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London flight prices
Cheap CPT-London from R9,184* Cheap DUR-London from R8,134* Direct JNB-LON from R10,577* Direct CPT-LON from R7,837* Premium Econ. JNB-LON from R14,747* B. Class JNB-LONfrom R22,571* B. Class CPT-LON from R23,791* 1-way JNB-LON from R5,229* *This is not an offer, but merely a snapshot of cheapest airfares as we saw them. There was very limited availability (don't expect it to be on every date, it was the cheapest we could find) when we checked & prices may have increased already. Click through the link on the price to check whether the price is still available. Remember to change class once page has loaded to check prices for Premium Economy and Business Class. For Direct Fligth prices, select direct flights once page has loaded. |
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Currently British Airways is the only airline that offers direct flights from Cape Town to London. Virgin Atlantic and South African Airways quit flying the route some time ago. There is also the option of a domestic flight from Johannesburg, from where you can fly with Virgin Atlantic and SAA directly to London. This is somewhat less inconvenient than flying via Emirates, although a one-stop option elsewhere might be more affordable.
There are a multitude of airlines offering flights via Europe, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha. The most popular options include Emirates, Etihad, Qatar, KLM, Air France and Turkish Airways. The way to make sure that you get on a cheap international flight from Cape Town to London is by:
compare the prices of all airlines flying the route using the airline price comparison tool on the left & book the cheapest..
Ask for Assistance - our travel agents are itching to find you the best deal.
(if you're travelling in the opposite direction, see our flights from London to Cape Town page)
24 May 2018: British Airways are increasing their Cape Town - Heathrow flights from daily to double daily for the upcoming summer and will add three flights per week to their Cape Town - Gatwick route.
13 Jan 2016: Thomas Cook Airlines is looking to launch direct flights between Cape Town and Gatwick on the 15th of December 2016. This seasonal route will be operational from the 15th of December until the 20th of March 2017. Tickets are currently on sale and retail for around R14000 per person in economy. They plan on operating three weekly flights on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays with returns on Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays.
30 Sep 2015 : British Airways announced today that they are cutting back on their Cape Town-London flights from the 27th of March 2016. They currently operate 9 return flights per week on the route, and they will reduce it by two to simply become a daily service.
17 Apr 2015: Virgin Atlantic will no longer operate fights between Cape Town and London.
27 Oct 2013 : Virgin Atlantic resumes its seasonal flights from Cape Town to London with 4 flights a week, 3 of them in an A340-600.
September 2013 : Kalahari Airways, which is based in Gaborone, says that it wants to start flights from Cape Twon to London via Gaborone.
28 Mar 2013 : British Airways reduces its Cape Town to London flight frequency to daily.
29 Jan 2013 : Nick and Joanne shoot footage which make it seem like they're walking from Cape Town to London. They start at the beach with Table Mountain in the background, then walk on the top of Table Mountain, Cape Agulhas, Sondags River, Oudtshoorn, Die Hel, Karas, Fish River Canyon (Namibia), Kolmanskop, Tropic of Capricorn, Sandwich Harbour, Otjitotongwe, Ugab River, Sossusvlei, Marienfluss, Moremi Game Reserve, Chobe National Park (Botswana), Praia do Tofo (Mozambique), Lake Malawi, Mount Mulanje (Malawi), Iringa (Tanzania), Masaai Mara (Kenya), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Qondar, Pyramids of Meroe, Nubian Desert, Wadi Halfa (Sudan), Luxor (Egypt), White Desert, Pyramids of Giza, Wadi Rum (Jordan), Petra, Bosra (Syria), Krak des Chevaliers, Palmyra, Cappadocia, Istanbul (Turkey), Neuschwanstein Castle (Germany) and London.
28 Oct 2012 : British Airways Cape Town to London flights are doubled from 7 to 14 a week, until March 2013. BA's extra seasonal service between CPT - LHR flights has had a schedule change, and BA42 is now scheduled to leave Cape Town at 22h10 & arrive in London at 07h50.
