Nationwide cheapest again

SouthAfrica.TO survey
24 August 2007 flights
surveyed on 28 July 2007

Comparison of flight prices from Durban to Johannesburg

1time airline	British Airways	Kulula Airline	Mango Airline	Nationwide	SAA
R369	R571	R374	R427	R315	R509

Nationwide plane landing

Nationwide are cheapest

We surveyed flights on the late afternoon of the 24th August from Durban to Johannesburg and Nationwide were cheapest. Nationwide are charging R315 for flight 441 leaving Durban at 1910 and arriving in Johannesburg at 2020 (unlike Kulula which excludes airport taxes, Nationwide includes airport taxes in its prices).

Nationwide breaks Kulula and 1Time's dominance

In the previous two surveys of flights from Durban to Johannesburg 1Time and Kulula Airlines have had the cheapest flights (charging R329). It's good to see that Nationwide Airlines have not only broken Kulula and 1Time's dominance of the cheapest flights on the Durban to Johannesburg route, but have done so with a new record (for our surveys) price of R315.

Flights from London to Johannesburg

For all those South African expats in London wanting to get a couple of days of summer in this year, we carried out a survey of flight prices from London to Johannesburg. Emirates is still the cheapest by some distance - we're quite amazed at how stable prices of flights from London to Johannesburg are (on the other hand, perhaps flight prices in South Africa are just extra volatile!).

Flight prices from London to Cape Town

And for those who prefer Cape Town to Johannesburg, we surveyed flight prices from London to Cape Town - and Qatar Airways was by far the cheapest on this route. Starting with this survey, we decided that on the international routes we would survey return flights only - the reason being that unlike domestic flights, long-haul flights provide you with significantly better deals if you fly return.

British Airways versus SAA

In our experience British Airways offers better service in terms of meals, length of check-in queues and seat spacing. We've set up a document at British Airways versus South African Airways - our intention is to continuously update it as we receive feedback on the relative levels of service.

Congratulations ACSA on great service

Give the devil its due! We must congratulate ACSA (Airports Company of South Africa) on the awesome hotspot services they provide at Cape Town and Johannesburg Airport (OR Tambo International) - the network is fast and reasonably priced (we purchased 500mb for R250, and can use it anytime over the next 12 months).

SAA's smoky old Boeings

Ever wondered what the future holds for the unprofitable Boeing 747s plying the London to Cape Town flight route, which SAA are planning on getting rid of? An innovative new airline called SMINTair, the world's "first" airline which allows smoking, is planning on acquiring and reconfiguring them. Instead of the relatively quiet flights the planes have been enjoying between the UK and South Africa, they will now see smoking, drinking and gambling on trips between Dusseldorf and Nagoya, Japan.

Kulula swimming against the tide

We recently reported on why we think Kulula Airlines move to exclude airport taxes was a bad move. After years of excluding airport taxes, Easyjet in the UK is now displaying all-inclusive pricing from the beginning of its booking process. Kulula's move is swimming against the international tide, against actions of the UK Office of Fair Trading and moves by the European Parliament to mandate all-inclusive pricing.

The rest of the ball - international flying news

Weather experts predicted the 15th July would be the UK's one day of sunshine in the year, unfortuanately even on that day South Africans wanting to braai in London were forced indoors. The torrential rains caused flooding at London's Luton airport, with some passengers missing their Monarch flights (Monarch is a low cost carrier based at Luton airport).
Easyjet is now offering cheaper flight prices than British Airways for flights from London to Paris
Finally it's got a name - Virgin Blue has named its new airline to operate flights from Australia to the USA "V Australia"