul you from BRU to CPT and back in coach on your dates for GBP665 r/t a/i, around $1035. Booking code is QNCEUR. How cheaply can you get yourself to Brussels and back? [Answering my own question, about USD1000, on many carriers. Even AA isn't much above that. But I didn't bother to coordinate the two tickets, just used the same dates, so things might change when you actually pick flights that connect at BRU, but likely you'll be able to do the deed for about $2050 with a bit of cnx flexibility.]
Last edited by JohnAx; Jul 1, 2013 at 4:23 pm
Jul 1, 2013, 4:46 pm
#5
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The volume of rules regarding 'Round the World (RTW) air fares are non-trivial but AA has some great people in a specially-staffed RTW desk. You have the makings of a great AA/British Airways/Qantas RTW ticket. Are you sure you don't want to do something in Hong Kong, Japan, or Honolulu on the way back? See some colleagues in Pasadena? 
Jul 1, 2013, 5:02 pm
#6
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The volume of rules regarding 'Round the World (RTW) air fares are non-trivial but AA has some great people in a specially-staffed RTW desk. You have the makings of a great AA/British Airways/Qantas RTW ticket. Are you sure you don't want to do something in Hong Kong, Japan, or Honolulu on the way back? See some colleagues in Pasadena?
Jul 2, 2013, 3:14 am
#7
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Hello all,
I was searching for flights to Cape Town, SA with a departure date of 7 January and return 25 January. AA's fare is ~$4600, which is approximately $2600 more than other domestic airlines (Delta/United). The lowest fare offered by AA is refundable economy. Even BA is cheaper than AA (even though BA is the carrier from LHR to CPT for the AA codeshare). I've flown AA to SA last year and paid approximately $1900. Any thoughts about why AA so much higher?
I was searching for flights to Cape Town, SA with a departure date of 7 January and return 25 January. AA's fare is ~$4600, which is approximately $2600 more than other domestic airlines (Delta/United). The lowest fare offered by AA is refundable economy. Even BA is cheaper than AA (even though BA is the carrier from LHR to CPT for the AA codeshare). I've flown AA to SA last year and paid approximately $1900. Any thoughts about why AA so much higher?
However, it is $1100 less JFK-LHR-CPT (and return)... The fare for Jan 7 to 25 is $3506.. I imagine you can find a way to get to JFK for a lot less than $1100. LHR to CPT is $3953 by itself when booked on aa.com, so the $4600 fare from CMH seems like a bargain
Jul 3, 2013, 6:40 am
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Athens, OH
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 8
Thanks for the responses. They've been extremely helpful!