Hi, hope I am posting this in the right place.

I have a colleague who is traveling from Toronto to South Africa for her honeymoon.

Any recommendations on the ultimate routing?

And, does anyone recommend connecting through Sao Paulo onto LATAM or South African?

Also, she is a nervous flyer...not sure if any one airline or route is better for that.

Thank you

It sort of depends on what her destination is -- CPT or JNB? Or somewhere else altogether? I'd probably also want to limit connections + takeoffs/landings if she's a nervous flier. There are several one-stop options.

I personally really like South African Airways, so it would make sense to connect at Washington Dulles or Frankfurt via AC/UA/Star alliance if she's headed to JNB. For CPT, I'd probably do Emirates YYZ-DXB-CPT.

I wouldn't recommend transfering in the USA since no US airport is configured for international transfers. You always have to pass immigration, even when you transfer.

There are several options through Europe. I'd check out KLM, they're a quality airline and the transfer in Amsterdam is very convenient.

PatrickZ80 wrote:

I wouldn't recommend transfering in the USA since no US airport is configured for international transfers. You always have to pass immigration, even when you transfer.

With pre clearance at YYZ it shouldn't be a problem to transfer in the US.

If your friend is like most of us, price will presumably be a big part of the decision on carriers. As far as connections go though, Ethiopian Airlines via ADD has the best connections each way to both JNB and CPT. The flights are also sold as an SAA code share. ADD offers transfers within a single terminal, unlike LHR for example. Connecting times through Europe make the outbound trip much longer due to the double overnight schedule.

My experience with ET is limited to one flight about six months ago, but I found their economy cabin experience to be in line with other well known global airlines. All flights would be operated with 787 equipment, and being a Star Alliance partner your friend could get Aeroplan miles if that is important to her.

Dave

PatrickZ80 wrote:

I wouldn't recommend transfering in the USA since no US airport is configured for international transfers.

Not from YYZ you don't. FYI:

https://www.cbp.gov/border-security/por ... eclearance

Funny enough, I actually travelled from YYZ to CPT for my honeymoon in November of 2017. We ended up booking seats in Y with BA, as BA was the cheapest option and also had the shortest overall travel time. We took BA98-->BA43 and BA42-->BA93 on the way back.

If I were to go back to CPT (which I'd love to do!), I'd opt for a daytime flight from Europe, reaching CPT at night. That way you're able to get right to bed and start off the following day with a bit more energy.

YKF wrote:

Funny enough, I actually travelled from YYZ to CPT for my honeymoon in November of 2017. We ended up booking seats in Y with BA, as BA was the cheapest option and also had the shortest overall travel time. We took BA98-->BA43 and BA42-->BA93 on the way back.

If I were to go back to CPT (which I'd love to do!), I'd opt for a daytime flight from Europe, reaching CPT at night. That way you're able to get right to bed and start off the following day with a bit more energy.

BA via LHR was the cheapest?

but there's those airport use taxes/landing fee-y type things that they tack on for all LHR landings...

Airstud wrote:

YKF wrote:

Funny enough, I actually travelled from YYZ to CPT for my honeymoon in November of 2017. We ended up booking seats in Y with BA, as BA was the cheapest option and also had the shortest overall travel time. We took BA98-->BA43 and BA42-->BA93 on the way back.

If I were to go back to CPT (which I'd love to do!), I'd opt for a daytime flight from Europe, reaching CPT at night. That way you're able to get right to bed and start off the following day with a bit more energy.

BA via LHR was the cheapest?

but there's those airport use taxes/landing fee-y type things that they tack on for all LHR landings...

Yeah, though I booked many months before the trip. The second cheapest options was with ET, but was advertised as having a ridiculously short layover (35 mins?)...

YKF wrote:

Yeah, though I booked many months before the trip. The second cheapest options was with ET, but was advertised as having a ridiculously short layover (35 mins?)...

I flew ET last year from YYZ to South Africa as the total time trip was far less than through Europe. One of the main reasons was the short transfer times through ADD.

ET are building a very impressive African hub at ADD and they have the transfer down to an art. 35 minutes seems risky, but if flights are on time (an all of ours were), then it is more then enough time. They are well aware of who is connecting through their hub and try very hard to get everyone on their way.

ET was a great airline with good service and pleasant staff. Fares were quite a bit less than Delta or European carriers. We flew J for about $500 more r/t than Y on DL YYZ-ATL-JNB.

longhauler wrote:

YKF wrote:

Yeah, though I booked many months before the trip. The second cheapest options was with ET, but was advertised as having a ridiculously short layover (35 mins?)...

I flew ET last year from YYZ to South Africa as the total time trip was far less than through Europe. One of the main reasons was the short transfer times through ADD.

ET are building a very impressive African hub at ADD and they have the transfer down to an art. 35 minutes seems risky, but if flights are on time (an all of ours were), then it is more then enough time. They are well aware of who is connecting through their hub and try very hard to get everyone on their way.

ET was a great airline with good service and pleasant staff. Fares were quite a bit less than Delta or European carriers. We flew J for about $500 more r/t than Y on DL YYZ-ATL-JNB.

Good to know. I think I subconsciously dismissed ET when I saw the 35 minute layover, given any slight delay could cause complications once in ADD (my BA flight out of YYZ was delayed by an hour, so my fears were not without reason. )

On an unrelated note, I'm surprised AC doesn't codeshare with ET on ET502/3. I'd avoid LHR if I were to do it again, and it sounds like ADD would be a pleasant alternative.

When I travelled to GRU (Sao Paulo) a few years ago I noticed several transferring to the flight to JNB. But it may not be the least expensive.