Flight To Antarctica
 

A while back I posted that there was a firm that flies to Novolazarevskaya Base from Cape Town, in response to reports about seasickness on cruise ships. ( Why use a cruise ship and get seasick when this is FLYERtalk?!?! ^ ). I found out about the option because there was an Astronomy tour down there for an Eclipse back in '03.

Some interest was shown by folk, and I offered to stop by their offices while in Cape Town ( I'll be there next week ).

This is not a solicitation, I'm not forming a "flyertalk tourgroup" nor do I plan on organizing anything. ( Moderator? What's the policy on such a bizarre a thing? ). I'm just gathering and posting info as I find it.

Back in 2003, the cost was around $13,000 to $15,000 per person :eek: ... after you've gotten to Cape Town. That included 2 days at the Russian base and basic gear, I believe. And one leaves Cape Town according to the weather conditions.. I think they quoted about a 50-50 chance :( that the Russian plane may turn back during he 6 hour flight since weather conditions may warrant this.. and the round trip range means they either have to go forward or decide to return at the 3 hour mark.

And you won't get Frequent Flyer Miles for these segments. :rolleyes:

That's enough emoticons for one post!


Are folk still interested, given such conditions?

kkirksea, I think we as FTers are always interested in such information. We will greatly appreciate your posting what you find out.

One other alternative is on ALE's Ilyushin Il-76s from Punta Arenas, Chile (PUQ) to Patriot Hills, Antarctica. Antarctic Expeditions and Logistics purchased tour operator Adventure Network International, and offer a variety of programs from 9 - 11 day Patriot Hills exploration $16,950 to the Flight to South Pole $33,500 and Ski to the South Pole for a mere $58,000.

As long as nobody is under the Ilyushin these things are cheap... ;)

.

im all ears... thank you.

Hmm and I dont suppose they have award seats do they? :D

Did you get to their offices and find out anything more? I got in touch with the same organization in late 2004 and was quoted a price of 10,000 euros ex-Cape Town for a couple of days at the Russian base (including a local sightseeing flight within Antarctica). But I think its possible to get a much cheaper price if you can get a small group together. Earlier in 2004 they were advertising on their Web site a weekend in Antarctica ex-Cape Town for USD$5,600 per person--although it appears they needed a minimum of eight people to run the trip at that price, and they told me they never got enough people for it to go ahead.

Anyway I'd be very interested in what the current situation is? And potentially in joining any such group especially if we could get it down to that sort of price.

*sigh*. I underestimated the size of Cape Town and the number of things to do!

I am not sure if they are related to the trips that also leave from South America now... they have vaguely similar names?

In any case, such a trip appears to be outside my budget for the next several years! :(

I came across this link detailing flights info:
http://pdf.comnap.aq/comnap/comnap.n...tions.Aviation

I did the overflight from Australia 6 years ago; we didn't land but got closer than I've ever been to Antarctica!

Another site on the Cape Town flights:
http://www.thepoles.com/news.php?id=14103

need help for cheapest trip to antarctica
 

Hi all, I am new on this forum and I have a dream like many others, to go and discover beautiful antarctica. I live in northern europe and of course I'd need to fly to buenos aires then to ushuaia and I have a few questions :

1 : is it easy to find flights from buenos aires to ushuaia and are they cheap, what are the companies ?
2 : does it exist a place on the net or an agency in ushuaia offering last minute trips to antarctica for cheaper than the prices quoted on the net ? Cheapest I know is 2990$, so could it be possible to find cheaper than that ?
3 : which cheapest boat do you think is best ?
4 : I intend to travel in a triple cabin, is the comfort in it reasonable or..... ?
5 : if I decide not to book my trip over the net but rather buy my ticket in ushuaia, is it risky not to get a place or .... ? Is there always availability for the cheapest tickets or there is a queue of people wanting for it already there ?


Thanks for the help.