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I’m planning a business trip to Johannesburg for July 2024 and the company will pay for my flight in Club World (up to a certain cost). I want to take the opportunity for my two children (14 & 12 at time of trip) to experience Club World and join me on the trip. I have over 200,000 Avios and a companion voucher, so the children are covered, but a quick look ahead to flights next summer and I’m seeing nothing under £3,300 and most options over £5000 for my paid flight, which is much higher than the business trans-Atlantic fares I’m used to. Is this standard for flights to JNB?
I need to book in the next 8 weeks or so to ensure reward seat availability in Club World for my children. Is anyone aware of any particular days of the week that are cheaper to depart and return on LHR – JNB – LHR route?, or at the very least, what reasonable fare I should be able to get for the paid ticket for this route?
Any thoughts from those with experience will be much appreciated, thank you!
Sorry, not what you asked but for the companion voucher, you would have to be on the avios booking. I don’t think you can pay cash your for ticket, and have them on the same booking with avios, and use your voucher too. One way would be for you to book your seat + 1 child using the voucher, the other child paid cash, but don’t think your company would be happy to do that. Or not use the voucher, and just use avios for them.
BA can’t sell the flights cheap because of flight inefficiencies. The A380 aircraft arrives to JNB in the morning and doesn’t leave until the evening.
I think @aq.1988 has a point about not being able to book 2 children…
But nonetheless, BA cheap fare finder within the app does actually work. Are you going for 7 days? (this makes a difference) and are you staying a Saturday night?
Having a quick look at the above tool, the cheapest fares seem to be Wednesday to Wednesday, but there isn’t a huge amount in it. I believe also that BA often list either a Tuesday or Wednesday as an off-peak day for Avios fares throughout most of the summer holidays. Believe the calendar is linked above somewhere.
BA can’t sell the flights cheap because of flight inefficiencies. The A380 aircraft arrives to JNB in the morning and doesn’t leave until the evening.
Cape Town fares are similar (higher in fact) and don’t use the A380 – though the planes do sit around all day there too. I’m guessing if they turned around immediately, they’d arrive back in London after the curfew.
Use BA’s “low fare finder” tool on desk/laptop or “cheapest fares” on the App.
I prefer the desk/laptop version but either way it’s an informative tool for showing lowest fares by month at a time for 11.5 months in advance.
Watch out for peak and off-peak dates, as well as school and public holidays (both UK and SA, both available online courtesy of Google) and aim to avoid these if possible.
Play around with “trip duration” which you have to select a static number for each search. Sometimes a 6 day or 8 day duration can offer unfathomable savings over a 7 day duration for instance.
I often find a Tuesday or Wednesday LHR departure day seems cheapest, and generally (pre Covid at least) cash fares seemed to fall to their lowest point around 5 months (give or take) before departure date, although with minimal discount depending on time of year.
Jo’burg isn’t the most exciting city to spend a week in, but if you’re able to get to nearby Pretoria you’ll find it cheaper, cleaner and with more opportunities for enjoyable tourist experiences.
Or a brief game park trip to Pilanesberg which has capacity to deliver the “big five” experience close up for just a 2-3 hour drive from Jo’burg.
Good luck, hope you and your fortunate youngsters are able to enjoy a great business class flight and stay in a great destination.
You won’t be able to use the 2-4-1 voucher unless you book yourself and one child using it. Perhaps look at booking WTP seats for your children and then using Avios to upgrade to Club rather than trying purchase Club reward seats outright. That will use fewer Avios although you might struggle to get Club in both directions.
Thanks for all the input. In answer to some of the questions raised, I will be able to get my company to cover a child paid ticket if I use my Avios and voucher for me and the other child. I can be flexible on trip duration (between 5 and 8-days) and also on what days to fly out and back on (so could include a Saturday if required).
BA can’t sell the flights cheap because of flight inefficiencies. The A380 aircraft arrives to JNB in the morning and doesn’t leave until the evening.
Cape Town fares are similar (higher in fact) and don’t use the A380 – though the planes do sit around all day there too. I’m guessing if they turned around immediately, they’d arrive back in London after the curfew.
Virgin come straight back in the morning as did The BA Durban flight
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