Updated 16 October 2026. VistaVoyage is a South African flight comparison guide run from Johannesburg by Kyle Govender. Every figure below comes from searches we ran ourselves on Travelstart’s public flight search, in rand, for one adult in economy unless stated. Fares change daily, so each finding carries the date it was checked.
1. FlySafair was not the cheapest airline in any of eight fare checks.
On 15 October 2026 we searched Travelstart for four busy routes (Joburg–Cape Town and Joburg–Durban, both directions) for Wed 4 November and Fri 11 December. SAA had the cheapest one-way fare in 6 of the 8 searches and LIFT in 2. FlySafair was cheapest in none. SAA fares include a 23 kg bag. FlySafair vs SAA, every fare →
2. December fares are already rising: Joburg–Durban up R180 in eight days.
The cheapest Joburg–Durban fare for Fri 11 December (the first Friday of the school holidays) was R1,359 on 7 October and R1,539 on 15 October, up 13%. Joburg–Cape Town held at about R2,480. December price watch →
3. Gqeberha and George cost about double for the December holidays.
On our 7 October check, the cheapest fares for 18–19 December were 108% higher to Gqeberha and 107% higher to George than for an ordinary late-October Wednesday. Joburg–Cape Town rose only 28%. December fare check →
4. Tuesday was the cheapest day to fly Joburg–Cape Town; Friday the dearest.
Across all 309 non-stop fares for 2–8 November 2026 (checked 14 October), the cheapest Tuesday seat was R1,529 and the cheapest Friday seat R2,129. The 309-fare study →
5. Coming home a week later saves up to R1,580 one-way.
Flying back on Sun 10 January instead of Sun 3 January cost R170–R1,580 less one-way on the four routes we checked (George → Joburg saved the most). Return-leg fares →
6. A baby on your lap adds R50–R270 to a one-way domestic fare.
In 32 searches on 15 October, a lap infant added R50–R270 one-way depending on airline; children aged 2–11 paid close to the adult fare except on LIFT. A family of four flying Joburg → Durban on 11 December paid from R6,099 one-way (SAA, bags included). Family fares by airline →
How we collect the data
We run one-way economy searches on Travelstart, which sells all five South African domestic airlines (Airlink, CemAir, FlySafair, LIFT and SAA), and record the fares shown. Where we compare airlines, we keep each airline’s cheapest fare for that search. Baggage add-on prices come from the airlines’ own booking pages. Full methods are on our editorial policy page, and every correction we make is logged on the corrections page.
Using these figures
You are free to quote any finding on this page. Please credit VistaVoyage and link to the source page given with each finding, so readers can see the date and the full data.
Contact
For questions, a specific route or date, or the underlying fare lists, email hello@vistavoyage.co.za.
Disclosure: VistaVoyage earns a commission when readers book through its Travelstart links. That does not change the fares we record or report.