Personally, I don’t believe in airline loyalty to collect miles, and I don’t get the sense that airlines reward loyal customers either. The only time I’ve ever achieved some kind of recognisable flyer status was with Emirates, but that was only because they were the cheapest airline flying between Africa and the US/Europe. After a few years, I able to use the miles to get a bit of a discount on my flight from Cape Town to New York, but that flight got cancelled by COVID-19. Customer care must have been cancelled as well, because it took a lengthy battle to get that scrapped flight refunded.
Rather book flights to prioritise your travel needs.
If you have only a limited amount of holiday time, find flights that optimise your ability to explore your destination. Personally, I never book late morning or early afternoon flights for journeys under 6 hours from where I am starting my trip. Always book morning flights for short legs so you still have a full day ahead of you. Otherwise you arrive late and end up paying for a night’s accommodation without having gotten anything out of the day. If you do intend to book a flight in South Africa, or on any budget airline, I would suggest you book the earliest time possible because delays are standard. I would also add that you should do a quick Google search to double check your choice airline is doing alright financially. The airline we booked for our return flight from the Drakensberg went bankrupt and suspended all flights a few days into our trip.
If you have a long-haul flight ahead of you (6+ hrs), do the opposite. Book it as an evening flight to optimise time and reduce accommodation costs. You’ll be tired the next morning when you arrive, but the excitement of new places is like a double shot of espresso.
Back in the 90s, two free check-in pieces of luggage were the norm on flights between the USA and Europe. Now, the only time you will get that privilege is on multi-continental flights, like from South Africa to New York, with Middle Eastern airlines. Some airlines might still allow one free checked piece of luggage for intercontinental flights, but most will charge extra these days. Domestic flights rarely include checked luggage. Stick to carry-on luggage only, if you can. To avoid checkin luggage fees, I’ve mastered the art of packing two weeks worth of luggage in a carry-on-sized 30L Northface backpack and manipulated the dimensions to fit inside the carry-on luggage box checker at the checkin counters. When carry-on baggage is weighed (Emirates + Norwegian do this), I’ll wear my heaviest clothes and put heavy items in my pockets, like my phone, tablet, and cash. If it’s still overweight, you can blame it on your water bottles.
The rule of thumb is that convenience is expensive, but if you are willing to compromise that a little bit, you can significantly reduce your flight fare. Check out options during the middle of the week for the lowest fares and be sure to book at least 6 weeks in advance. If time isn’t a concern, then longer flights with more layovers will offer more attractive prices. You can even turn layovers into mini-sightseeing tours!
To reduce costs further, check out the prices from major hubs. For example, though JFK is an undesirable mess you want to avoid at all costs, it is cheaper to fly into JFK over Newark and Philadelphia. If you are flying to a destination with many airport options, broaden your search to include these if you can afford the extra time to travel to your final destination. I once flew from Cape Town to Germany via Istanbul, and though I wanted to go to Erfurt, it ended up being cheaper to fly into Nürnberg than Berlin, and take a train from there.
Finding cheap flights is pretty straightforward. If you are travelling in Western Europe, look at RyanAir and EasyJet. I’ve gotten $30 flights before from London, UK to Marrakech, Morocco in 2014. Certain national carriers looking to boost local tourism will offer cheap flights that stopover at their hub, such as Norwegian and Icelandair. I was able to fly from JFK to London and back via Berlin for less than $300 in 2019 using Norwegian.
Rather than look at each airline’s website individually, Google Flights offers a very useful search engine to find flight options between specified origins and destinations. If you don’t have a specific destination you absolutely must go to, then you can also use the Explore feature on Google Flights to find the cheapest flights from your location to places all around the world for flexible or specified dates. I like to use Kayak to double check for fares, because it occasionally finds better deals. If you are a student at an accredited university, you can sometimes find very cheap flights on major airlines through Student Universe.
There you have it – happy flying!
