Re:  Discounted Group Travel to Cape Town
Jan Wiener writes (January 22nd 2007) :

As some of you know, I have been researching the possibility of discounted group travel through London to Cape Town for the IAAP Congress from August 12th – 18th. Thank you to those of you who have contacted me individually during the past few weeks with details of the dates when you wish to travel.

Unfortunately I have come to the conclusion that organising one or more parties to travel together from London to Cape Town and back will not be viable for two reasons. First of all there is too much discrepancy in terms of the dates when people seem to want to travel and getting 20 people together to agree to travel there and back on the same flights does not seem to me to be viable. Second and more important, I have discovered that making a group booking is not necessarily going to work out to be any cheaper for IAAP members. It looks as though you will get the best deals by making individual bookings yourselves.

I am happy to pass onto you the results of my research so far (although quotations seem to vary day by day!) and I can also recommend two travel agents who have been very helpful and whom you may like to contact:

Travel Agents:

Pelin Akin at Key Travel:
0044 (0)161 819 8935
pakin@keytravel.co.uk
www.keytravel.com

John Lesirge at Travelocity
0044 (0)1494 738418
john.lesirge@travelocity-business.co.uk
www.travelocity-business.co.uk

Online Booking

http://www.ebookers.com><font%20style=/: for travel from Europe

Other Findings:

Direct Flights to Cape Town:
British Airways - £832
South African Airlines - £774

Indirect Flights to Cape Town :
KLM via Amsterdam – £784
Iberia via Madrid and Johannesburg - £801
Qatar via Doha - £727
Lufthansa usually fly to Cape Town via Frankfurt, but have cancelled their summer flights

Nationwide Airlines
Nationwide fly from Gatwick to Johannesberg where you will need to change to get a short internal flight to Cape Town. However, they seem to offer the best deals. I have had the cheapest quotation from them last week - £636 including tax and the cost of the internal flight from J’Berg to Cape Town. I intend to fly with them myself.

Best regards,

Jan Wiener

PS : I suggest that you also check online with ebookers. com and expedia.com for their deals before making your decision.