A few tips to travel cheaply to South Africa:

The main travel season from mid-December to early January is quite expensive - if you travel during this period, you should book a year in advance if possible.

The closer the date gets, the more expensive it gets.

Of course you can get cheap flights outside of the main travel times. Real snappers are possible especially in May, June, September and November.

In addition to the price, the travel time also plays an important role for me ... I prefer to pay € 50.00 more, but then I might be on the road 5 hours shorter. But everyone has to decide for himself.

I book through flight portals, such as B. Expedia , Ebookers , Fluege.de or Travel-Overland . And if the flights don't work out that way (delays, cancellations ) then Flightright can claim compensation.

There are airlines that I avoid: Ethopian Airlines (there is also a compulsory yellow fever vaccination, even though you only want to change trains in Addis Ababa.

I'm not a friend of British Airlines and Air France either - but that has more to do with the connecting flights and the airports.

An alternative option is to book a flight from Germany to Johannesburg. In a further step, and regardless of the first booking, book a flight from Johannesburg to Port Elizabeth.

It is very often cheaper ... In South Africa there are also low cost carriers (such as Kulula.com (subsidiary of BA); Fly Mango (subsidiary of SAA), Safair (please note the baggage regulations here).
Please allow sufficient time for passport control in Johannesburg. It should be at least 3 hours.
The disadvantage: If you miss the connecting flight, you have to pay the rebooking fee yourself.

children

Babies up to the age of 2 usually travel free of charge. However, there is no right to a seat here.

If things go really bad, the baby has to sit on the lap for the entire flight.

It is then placed in the baby seat to sleep. This usually works just fine.