Finding cheap flights to Africa may seem like the impossible dream but if you follow three simple rules when booking your tickets you can make sure that you get the best possible price.
I've (more about me) flown to and around Africa often to go on safari or visit family and I make sure to follow the rules every time.
If I don't then I sometimes find out later that I could have gotten a ticket cheaper if I had just followed the simple guidelines.
It doesn't take very long and the savings could be as much as the difference between a flophouse and more luxurious accommodation once you get there. I've seen as much as a 20% difference in price in some cases.
The Secret to Cheap Flights To Africa
Before you book your flight tickets, do yourself a big favour savings wise and run through the following 3 rules:
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Use the national African airlines for the country you are travelling to.
Nine times out of ten this will be cheaper than using any other airline. Why? Because of economies of scale.
The national carrier should be handling more passengers to and from the country than any other airline and they can pass along the cost savings in the form of cheap tickets to Africa to be more competitive.
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Fly to the main international airport.
Even if the destination you are going to is not close to the international airport (most African countries only have one international airport), you can always travel from there using local transport than paying extra for a stopover flight.
It's always worth doing that calculation. African currencies are a lot weaker than most Northern hemisphere currencies so travel within the country will probably work out cheaper. Make sure you measure it against the inconvenience factor though.
To find names of the main international airports in the various countries click on the links above.
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It pays to shop around.
Booking your flights to Africa will be cheaper if you do it over the internet in most cases. No surprises there.
But don't just buy at the first site you tap your flight details into. Some of the web retailers have special promotions for cheap flights to Africa running every now and again. So look around for bargains. It will save you money to do that little bit of extra research.