Hi. My parents live in Johannesburg South Africa. They have never seen
their grandson and I would love to get them to the UK to meet him
before they pass away, they are both getting very old. This Christmas
would be a great time. However, funds has always been an issue. We
have finally managed to scrape together a very small sum, which we
hope will be enough. Can
you please assist me to find the cheapest flights from South Africa
to(and from) the UK - for 2 adults. I am thinking: depart 22 December
and return on 3rd January. A BIG thank you to all who can help.

Dear Dr. Jones, 

I've found three rates online that would be probably the "cheapest"
you can find. However, I recommend that you (or the grandparents in
SA) would go with these printouts to a travel agent: a good travel
agent might be able to find these offers and then beat them. I also
recommend that you'll book asap - cheap seats on planes, especially
around the Holiday Season, end up quite quickly.

The cheapest offer I could find was of ?505.142 per person, on the
site e-Flights.de <http://www.e-flights.de/>. It is a flight with Gulf
Air, which costs
537.00 EUR + 203.00 Approx. Tax (Special fare for seniors 65+). It
leaves from Johannesburg on the 22nd, and returns on January 3rd. Gulf
Air's website could be found here, and there is always the possibility
that booking directly from the airline would cost less:
Gulf Air
<http://www.gulfairco.com/index/index.asp> 

The second cheapest offer I could find was ?706.620 per person, NOT
INCLUDING TAXES, on IhrFlug.de <http://www.ihrflug.de/>. It is a
flight with Iberia.
Iberia
<http://www.iberia.com/OneToOne/v3/home.do> 

The third one would be with Virgin Atlantic, for ?831.09 per person
including taxes. I found this one on Travel Select
<http://flights.travelselect.com/lmn/lfe/flights/results/results.jhtml?CATID=85&partnerId=9175&dc=LON&cc=NONE&_requestid=3874>
. It is the only one, which is also a direct flight.
Virgin Atlantic
<http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/> 

I'm afraid that although I've applied "senior citizen" tariffs in all
three cases (and in many others, which were not included here because
of pricing), it is not easy to find really affordable flights for the
holiday season.

I hope that this answers your question. Please contact me if you need
any clarification on this answer before you rate it.

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Request for Answer Clarification by drclintjones-ga on 04 Oct 2005 01:48 PDT

Thanks for the info - however, the currency symbols did not appear in
the detail, so I don't know if you'e talking Dollars, or UK Pounds,
please let me know.

Thanks

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Clarification of Answer by politicalguru-ga on 04 Oct 2005 02:07 PDT

Sorry. These were (unfortunately) all GB Pound symbols. 

Sorry for the mishap.

helpful etc. thanks.