flying to Cape Town

[jhenry1]

What airlines is the best to fly form  the States to Cape Town and which airlines does Regent use for this

[Ladys Mom]

We did it ourselves.  We flew from Atlanta to London.  Stayed a couple of days in London.  Then flew to Cape Town on South African Airways.  It was a wonderful trip.  These days there are direct flights from US to Cape Town.  I think United has one and Regent does book on United.

[jhenry1]

Do you know what cities those flights leave from?

[GOARMY]

TS:  Please provide more specific information as to your USA departure location.  

 

Our Past history:  Late November-most of December 2015 Mariner combination early-very early arrival at Cape Town on our own for a few days; then Regent's pre-cruise Safari; then back to Cape Town for cruise to Rio.    

 

We utilized Regent to schedule N/S SEATAC (Seattle) to Amsterdam on Delta--Business First.  Red Eye.  3.5 hour lay-over at Amsterdam in Delta/KLM Lounge.  Then, N/S KLM Business Class to Cape Town.  (Did NOT incur any Deviation Fee for early arrival at Cape Town.)  Top service.  

 

We also utilized Delta for early departure from Rio, via Atlanta, back to Seattle.  All Business Class.  

 

The above experience may have little relevancy to your situation--but Delta does provide service.    

 

Regards, 

 

GOARMY!

 

 

[jhenry1]

We will fly from Austin or Houston

[Carol From California]

We took the credit that Regent was offering and booked ourselves with Emirates for less money. Emirates includes all your transfers with your fare. On the stopover they included a short hotel stay so you could rest and shower. We had an Uber drive us around as we had never been to Dubai. We wanted to try Emirates so that was the reason we decided to go with them.

[jhenry1]

Carol

Would Regent not use Emeritus for your flights? I was hoping they would use them as they have the best flights for us to use from Houston. Did you book directly through Emeritus or a travel agent for your flights? So they provided a hotel room? How long was your layover? We also are interest in doing a short tour to see Dubai. We're there any issues leaving the airport and returning? 

[JMARINER]

For us flying to London from LAX worked best. Stayed over in London for 4 days for jet lag. Then down to CT on BA. 

 

j

[Hambagahle]

There is barely any time difference between Europe and the Cape.  So it makes a lot of sense to fly to Europe and then spend a few days and fly on down south.   Flights Europe to S.Africa are always night ones.  So you get a good sleep too.   I think that BA might be the only airline that flies non-stop to CPT though and BA is really not the best choice to make these days.

[flossie009]

BA are still using their old 747s from LHR to Cape Town. 

Business Class overnight is fine especially if you can secure a pair of seats upstairs.

 

If they eventually change the aircraft to a 777  or 350  on this route then the new layout Club Class "suites" look very good.

[captjohn]

FYI, United has a flight nonstop 14:30hrs on a 787 from EWR to CPT

[jhenry1]

Someone mentioned that but I tried and did not find  that non stop flight

I did read they were beginning it in dec of last year if it got approved but I tried to book it and not there maybe it is to Johannesburg and not Cape town

[captjohn]

27 minutes ago, jhenry1 said:

Someone mentioned that but I tried and did not find  that non stop flight

I did read they were beginning it in dec of last year if it got approved but I tried to book it and not there maybe it is to Johannesburg and not Cape town

Here you go.

[gnomie1]

28 minutes ago, jhenry1 said:

Someone mentioned that but I tried and did not find  that non stop flight

I did read they were beginning it in dec of last year if it got approved but I tried to book it and not there maybe it is to Johannesburg and not Cape town

UA does indeed fly nonstop from EWR - CPT.

 

It is flight #1122 and operates seasonally - the late 2020- March '21 schedule is not yet up - not sure when you plan on flying.

 

Flying nonstop saves about 8 hours

 

The flight is on a 787-9

[Pam]

We flew Delta from Atlanta to Johannesburg, then on to Cape Town; there was a stop for fuel and inspection in Cape Verde (I think).

[jhenry1]

Thank you Captjohn and Gommie for the info I will try again.  

[jhenry1]

The reason it didn't appear was because they fly beginning December 15 2020 and we leave Dec 3,2020

UGH

[Michael@ssrp]

We did SFO to Dubai, very nice with a freebie hotel layover close to airport then direct into CPT.  Great service!

[gnomie1]

2 hours ago, jhenry1 said:

The reason it didn't appear was because they fly beginning December 15 2020 and we leave Dec 3,2020

UGH

Not sure if you are planning to leave the States on December 3rd or if your cruise starts on that date but there is a nonstop flight leaving on December 2nd.

 

Flight Search Results United Airlines - Mozilla Firefox 2252020 40117 PM.bmp

Edited February 25, 2020 by gnomie1
uploaded wrong image

[Travelcat2]

20 hours ago, jhenry1 said:

Do you know what cities those flights leave from?

