Tips for booking cheap flights in SA

Are you a regular South African traveler wanting to continuously ensure you're getting the cheapest flight prices? Or perhaps you are flying once-off and don't know the terrain, but want to get the best deal possible. Either way, our top ten tips for booking cheap flights in South Africa, will help ensure that you get a cheap plane ticket:

When booking domestic flights, book your outbound and return flight seperately, looking for the best deal on each individually (an exception may be where an airline offers a special which is contingent on you booking a return flight as well, which Mango Airlines commonly do). When flying internationally, book your outbound and return tickets together with the same airline.
Generally speaking, airlines sell their cheapest tickets first, however, this does not always hold (as if tickets are not selling, airlines sometimes drop their prices and flight prices can get cheaper). Booking a long time before has the added advantage of it being more likely you'll find reasonably priced tickets on the exact dates you want to fly.
If possible be flexible with your leaving and return dates. For domestic flight Saturday afternoon travel is generally cheaper. For international flights leaving South Africa on Sundays to Thursdays and returning Tuesday to Thursday is generally cheaper. Avoid booking on Fridays, Sunday Evenings, on the days before public holidays, and before the start or at the end of school holidays (also keep an eye out for local events, e.g. flying to Cape Town just before the Argus Cycle tour is expensive). August is generally a cheap month in which to fly local South African flights.
Subscribe to the SouthAfrica.TO mailing list - this will alert you to flight specials, and give you a feel for prices. Use SouthAfrica.TO's airline price comparison tool to find the cheapest airline.
When needing to change a booking, check what the costs are of doing it on the internet versus doing it telephonically. We accidentally entered a male passenger as female, and 1time's call centre staff corrected it for free (it would have cost R90 making the change on the internet).
When booking Mango, 1time or Kulula flights, use their facility to search for 1-month low rates, to find the cheapest flight price in a month. Mango calls its "1 Month Low Rates", on 1time's site it is labelled "best fare search" and on Kulula's site it is labelled "Bargain Browza".
"Like" the SouthAfricaTO Facebook site, and take part in the travel competitions.
Where airlines have codeshare arrangements (i.e. they sell tickets on each other's flights) check the prices on all the airlines' websites. For example, SAA sells Qantas Airline tickets for flights from Johannesburg to Sydney - check both the SAA site as well as the Qantas site (the prices are not always the same). Also, Kulula often sells British Airways flights on their website, at a cheaper price than you can book the flights on the British Airways site (you can tell that it's a British Airways flight if the flight number has 4 numbers in it, e.g. MN6313) - we've seen situations where over R1000 can be saved on BA flights by booking them on Kulula's website. We've also seen it happen the other way round, where flights are cheaper on the BA website than on the Kulula website.
When booking domestic South African flights, check the prices of the low cost airlines (Mango, Kulula & 1time) , as well as the full service carriers (British Airways & SAA). For international flights, always check the prices of Emirates flights.
When booking Mango flights, check the price of Mango Flex tickets - especially during high demand dates they are sometimes cheaper than Mango's normal flight prices.
It's not all about price - comfort counts. Look at our comparisons of 1time vs, Kulula vs Mango (the low cost airlines) and BA vs South Africa (the full service airlines).
Direct non-stop flights are best. With each stop the chances of something going wrong (e.g. being stranded as a result of delayed flights) increases. Especially avoid stopovers in places during their bad-weather seasons (e.g. Chicago is prone to snowstorms in winter).
Get a Kulula credit card and join their Jetsetters Club, the Kulula moolah you earn can be used to offset the price of Kulula airline tickets. Book all your tickets through the Jetsetters club to earn more moolah. For cheaper Mango flights, get a Vodacom credit card. Where airlines have frequent flyer programmes sign up for them.
After Nationwide’s liquidation many passenger's were stuck with tickets they couldn't use. To reduce this risk, purchase your airline tickets with a credit card that comes with a safeguard that if a supplier fails to deliver, you can turn to your card issuer for a refund (this is usually achieved by choosing the option to pay the full amount before interest rates kick in after a month).
If you're really desperate for a cheap flight, then date a pilot or flight attendant, or better yet get a job as one - they have loads of flight perks.

Get spacious seating

Securing a cheap flight is half the battle, the other half is to try and get the most comfortable seating. In my experience it is difficult to negotiate an upgrade to business class, but check-in attendants are willing to accommodate requests to be seated at the emergency exits or the front of the plane (not only do these seats have more space, but they are safer in the event of an accident, as you're closer to an emergency exit). At check-in always check whether the seats at the emergency exit and at the front of the plane are available. And don't make the mistake like I once did of asking for seats "next to" the emergency exit, and the SAA check-in lady seated me at the row in front of the emergency exit (which has seats which don't fold back), always ask for the seat "at the" emergency exit.
If you're travelling in a group (e.g. Mother, Father and daughter), don't just assume that the check-in attendant will seat you together. On numerous occassions I have assumed this, and found myself split from my family on the plane. Rather make sure whilst checking in that you are seated together. If there are no remaining seats together, try to get aisle seats or window seats (and not middle seats) to trade with others on the plane and get yourselves seated together (people are less willing to trade an aisle seat or a window seats for a middle seat. Once on the plane ask the flight attendants to assist you with swapping places to get your group together.

Make it through within the luggage limits

Weigh your luggage before you leave. If you suspect you will be overweight take some of your coats and jerseys out of your luggage and wear them. Put some heavy items in your pockets.

Spread luggage

If you are traveling with somebody, pack half of your belongings in your travel case, and place the other half in your companion’s luggage. In case one person’s luggage is delayed, you will both have access to some of your essential items.

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