Thanks - I'll check into it.

One thing I'll look into is booking an AA Vacation package. In December I'm flying R-T SMF - LHR in business plus 3 nights at a very decent hotel for nearly $1000 less than just the R-T fare. So using AA to book a hotel in Cape Town might save a bundle.

That's also been my experience and I looked, but didn't see any screaming bargains, but again, just a data point.

BA is also running good J fares to South Africa originating in Amsterdam (which avoids UK APD) - for example AMS-CPT-AMS for €1240; however these are only good through April. The present sell-by date is late this month, but who knows if BA will renew it, or include SA in its annual sale (usually around Jan-Feb.) https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/prem...ess-class.html