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We all know fairly well that our hard earned tax money is been used to fund a crippled national airline. The question is, how we can at least benefit from our tax money besides the usual rebates. I have done a little homework and found a few loopholes in SAA’s frequent flyer programme.
Firstly I would recommend getting the SAA Voyager premium credit card from Nedbank for those who do qualify. For every R6 you spend you get 1 mile. There are lots of generous bonus miles to be obtained after your first flight (19000 miles) and for joining the programme. Maximise your spend on this credit card like paying for your municipal, Telkom and other accounts at the post office via the credit card. Miles quickly start piling up. The next problem is how to spend these miles effectively.
A ticket from Johannesburg to New York in economy class will require 173000 in the lowest (saver) fare option when booking via flysaa.com. However, here is where it gets interesting. If you booking via the SAA voyager call centre and ask for a Star Alliance ticket to an onward destination such as Las Vegas, then you will only pay 107000 miles from Johannesburg to New York (SAA), then New York to Las Vegas (United Airlines, Star Alliance Partner). Business Class offers a much bigger saving, rand for rand when using this method.
To add to this, if you spent R160000 on your credit card during the financial year then you get a FREE companion ticket of which only airport taxes are due. So you could buy 1 ticket, get the companion free, and then fly your kid on the above offer. So 3 people will travel for the less than the cost of 1.5.
If the above example confuses you, don’t worry, it’s not your fault. The entire system is flawed even after a revamp of their programme. I have made more bookings than I can remember, using just simple logic and a combination of routes using SAA’s partners and balancing that against the cost of airport taxes and fuel surcharges. I cannot fit all of these examples into 1 article, luckily for SAA.
I hope to write more articles on how to save when travelling on various airlines and routes. Overseas travel is not as costly as most people anticipate. With the right combination of loyalty programmes and offers, it tends to be cheaper than local travel.