 

I've been using Matrix - ITA for a couple of years to find flights (you cannot book on that site).  Here is a link http://matrix.itasoftware.com/#search:research=JFKCPT

 

Once the flights and airlines are displayed, you can click on duration so that the shortest flights will appear first.  be sure to check the box that you only want a maximum of 1 stop (of, if non-stops are available, click on non-stop).  It is an easy website to use.  

 

This should make it easier to check airports, airlines, etc.  BTW, the first time we went to Cape Town we heard that South African Airways is excellent.  We have no experience with them as they do not fly out of our two closest airports.

[captjohn]

41 minutes ago, Travelcat2 said:

 

I've been using Matrix - ITA for a couple of years to find flights (you cannot book on that site).  Here is a link http://matrix.itasoftware.com/#search:research=JFKCPT

 

Once the flights and airlines are displayed, you can click on duration so that the shortest flights will appear first.  be sure to check the box that you only want a maximum of 1 stop (of, if non-stops are available, click on non-stop).  It is an easy website to use.  

 

This should make it easier to check airports, airlines, etc.  BTW, the first time we went to Cape Town we heard that South African Airways is excellent.  We have no experience with them as they do not fly out of our two closest airports.

 

 

As TC2 said this is what I use also but just to add if you want to see the fair in USD then at the bottom of the page you will see "sales city " you can enter any us airport ie; PHX.

I also find it helpful to use.  ,https://www.flightsfrom.com/    it will show all the nonstop flights from any airport.

 

[Carol From California]

On 2/25/2020 at 4:38 AM, jhenry1 said:

Carol

Would Regent not use Emeritus for your flights? I was hoping they would use them as they have the best flights for us to use from Houston. Did you book directly through Emeritus or a travel agent for your flights? So they provided a hotel room? How long was your layover? We also are interest in doing a short tour to see Dubai. We're there any issues leaving the airport and returning? 

We had some friends on the cruise who booked air with Regent. They had difficulty getting the Emirates flights. They did end up getting Emirates for the return flight. We could have booked air with Regent but when we compared the fare we could do it ourselves for less so we took the credit from Regent. We booked directly with Emirates online. After you book you can set up your free transfers on their website. They picked us up at our house and drove us to LAX. When we landed in Dubai they set us up at an airport hotel and included transfers to the hotel and back to the airport. If your layover is 8 hours or more (I think) they put you up in the hotel for the layover. Then when we landed in Cape Town they took us to our hotel. On the way back we did the exact thing. When we arrived at LAX they drove us home.  So we ended up with 8 transfers (free) and 2 hotel nights for the layovers. When we got to the hotel on the way there, I got an Uber driver to drive us around and show us all the famous sites, hotels, etc. We went to the biggest mall, the fountains, etc.  That's as much of Dubai as I wanted to see (no desire to stay there), but I would imagine you could stay over 1 night and take a private tour. They could arrange it. There were absolutely no problems leaving the airport.

Edited February 28, 2020 by Carol From California

[Travelcat2]

The last that I heard (in January) Regent is adding $1,500/person to the deviation fee for flights using Emirates to their hub (Dubai).  They may have similar fees to Cape Town.  We used British Airways twice to Cape Town and it worked well (even with a long layover in LHR - it gave us time walk around, shower, etc.

 

At this time, I would definitely not take a credit.  With the current global crisis, if there is a problem, Regent will not assist you until all of their guests using Regent air have been assisted.  Under normal conditions, I have no issue with taking a credit.

[jhenry1]

The flights I found and thank you again Travelcat2 for the link are from Austin ,Texas using British through London and the same for the return.  the layovers are somewhat longer than I like but only one stop and like Travelcat2 stated not rushing trying to get from Terminal 3 to Terminal 5 and plenty of time to walk around in Heathrow which we have always been in a rush and to relax and take a shower to freshen up or what ever.  Hope Regent accepts these deviations.  These are actually better flight than if we fly from Houston or Dallas.  British air has a Direct flight to London and we have flown on it many times and it is fine not great.

[captjohn]

34 minutes ago, jhenry1 said:

The flights I found and thank you again Travelcat2 for the link are from Austin ,Texas using British through London and the same for the return.  the layovers are somewhat longer than I like but only one stop and like Travelcat2 stated not rushing trying to get from Terminal 3 to Terminal 5 and plenty of time to walk around in Heathrow which we have always been in a rush and to relax and take a shower to freshen up or what ever.  Hope Regent accepts these deviations.  These are actually better flight than if we fly from Houston or Dallas.  British air has a Direct flight to London and we have flown on it many times and it is fine not great.

 

We are on this same cruise- YES and looking forward to it.

Don't know what how long your layover is but we have about 8hr -Oh-ouch !

Anyway we plan to grab a room by the hour at Term 3 to freshen up before our next flight to PHX. See link.

 

https://www.londontoolkit.com/travel/heathrow_day_rooms.htm#heathrow