Update on purchasing a DONE from South Africa

[pmk]

Am just about to book my next DONE trip ex SA. Things have changed from 2012 and process has simplified. Am posting an email I just received from American airlines in SA which replaces some info contained in earlier posts.

Dear PMK

Thank you for your email.

Many things have changed since last year. We have a new email address [email protected] and contact number is the same at +27 21 440 6440.

The payment procedure has changed in that no documentation is now required, all that is required is to have the fare stored in ZAR and payment will be
taken over the phone. Therefore, please email your itinerary reference to the above-mentioned email address and once confirmed in ZAR, you may contact
us for payment.

Thank you and Best regards,

American Airlines Reservations - ZA

 

[tuapekastar]

So easy - thanks for posting.

 

[travellerqff]

So is it USD$6000~ for a 16 sector RTW in Business class, departing Cape Town or JNB? And does it exclude Australia?

 

[pmk]

In answer to travelerqff:
The base price from South Africa for DONE 4 being quoted is 48000zar which is equal to AUD 5125. This is before charges and taxes. These obviously can vary depending on routing and carriers chosen and I expect mine to add on a bit over a AUD 1200. Last time I paid a very small service charge plus my credit card conversion costs.

You can certainly can include Australia in a DONE 4 provided you avoid Asia. S. Africa- Europe - an America -Aust/pacif - S. Africa.

I thought I would repeat some info from a previous post of mine. I don't yet no the AFF rules so hope that is okay.


for us the biggest advantages about commencing our trip from SA are:


1. Price, unbelievably cheap for 16 segments in business, almost half the cost ex Australia
2. We are able to break it into 2 holidays, one overseas and one more local as we break the trip in Melbourne (home)
3. Unlike with ticketing from NZ we can have visit upto 5 locations in Australia or the south Pacific. This forms holiday number two.
4. We had week in SA in July 2012 and the 5 day visit to Kruger was sensational. Waking very early in morning due to body clock was perfect for early safaris
5. We are able to be ticketed by AA which is much cheaper for taxes
6. The journey can be configured with all travel westwards our preferred direction
7. This time we will avoid Asia altogether so it's is even less expensive as now only a DONE 4
8. South Africa works just like an Asian stopover and so no 24 hour plus flights
9. Easily earn enough from these flights to qualify as platinum
10. Date and time changes can be made relatively easily (though allow a good half hour on the phone) by ringing the Brisbane AA office which is re routed to Fiji. We changed our final segment of our 2012 ticket back to SA to 5 June 2013 to be ready to start the 2013 trip.