dcstudent

I've got an African safari coming up in November 2021. I have to get myself to Johannesburg or Cape Town and I'll be in London for work prior/after so I'll be flying from London. Much prefer Virgin business to BA (or SAA but SAA doesn't fly LON-CPT), but would also prefer Cape Town rather than Johannesburg. Anyone have insight as to how the flight did pre-Covid and whether Virgin will bring it back next fall?

TIA!

konagirl2

Direct flights London to Cape Town in northern hemisphere winter are always popular as a leisure route, Johannesburg is more of a mix of leisure and business. VA are hopefully restarting CPT flights on 20 December until end April 2021 and then from 1 Nov 2021, 4 days per week. They should be bookable now for the start of November. JNB flights will run through the year. I wouldn't completely discount BA depending how far ahead you like to book - they might end up putting a refurbished 777 on the route with Club Suites which is a huge step up from the previous seat (although the upstairs 747 was always quiet) but aircraft choices will be flexible / changeable so it's a punt. And no-one can tell whether Heathrow will have re-opened T3 and hence the Upper Class Wing and Clubhouse, but that is a whole other conversation.

dcstudent

Thanks konagirl2! Unfortunately the latest I can arrive South Africa is October 29, 2021, so looks like I'll be flying BA Direct to CPT or VA to Johannesburg. My return isn't until December 1, 2021 so I've got about a month before I need to start watching fares to make a decision!

londonba2014

With the latest news on South Africa; wouldn’t be surprised to see Virgin Atlantic pull the plug on this service for the rest of the season.

wijibintheair

You don't mention where your safari would actually be, but the majority of safari destinations are more easily accessible from Johannesburg than from Cape Town. Depending on your full itinerary it may well be better to fly into JNB or CPT and out of the other (unless you plan on spending time in Cape Town both before and after your safari).

dcstudent

Thanks for the insight wijibintheair. Fortunately, the lack of a virgin non-stop made the decision for me, so JNB it is. South Africa is actually just our gateway since we're flying from London. The safari itself is Namibia and Botswana (with a trip from the Caprivi thru Zambia to Livingstone for the Falls - along with a cross to Zimbabwe to see the falls from that side). We have two days on both sides of the trip in South Africa to account for the chance of flight delays/cancellations. We've decided not to make it more complicated and are going to spend the first two days in Pretoria, and the last two in Johannesburg.

Even though the trip is October/November, some great fares on Virgin right now. $3400 in business from IAD-LHR, 5 days in London, LHR-JNB, JNB-LHR-IAD.

konagirl2

(and back through South Africa and potentially the UK)

I know we won't know what will be required in another ~10 months but assuming this is a tour group hopefully the organisers can jig things around to minimise the number of PCR tests you'll have to take and pay for. The PCR test timings are a good reason to try and do transits on one ticket if you can or to transit South Africa quickly but I appreciate you might have the risk of separate tickets if the flights to / from Namibia / Zim / Zam are already booked or being arranged by a company. Also I am sure we are all hoping that the ban on direct flights by the UK is lifted by the time you travel. But in case things haven't improved by then you would have to look at different return or open-jaw routings, because if you are not resident / have a long-term visa for the UK you cannot re-enter the UK on the way back to the US having been in any of the southern African nations in the preceding 14 days. Hopefully everything will have improved by October/November time and I hope you have a fabulous trip.

dcstudent

Thanks for the kind words. It's a private safari, but I'm prepared to be flexible if necessary (hopefully, both my wife and I will both be vaccinated and not require PCR by then...but as you said, who knows what the rules will be. We can always fly into and out of Namibia, staging first in Germany or Qatar if London or South Africa is no longer viable. We want to see Victoria Falls, but the real highlights and bulk of the trip is Namibia and Botswana so if we have to we can also cut back to only visit those two.

We'll see in 10 months!

vji

VS has zeroed out inventory for FEB 2021 for LHR-CPT and until 10/2/2021 for LHR-JNB - anyone know if the LHR-CPT bookings will be cancelled? Or when those with reservations will get a notification?

RAPC

VS will probably let people know at some point prior to the 14 day mark. With UK Government restrictions changing and the current lockdown being expected to be reviewed mid-Feb, I would imagine there will be a rolling expansion of the zeroed out dates, whilst VS wait for updates on travel restrictions and the lockdown itself.

jimutd

My cancellation notice arrived yesterday for the flight to CPT on 20/2. Application for a refund submitted online this morning

londonba2014

Have a trip to CPT booked for March with VS - do people reckon Cape Town flights are likely to be cancelled in the next round? Just thinking in terms of a refund; I’d consider keeping my ticket open if VS had a more generous policy..