Are there any low airfares for the World Cup period?

The World Cup is fast approaching and with it are exorbitant prices charged by airlines for travel during June and July. The price hikes have led to six South African airlines being investigated for allegations of price-fixing. Fifa recently said that it was expecting fewer foreign fans going to the World Cup than initially estimated, partly due to a lack of flights.

Budget airline kulula claims to be offering the lowest airfares for the World Cup, and has challenged all South African airlines to lower their airfares during the period. The airline has acquired an additional 28 000 seats to cater for our World Cup fans, and plans have been put into place to provide an additional 15 000 seats if demand for World Cup seats grows. Most of the additional seats have been added to the Lanseria schedule, as these flights have proven to be a popular choice for World Cup travellers.

“It’s our policy to rather add more flights than to rely on pushing prices up. If you compare the prices of domestic flights during the tournament, our prices are the lowest, finished and klaar. We invite consumers to compare fares for themselves and we challenge all airlines to reduce their prices,” said kulula marketing executive Heidi Brauer. “The World Cup should not be seen as a ‘get rich quick’ scheme. One quick visit to our site will settle any remaining unnecessary worries about World Cup pricing” she added.

We did a price comparison of four other major South African carriers to see how kulula’s ticket prices fared. We took a random day during the World Cup – 14 June – and compared prices of flights from Cape Town to Durban.

	Price (including VAT and taxes)	Time of flight
Kulula	R719	11.35 am
SAA	R1270	09.05 am
Mango	R1615	11.25 am
1time	R528	06.30 am
British Airways	R761	09.15 am

Have you found prices for flights during the World Cup outrageous or have you managed to score some bargains?