ironmouse

I'm trying to put the above trip together, I know United fly LHR-IAD and SAA fly IAD-JNB-CPT and also the JNB-LHR ,
However when I try a multi city booking on both SAA and UA neither can give me an itinerary (SAA say they don't fly between London and Washington)

Any ideas how I can price this up on one Star Alliance ticket?
Thanks for any help,

daumueller

This might become a very expensive trip, especially on one ticket... Either way, use a travel agent

Unterwegs

If you go back from LHR to IAD the long way (via Asia) you could use a Star RTW ticket, which possibly could even be cheaper than normal tickets. You can use the Star Alliance RTW tool to get your itinary and prices.
But I also sesond the recomendation to use a travel agent for these kind of trips.

SK AAR

Obviously, the OP can not fly via IAD on a normal UK-CPT r/t ticket (which is most likely what the OP is trying to create and price online).

If you ask a TA to book this itinerary I think you will get a nasty surprise when the fare is quoted to you...forget it and book the direct flight or through one of the Eurepean hubs.

ironmouse

I suppose I'm trying to figure out why United and SAA can't get together and price a ( what seems pretty straightforward) ticket, ie UA for the LHR - IAD and SAA for the IAD - JNB sector
Both being Star Alliance

vbroucek

Because it is NOT a straightforward ticket. It is not RT (unless you would like them to consider LHR & JNB to be open jaw), it is not RTW. It is two OW tickets which are always expensive...

ErasmusEBS

What about simply booking LHR-IAD-LHR and then a new return ticket LHR-CPT? Probably much cheaper than any other option and, if done in the right booking class, will also earn a lot more miles. And that is after all why we fly right?

ironmouse

I know what you are saying kind of makes sense, but I wanted to keep going in the same direction so to speak, and as I said, United fly LHR- IAD and SAA fly out of IAD to JNB and then eventually back up to LHR , just thought that I could get a multi city ticket issued by one of those airlines .

But as you say the easiest way is to buy two tickets and be done with it.

vbroucek

I don't get it... How could you fly in the same direction?

fassy

I guess he means round trip without visiting the same airport twice (like the Traveling salesman problem...)

SunLover

Not all airlines (even when that are members of the same alliance) have codeshare agreements to sell seats on each others flights.

As others have stated: T/A's or a internet booking site like Hipmunk can combine flights on individual airlines that do not code share into a single ticket itinerary, but the price will likely be sky high.


SunLover

Indelaware

An airline does not need to have a codeshare agreement with another airline (within or outside an alliance) in order to sell seats on that second carrier. It only need an interline ticketing agreement - which most airlines have with one another. The tricky part is not selling a seat on another carrier, it is pricing a trip in the best way. This is where skilled agents are needed.

Just because you cannot price such a circle trip online doesn't mean that it can't be fared. Call the airline directly or get a good travel agent. Yes, it is a fairly simple trip, but that doesn't mean that it is obvious to the online system. And it might not be able to be priced automatically at all, so when you or your travel agent contacts the airline the agent there might need to make a reservation and then send it to the rate department for pricing.

You might, however, save a bundle by simply purchasing a two tickets. If not LON-WAS-LON + LON-CPT-LON, then perhaps two open jaws - e.g. LON-WAS-DKR + DKR-CPT-LON or one open-jaw + one way. A top notch agent will explore such for you.

And don't forget that there are *A airlines besides UA & SA to consider - esp. ex-CPT.

All that said, you can try to piece the trip together yourself. Using random dates, I find the following:

LHR-IAD UA919 06JUL 1205P-315P
IAD-JNB UA7228 21JUL 540P-515P+1
JNB-CPT SA365 21JUL 645P-855P
GBP1323.46 from united.com

CPT-IST TK41 27JUL 340P-520A+1
IST-LGW TK1981 28JUL 700A-905A
US$425.10 from onetravel.com

But, with your own agent you should be able to find a better fare.

And don't worry about having it all on one ticket. Your goal is to minimize cost while concurrently minimizing travel time, right? So what if it is on two or three tickets?