The least expensive tickets are always the most attractive, however when you consider that the flights on Delta and SAA are over sold for nearly every flight from Late April through mid July. The chance of an empty seat are minimal. If something should go wrong, you will not be going on the trip. As I said every flight is full and there is only one flight per day. If you don't make the one you were scheduled for, you won't likely be making one the next day or the next week because they already overbooked. This is just a fact of life in the airline industry today. Having been a million mile flyer in my life I fully understand the way this business works now.
Who you gonna call when there is a problem? How do these discount on-line shops service problems? How do you contact them from South Africa? What time zone are they working in? What relationship do they have directly with the airlines for some pull to get you a seat?
I don't have all the answers but I will say that when SAA went on strike a few years ago every flight was full, and so was every hotel with the hundreds of people stuck there for up to 2 weeks or more waiting to get on a flight out through Europe that they had to pay for.
I've had a pair of hunters miss a flight in Denver due to weather. They missed the flight out from Atlanta that morning. Never made the trip due to the missed flight. They could have been put on a wait list and stayed in Atlanta for a week trying once per day to get on that days flight, in the bizzare hope that somebody would not show up and they would both be able to get a seat.
They cancelled the trip because they could not make the flights work after they missed the original. Even if they made a flight three days later the return flight would still have to be made on schedule, every flight is full. What is the point of a 3 day safari? Another guy with one of these really cheap discount tickets missed a connection in Richards bay(RSA). He was stuck there for several days trying to get out. Nobody to call in the USA with the time change and the "phone hold time" to actually speak with somebody alive. He left messages, but they could not make an international call to him, and then to where? He had no South African cell phone and was in the airport with pay phones only. His Long distance costs feeding the phone with his credit card Number could have bought a good portion of another ticket. The "1-800" number they offer is only good within the USA. So now that discount ticket cost about 50% more then buying a ticket with a real agency and human beings involved.
These flights to RSA have more people waiting to get on then there are seats available between about May first and end of June, maybe mid July. I would strongly suggest you work with a very experienced and reputable agent to make this work properly. One screw-up will cost you the loss of the trip, or a whole lot more money in Hotels and delays to get on another flight.
I use an agent that has an office in Miami and another in Capetown. They book more SAA tickets then any other office in the USA. They may not be the least expensive but they will compete, however they will have pull with SAA when one of their passangers have a problem. They also are in the same time zone in RSA if you have trouble on that side. In 2007 my Luggage did not arrive for the first time in over 15 years. The process to fill out lost luggage seach documents and have these jokers find them is not at all impressive. It is truely like the blind leading those who cannot see well.
However one call to the agent in the RSA office alerting her to the significance of my problem, was all it took. She called SAA and they stayed after it until it was found and delivered to me 5 hours drive from the airport. Not sure who you call when this happens using an "online" discount service. I'll state straight up that 200-300 extra bucks for a ticket that included somebody taking ownership of the problem with my luggage and over 5000 bucks worth of rifles was cheap at that moment!
I get zero for this part of the business, I really could not care any less who people fly with, it's not my business. I just wanna know when I have to fetch them and bring them back. I have however heard and seen plenty of stories about problems.
Who you gonna call when there is a problem? How do these discount on-line shops service problems? How do you contact them from South Africa? What time zone are they working in? What relationship do they have directly with the airlines for some pull to get you a seat?
I don't have all the answers but I will say that when SAA went on strike a few years ago every flight was full, and so was every hotel with the hundreds of people stuck there for up to 2 weeks or more waiting to get on a flight out through Europe that they had to pay for.
I've had a pair of hunters miss a flight in Denver due to weather. They missed the flight out from Atlanta that morning. Never made the trip due to the missed flight. They could have been put on a wait list and stayed in Atlanta for a week trying once per day to get on that days flight, in the bizzare hope that somebody would not show up and they would both be able to get a seat.
They cancelled the trip because they could not make the flights work after they missed the original. Even if they made a flight three days later the return flight would still have to be made on schedule, every flight is full. What is the point of a 3 day safari? Another guy with one of these really cheap discount tickets missed a connection in Richards bay(RSA). He was stuck there for several days trying to get out. Nobody to call in the USA with the time change and the "phone hold time" to actually speak with somebody alive. He left messages, but they could not make an international call to him, and then to where? He had no South African cell phone and was in the airport with pay phones only. His Long distance costs feeding the phone with his credit card Number could have bought a good portion of another ticket. The "1-800" number they offer is only good within the USA. So now that discount ticket cost about 50% more then buying a ticket with a real agency and human beings involved.
These flights to RSA have more people waiting to get on then there are seats available between about May first and end of June, maybe mid July. I would strongly suggest you work with a very experienced and reputable agent to make this work properly. One screw-up will cost you the loss of the trip, or a whole lot more money in Hotels and delays to get on another flight.
I use an agent that has an office in Miami and another in Capetown. They book more SAA tickets then any other office in the USA. They may not be the least expensive but they will compete, however they will have pull with SAA when one of their passangers have a problem. They also are in the same time zone in RSA if you have trouble on that side. In 2007 my Luggage did not arrive for the first time in over 15 years. The process to fill out lost luggage seach documents and have these jokers find them is not at all impressive. It is truely like the blind leading those who cannot see well.
However one call to the agent in the RSA office alerting her to the significance of my problem, was all it took. She called SAA and they stayed after it until it was found and delivered to me 5 hours drive from the airport. Not sure who you call when this happens using an "online" discount service. I'll state straight up that 200-300 extra bucks for a ticket that included somebody taking ownership of the problem with my luggage and over 5000 bucks worth of rifles was cheap at that moment!
I get zero for this part of the business, I really could not care any less who people fly with, it's not my business. I just wanna know when I have to fetch them and bring them back. I have however heard and seen plenty of stories about problems.
