barminski

My husband and I have booked a safari in Botswana, May of 2024. We are on our own for scheduling international air from Colorado to Johannesburg, South Africa.
Need advice on when I should book flights. I can go with Exito Travel to book for me. The rep appeared to be knowledgeable and had some good advice. She suggested
to book by mid-October. Premium Economy seats were being booked since the end of May is a popular safari time. She also suggested flying to Newark, New Jersey for a more direct
flight. I doubt we sleep well on a 30 to 32 hour flight so the cost of Business Class seats do not seem reasonable. Open to opinions!

I have travel insurance for the safari with Travel Guard. Should I bundle the tour with the airline reservation? I have never insured airline tickets but this airline ticket may be pricey. Appreciate any other tips on airline travel to Johannesburg. Thank you!

amyb

I have not been to Botswana, but have been to Africa several times now. If you are willing to do your own research, the first thing I would do is go on Google Flights and set alerts for any routing you’d be willing to fly. Watch the fares for a few weeks or a month or two. You’ll get notifications every morning the price changes (you can stipulate either Economy or Business). That way you’ll get a sense of what fares are out there and how they change over time and if you see a dip you can jump on it. I got my fare for January for less than half price for Business Class because I jumped on a serious one day dip I haven’t seen since!

Unless the fare is refundable, as some Business Class fares are, I always include my airfare as part of what I insure with my trip insurance. I insure any cost I would be bummed to have to eat if I cancel my trip.

Anecdotally, I have a friend who just flew to Johannesburg from Dallas, and his routing was through London. He had an 8 hour layover there where he had a nice meal and a shower/nap at an airport hotel before moving on to the second flight. It’s up to you how you want to break the journey up, or if you’d want to spend a day or two somewhere else to get over your jet lag and take a break from flying. You have a lot of options.

barminski

Thank you, great suggestion to do daily alerts from Google Flights. Business Class would certainly be wonderful after looking up what it entails!

barminski

Just signed up for Google Flights notices and it is GREAT--so helpful. My first time exploring Google Flights. Thanks again.

amyb

It is, isn't it? It's really interesting to watch how the fares change over time. I never shut my alerts off, even after I purchased, just so I can see how they fluctuate.

ekscrunchy

Amy, thanks for that info!


Barminski...Curious..who did you book the safari portion with...which agency?

barminski

Wild Source out of Golden, Colorado.

ekscrunchy

Thanks! I had a trip planned to Patagonia that I had to cancel twice, and the agency I booked with used Exito Travel. Exito was good..got me a big refund on the Chile tickets and I used it to book flights with them to Spain a few months ago.....