18 Oct 2012 : Virgin Atlantic resumes non-stop CPT-London flights: “The United Kingdom (UK) is by a long way South Africa’s (SA) biggest tourism market, having attracted a total of 420 483 tourist arrivals to South Africa in 2011. Encouragingly this has increased by 5.5% in the first six months of this year. As the UK market shows signs of recovery from the global recession, airlift capacity and bringing passengers to SA from the UK is critical. We’re extremely excited about Virgin Atlantic’s launch of the direct seasonal route between London and Cape Town, which we are confident will be successful, operating in a critical market, which will contribute considerably to tourist arrivals to SA. Cape Town was named the number one destination in the world in 2011 by the readers of top travel website, Trip Advisor. So we are very excited about this direct route into one of the world’s best destinations.” said Thulani Nzima, Chief Executive at SA Tourism.
15 Aug 2012 : South African Airways quits flying direct flights from Cape Town to London, saying that it would have a positive impact on SAA's bottom line. Theunis Potgieter, South African Airways' general manager (commercial) said that “SAA is re-deploying its capacity to routes experiencing expanding demand, as part of our larger strategy for growth and increased efficiency within the airline. A thorough analysis of the route made it clear that we could use our aircraft more profitably. Anyone (else) who has booked a flight between Cape Town and London after August 15th will be re-routed via Johannesburg at no additional charge.”
1 May 2012 : Iberia Airlines suspends its flights from Johannesburg (and thus its codeshare from Cape Town).
31 Oct 2011 : British Airways increases its Cape Town - London flight frequency from 13 a week to double-daily for the summer. It is switching from using a Boeing 777 to a Boeing 747-400, meaning it will be the only carrier offering a first class service on the route.
1 Jun 2011 : Qatar Airline stops flying to London Gatwick Airport.
3 Jun 2009 : Air Namibia suspends its flights between Windhoek & London.
If you want to fly direct from Cape Town to London, British Airways is your only option. Virgin Atlantic stopped flying direct between Cape Town and London on 26 April 2015 and South African Airways stopped flying direct flights from Cape Town to London in August 2012. A non-stop CPT-LHR flight takes some 12 hours to cover the 9648km.
Cape Town International Airport (CPT) to London Heathrow Airport (LHR) |
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Cape Town International Airport (CPT) to London Gatwick Airport (LGW) |
Business class travellers usually want to travel non-stop, which would mean that you are limited to British Airways. Alternatively you can make use of SAA (via Johannesburg), Lufthansa, KLM, Qatar, Emirates and Etihad.
Even though these airlines aren't direct, and stop on the way, they often offer the cheapest flights from Cape Town to London. Keep an eye on flight durations, as 1-stops are (much) longer than direct flights. We had a look at the airfares of the airlines on a specific date and ordered them from cheapest to most expensive (this will have changed since).
Airline |
Airports |
Stops |
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CPT to |
1-stop (16 hours) |
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Qatar Airways |
CPT to |
1-stop (20 to 29 hours) |
CPT to Heathrow (LHR) or Gatwick (LGW) |
1-stop (19 to 26 hours) |
|
CPT to |
1-stop (16 to 19 hours) |
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CPT to London Heathrow (LHR) |
2-stops (27 hours) |
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CPT to |
1-stop (20 to 25 hours) |
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Egyptair : codeshare with SAA |
CPT to |
2-stops (21 hours) |
CPT to |
2-stops (18 hours) |
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CPT to London Heathrow Airport (LHR) |
1-stop |
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Iberia Airline suspended flights from JNB from 1 May 2012 |
"I bought all my presents as well as the most awesome snacks that every South African wants when they are living in the UK - pronutro, strawberry lips and loads of TV bars. The night before we leave and bags are packed and ready, kids are going to bed early, dogs have been dropped off and taken care of and oh some how I still need to try and cook a decent nights food before all our travelling and get some rest as we will be travelling for 24-26 hrs striaght - oh the joys :)
We arrived at Cape Town Airport early so we could have our last Spur lunch for the month and the kids could blow off some steam in the play area and so that's where it starts. There's NO play area at the Spur in CT airport but they have a beautiful Jimmy Jungles type thing that is so awesome and close to some seats so the kids could play and get get exhuasted before the trip and we could sit and have a nice glass of red while we waited.
