From what I hear Dubai is fine for Americans and offers quite a few things to see while you're there. Also, if you book with Emirates and your layover is more than 8 hours, but less than 24 hours they will pick up the cost of the hotel! I will be leaving from JFK on Jume 7th and spending the 8th in Dubai with 5 other USA supporters.
Not a problem in the slightest. I go there a lot and will be flying through there to South Africa. You are much more likely to get grief for being an American anywhere in Western Europe than Dubai. Not that much to see, except some of the big modern buildings. The new one (the tallest building in the world) is quite impressive to look at, no doubt. It's famous for its shopping of course, if you're into that. Otherwise, it's got about as low a crime rate as you'll find in any major city anywhere, which might be kind of enjoyable before going into Joburg.
My friend is from Dubai he says its fine, they have a lot of European visitors and most people really dont care if you are American as long as you spend money
Exactly. I was about to drop $2,300 each for my wife and I and thankfully my very smart wife said she wasn't "ready" to buy yet. The next am, the same flight was $1,800. We jumped on them. I haven't seem much get near that price since.
Wow, what a deal. I'm hoping to get something similar. The lowest I've seen from LA is 2312 to dubai then JNB.
Thanks for the advice. We are flying on Virgin Atlantic from London to JNB arriving on the 8th. We are getting to London using miles so it helps to lower the cost. It would be nice if there were a few USA fans on the flight, but I don't think so.
Just in case there are any yanks who end up on the same flight as me, my flight is: South African Airways Flight 235 - London (LHR) to Johannesburg (JNB) June 8th
On a recent financial show by this Howard fellow (on CNN or HLN), someone called in for advice on booking flights to the WC. His suggestion was to wait as he expected the fares to drop. He also suggested flying through South America and not Europe to avoid competing for seats with Europeans.
New Kulula sale again, RIGHT NOW!! If you haven't seen it yet, these are fantastic prices, but only today. one-way in-country flights, for as low as $39 including taxes. Remember to look at Lanseria airport in J'burg as a valid alternative. www.kulula.com today only!! good luck.
Been trying the south american option, but its more expensive. Only flights I find is from sao paulo.
Yeah, I'm going to guess it's very hard to find flights from South America to South Africa that make any sense. It's been a while, but back when I used to travel to South America I heard stories of people hubbing through Miami to get to a neighboring country, if they wanted to fly a safe, reliable airline. Probably can fly direct from Brazil and Argentina, but first you have to get there, and the flights on Aerolineas Argentina may not pop up in your search engines. Maybe the finance dude was considering Mexico as South America?
Malaysian Airlines flies CPT to EZE direct, but again, prices are not any better than going through Europe at this point. I am booked on AA miles from ORD through London, but if I see prices for my dates come down below $1700 I'd be tempted to save my miles.
I'm from Argentina. Only SAA and malaysa airways flyes from EZE to SA or from Sao Paulo to SA. Prices are very expensive. You should go through Europe.
Wow, I just saw some cheap flights from NYC on South African Airways, $1678.85 round trip, June 7th to June 24th. http://www.flysaa.com
Yea if you are going to miss the ENG US game then you can get in on the 13th and leave 27th for 1385. Hah, now I wish I didnt get those ENG tix!
Thanks for the head's up. My wife and I bought our tickets for $1,875 per person, for JFK to JNB on June 7th to June 24th. Last week this flight was nearly $3,000 per person, so they have significantly discounted the flights.
Found another cheap airfare on Emirates using Orbitz.com, JFK to JNB, departing on 6/9 returning on 6/25, $1,788 RT.
If any of you have legs on Air Namibia like I do, forewarning that their leg from Accra to Johannesburg was initially listed as departing at 930am on June 11, is now set to depart at 9pm, 11.5 hours later! My friends were on the June 10 leg departing 930am, now that 9pm flight on June 10 is supposedly cancelled all together, so they are (as it stands right now) going to be stuck in Accra for 36 hours. Either way we are going to try and get answers from Air Namibia on Skype tonight, but needless to say this is a fing mess.
I'm not sure that "cheap" and "$1788 r/t" go together. I'm within a week or so of canceling my World Cup plans. The usury rates (not just the airfare) are unlike anything I've ever encountered in two decades of globe spanning soccer travel. Three weeks in South Africa budgets out to about double what five weeks in Germany cost. It's insane.
I guess my use of the word "cheap" is all relative to the fares I have been seeing in the $2500-$3000 range.
CheapoAir to the rescue!! They booked everyone (7 of us) on PHX-ATL-JNB at no extra charge! If you try to book that right now its $4800. Awwwooooooo