A Few Travel Questions

[BLJC30]

We have our first safari scheduled for June 2023 in SA. There will be 4 of us, myself, my wife, our teenage son and our college graduating daughter. Our passports arrived last week and it's time to book our flights. I have a few questions am asking for some guidance as this is the first of hopefully many trips to Africa. We are not taking firearms and plan to rent since it's our first trip. We would like a direct flight from the states to Joburg which seems to narrow the options on the East Coast to Atlanta or Newark. Not that we are on a strict budget but I would prefer to spend more on the hunt than on the travel. Right now, the airline tickets from my home state appear to be about $2k per person for cattle class. I can drive about 3 hours and reduce that to about $1600 pp.

My questions are

Has anyone ever booked with ASAP Tickets? They seem cheaper but not sure how legit they are.

Is it really necessary to use a travel agent if it will be a direct flight there and back when we aren't taking firearms with us? I know they charge a fee but can they get you better deals on the tickets?

 

[JimP]

I would never fly international and or a hunting trip without a agent. They will stay on top of things such as cancellations and other changes. All it takes is for the airline to change one flight and if you do it yourself you may be scrambling trying to figure thins out. This happened to me on my first trip over where the airline changed a single flight which would of left me sitting in a airport for a day or more.

I highly recommend Jennifer at Travel Express..

International Hunting & Safari Travel Agents in Corvallis, MT | Travel Express

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www.travelexpressagency.com

 

[Hunt anything]

I would have a travel agent, in today’s world of cancelled and delays they are worth their weight in gold. I use Jennifer at Travel Express, during the Covid chaos she kept up with all changes and airline changes. It also takes away one more thing you don’t need to worry about.

 

[Still alive]

Here is my two cents? Only go with a travel agent? Travel express with Jennifer. Every time our flight had changes she took care of them as they happened. If anything went wrong they can fix it right away. It’s worth that alone.
I did the same thing with the rifles as I was traveling with my 13 year old son.

we flew out of lax to Germany to Jber, we had no problems. I did this as I bought my flight eight months before, They gave us seat assignments at that time. Everyone else asked us to check in 24 hours before and hope we sit together, or pay several hundred dollars more?

If you read about direct flights from the states it always seems to be a hit or miss?

We spent ten days on our safari with ten animals all PG. I spent 6800$ for the ten days which included everything. Outside of port Elizabeth. Properties were from 30 sq miles to 150 sq. One of them bordered Addo park which was epic.

One year later we got them all back and starting to hang them up.

All I can tell you it’s an awesome place to hunt. I’m planning on going back for the big five in 24

I also bought trip insurance and medical insurance to keep the wife from not worry so much.

enjoy your trip

 

[PARA45]

I've gone to SA twice, and have flown twice on Delta. With how this world is turning, I wouldn't travel outside the US without the help of a travel agent. I used Travel Express this last time, they are a sponsor of this forum. They were great on booking my flight, even thought all my flights were uneventful and I didn't need their service, but had peace of mind knowing they were there just in case.

 

[pajarito]

i would strongly suggest using an agent and stay away from united airlines and newark NJ. i had 6 friends got all the way to newark and had flights canceled for no apparent reason and then had all kinds of hell getting reimbursed.
these guys had taken off work and saved for 3 years for their first safari and then got shafted by united. direct to JNB is nice but might be safer to have a layover somewhere as direct flights are very limited.
good luck have fun.

 

[markm]

We have our first safari scheduled for June 2023 in SA. There will be 4 of us, myself, my wife, our teenage son and our college graduating daughter. Our passports arrived last week and it's time to book our flights. I have a few questions am asking for some guidance as this is the first of hopefully many trips to Africa. We are not taking firearms and plan to rent since it's our first trip. We would like a direct flight from the states to Joburg which seems to narrow the options on the East Coast to Atlanta or Newark. Not that we are on a strict budget but I would prefer to spend more on the hunt than on the travel. Right now, the airline tickets from my home state appear to be about $2k per person for cattle class. I can drive about 3 hours and reduce that to about $1600 pp.

My questions are

Has anyone ever booked with ASAP Tickets? They seem cheaper but not sure how legit they are.

Is it really necessary to use a travel agent if it will be a direct flight there and back when we aren't taking firearms with us? I know they charge a fee but can they get you better deals on the tickets?

it is best to get an agent try Gracy Travel been using them for ten trips over

 

[wesheltonj]

I travel yearly for international leisure travel (this years trip, I was on BA, Austrian, Air Serbia, Croatia Air, Bulgaria Air, TAROM Air and Turkish) and do not use an agent, and I would not use an agent again to the main hunting destinations in Africa (Southern & Western). It's not that hard. I have never heard of that agency. If you want the best fares you need to check both Google Flights and ITA Matrix. ITA will show every flight combination available just like the terminal the travel agent uses. Google flights has a button, generally to purchase the ticket. ITA you cannot purchse the ticket on the site. You have to copy and paste the data from that site to "Book with Matrix" website, it's a little more difficult but not impossible.

Yes, flights change. But booking direct the airline, the airline is in control of your ticket not the agent. Want to pick seats or change seats? If you have an agent, they will have to do that, you can't. Almost all airlines have phone apps that are easy to use, and changes can be made right on the app.