Boarding time arrived and whoooo hooooo this family is ready to travel the world baby! Immigration control - wow what a bunch of happiness they seem to be but I guess if you had to sit and watch families and loads of excited faces all day leaving and travelling and going on awesome holidays while you are just doing your 9-5 - I would also be peeved - so after that DEPARTURES lounge, lets see what little goodies we can buy for the trip.
Kids are excited to be looking at the planes and ooops my one shoe goes and breaks - well well - broken shoe but no biggie I am in the departure lounge I can just pop in and buy a pair of flip flops or pumps or something - BOY OH BOY was i wrong! Cheapest pair of flip flops I could find was over R700 - crazy not paying that - I am going to London - to cold and rain and snow and ice - I cant waste that cash on a pair of flip flops - so I perservere and travel all the way from CT to JHB - DOHA - LONDON with one shoe on and one dragging by as I am walking.
All that aside here is how the travelling turned out: So family of 4 flew from Cape Town to JHB - JHB to Doha - Doha to
London on the 6th December, on Qatar Airways flights most of the way. The flight was as long as expected but comfortable. Food was great - kids selection not bad as well. Comfy seats, touch screen on the seats - just make sure you not sitting behind any kids as all you will feel is someone knocking the back of your chair all the time while they are playing on the touch screen behind your seats! Doha airport is very small, and we were stuck there for an hour while waiting to board the hectic flight - found the immigration ladies quite rude. Not there long enough to even buy some water. The flight from Doha to London was better - half way through our journey,
lots more space as loads of people were connection to other flights.
Arrived in London hoping that the immigration would let me in as by now we are wearing the same clothes we traveled in and my one shoe on and one barley even on - YES we are through no one even noticed - until my daughter (8) announced that she couldnt believe I was still wearing it!
AAAHHHH we get all our bags and I cannot wait to just get home (my brothers home) havent seen him for 4-5years so I am just bursting with joy and cant wait to see him at the airport - OH DEAR what the man must of though when he saw us at arrivals - 2 big trolleys with bags and prams and pillows and teddy bears and then the kids screaming and just as excited to be off the plane and see their uncle! Life is good to be with the people we love and havent seen for ages and are very blessed that we can end off 2013 in the UK with them." Ashleigh Gage
2 Feb 2013 : Paul Brace & Philip Young launched their attempt to break the world record for driving non-stop from Cape Town to London, in a 2 cylinder 875cc Fiat Panda (modified with a re-positioned engine air intake, an additional fuel tank and sump guards), on the 2nd February 2013. They started from the Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town, and drive through Botswana, Ethiopia, Libya, ferried across the Med from Tunisia to Marseille, went through the Channel Tunnel and then finished at Marble Arch in London. Their total time of 10 days, 13. 5 hours broke the previous record by more than a day.
2010 : Steve MacKenney & Chris Rawlings set a record of travelling from Cape Town to London by car in 11 days, 14 hours and 11 minutes.
1983 : Brigadier John Hemsley & his wife set the Cape Town to London overland record whilst driving a Range Rover.
The time difference between Cape Town (South Africa) and London (UK) varies from being 1 hour ahead in the South African winter (when the UK has daylight saving) to 2 hours and in the South African summer.
Cape Town |
GMT + 2 |
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London |
GMT + 1 until Sunday 25 October 2009 01:00 GMT |
We recommend staying at the Marriott at London Heathrow or the Radisson Blu Edwardian Heathrow Hotel.