One thing you can do with google flights, is price tracking. You pick your flight, and google will keep track of the fare and you will receive an e-mail when the price goes up or down.

I realize my opinion is different then most of the advice you will receive here.

 

[TRAVEL EXPRESS]

Thank you for all the support guys

As some have mentioned we take the work out of booking your flights, and yes we handle schedule changes, questions, COVID, gun transit, insurance, etc. And NO it's not true that you can't make any changes through the airline if you book with us. You can still pull up your booking on the airline website to pick seats etc. And you can still use their app if you want! But we handle that for you. And our fee is $150/ person for standard economy class flights.

More power to those who have the knowledge of the many routes/ fees/ airlines, as well time to book and manage their own flights... but we're here to take the hassle out of it, and save you time so you can just enjoy your trip!

 

[YancyW]

I have booked hundreds of flights on my own and still book everything myself, except travel to Africa. I always use an agent, I never really even noticed a difference in price and their service is worth every cent.

Jennifer is awesome, btw.

 

[Anbessa Gedai]

I have had one highly irritating experience with ASAP Tickets.
Found a lower cost itinerary on their site, booked it, entered all CC details and they acknowledged my booking by email. The next day I got another email asking if I wanted to proceed with my booking. After multiple online requests to speak with a human they called me back. A woman no doubt based somewhere in India with a very strong accent that I struggled to understand. ASAP Tickets claimed my purchase didn't actually go through, so "did I still want the booking?" And what a coincidence the fare had gone up by ~30 percent! BAIT & SWITCH . . . never again.

 

[Tanks]

...

Yes, flights change. But booking direct the airline, the airline is in control of your ticket not the agent. Want to pick seats or change seats? If you have an agent, they will have to do that, you can't. Almost all airlines have phone apps that are easy to use, and changes can be made right on the app.

One thing you can do with google flights, is price tracking. You pick your flight, and google will keep track of the fare and you will receive an e-mail when the price goes up or down.
...

A couple of things. First, one can definitely pick or change seats after the booking by the agent. I have done that just about at every flight.

A phone app is useless if one does not have decent internet connection. Areas I have hunted in Zimbabwe did not even have cell service. Heck, on my last trip we could pick Zambia but not local Zimbabwean cell towers.

That is one of the reasons, I carry a Garmin Inreach+ for satellite texting capability. Jennifer watches my flights and if there is a change she can take care of it and let me know.

Now, flying to Europe etc., I book my own, a travel agent is not needed.

 

[BLJC30]

Does booking through an agent offer better pricing or just less stress?

 

[R.M.C.]

I would suggest using an agent, but I've only been once and it went smoothly. My travel agent fee was $300 so yes it does cost more but it's a peace of mind thing. If flights got cancelled, I just call up my agent and they get back to me with another way out. Way easier than me doing it . Just my two cents lol

 

[WAB]

Travel Express. If everything goes smoothly, you’re probably fine on your own. When things go pear shaped Jennifer will bail you out.

 

[Tanks]

Does booking through an agent offer better pricing or just less stress?

It depends. Firearms adds a complication where an agent helps. Same with canceled/changed flights when one is in the bush. Also, I look at the fee charged vs what my time is worth and justify the cost accordingly (that goes for everything I do that is not a hobby).

For excursions to places just for tourism (non hunting trips) I will even go as far as hiring a local fixer that will take care of restaurant reservations, tickets etc., and also act as a local guide if necessary.

 

[Jarrord]

We have our first safari scheduled for June 2023 in SA. There will be 4 of us, myself, my wife, our teenage son and our college graduating daughter. Our passports arrived last week and it's time to book our flights. I have a few questions am asking for some guidance as this is the first of hopefully many trips to Africa. We are not taking firearms and plan to rent since it's our first trip. We would like a direct flight from the states to Joburg which seems to narrow the options on the East Coast to Atlanta or Newark. Not that we are on a strict budget but I would prefer to spend more on the hunt than on the travel. Right now, the airline tickets from my home state appear to be about $2k per person for cattle class. I can drive about 3 hours and reduce that to about $1600 pp.

My questions are

Has anyone ever booked with ASAP Tickets? They seem cheaper but not sure how legit they are.

Is it really necessary to use a travel agent if it will be a direct flight there and back when we aren't taking firearms with us? I know they charge a fee but can they get you better deals on the tickets?

I say keep looking for tickets 2k a person seems high, my father and I got tickets bna to Alanta to Johannesburg and Johannesburg to bna for 1200$ a piece

 

[Andrew62]

My last 14 trips to Africa I booked on my own and had no problems. Having said that, going forward, I intend to use a travel agent because of how quickly rules and regulations can change. The quickest way to SA is to fly on United through Newark, I've flown that route 3 times in the past 12 months. I've not had any real issues, however, I have read some nightmare stories from people on this site having flights canceled. Good luck on your hunt next year!!

 

[MT Griz]

Travel Express is who you want to use.

 

[NIGHTHAWK]

Before you use an agent. Get the Delta App and a Skymiles Number and try it yourself. I booked my last SA Flights SFO To ATL To JNB. Gave us 2 to 3 hours in between flights. Saved about $600 for each of us round trip not using an agent. I booked for 3 of my travel partners too. Got the flights for $756. I watched them drop from $1,375…

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