South African Airways has resumed flying non-stop between Perth and Johannesburg. This is a great option for those who want the convenience of a direct flight. You can even book this route using Velocity Points, or through any Star Alliance frequent flyer program.
If you want to travel from Australia to South Africa, Qantas also flies from Sydney to Johannesburg. And there are one-stop options such as Singapore Airlines, Qatar Airways and Emirates.
There’s also a little-known airline with an excellent Business Class product, based on a subtropical island in the Indian Ocean, offering easy connections between Perth and the African continent!
Air Mauritius flies 2-3 times per week between Perth and Mauritius. These flights are operated by new Airbus A330-900neo aircraft with lie-flat Business Class seats. This is arguably a better product than South African Airways offers on the much older Airbus A340-300 it flies to Perth.
The Mauritian national carrier also offers onward connections from Mauritius to Johannesburg and Cape Town (as well as to London and Paris, if you want to fly to Europe).
Air Mauritius Business Class fares from Perth to Johannesburg via Mauritius start from around $7,000 return. But you can save a lot of money by instead redeeming Air Canada Aeroplan points!
Redeeming Aeroplan points with Air Mauritius
Air Canada partners with Air Mauritius, meaning you can redeem Aeroplan points on it.
As Air Canada is part of Star Alliance, you can also use Aeroplan points to fly on South African Airways or Singapore Airlines – plus Emirates, another of Air Canada’s partners. But Air Mauritius is arguably the most interesting option. Not least because it often has very good award availability in both Economy and Business Class.
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This creates an interesting opportunity because Aeroplan points are relatively cheap to buy during a promotion such as the current 85% bonus offer. You can also earn Aeroplan points with certain Australian credit cards.
It costs 60,000 Aeroplan points + CAD117 (~AU$131) to fly one-way in Air Mauritius Business Class from Perth to Mauritius. And depending on when you want to fly, some flights on this route may even have up to nine Business Class award seats available!
Alternatively, you could fly all the way from Perth to Johannesburg in Business Class, via Mauritius, for 80,000 Aeroplan points + CAD125 (~AU$138):
Due to the flight timings, an overnight stop in Port Louis, Mauritius is required on the way from Perth-Johannesburg. But a shorter connection time of around three hours is possible on the return journey.
An Airbus A330 is also used on the Mauritius-Johannesburg route, meaning you can lie flat all the way to South Africa.
With Aeroplan redemptions, you can add an en-route stopover of between 1 and 45 days for an extra 5,000 points. Plus, if you wanted to travel onwards from Johannesburg to somewhere else in Africa, you could add a connecting South African Airways flight onto the same ticket (e.g. from Johannesburg to Cape Town) for little or no extra Aeroplan points!
This means that you could book an itinerary such as the following for 165,000 Aeroplan points + CAD314.50 (~AU$352), with all flights in Business Class except for one sector from Cape Town to Johannesburg:
Buying Aeroplan points
Aeroplan points cost CAD35 (~AU$39) per thousand to purchase at full price. But Aeroplan regularly offers bonus points. In fact, until 11 May 2024, you can earn up to 85% bonus points when buying Aeroplan points from Air Canada!
With an 85% bonus, it would cost you CAD3,150 (~AU$3,525) to buy 166,500 Aeroplan points.
If we consider that you also need to pay CAD314.50 (~AU$352) in taxes when redeeming those points, the total cost to fly round-trip from Perth to Cape Town in Business Class – with a stopover in Mauritius in one direction – is around AU$3,877. That’s a very good deal!
Rather than paying for Aeroplan points, you could also transfer points across from CommBank Awards. Or you could also earn them with a HSBC Star Alliance credit card.
Plus, for a limited time, you can even get a head-start of 50,000 bonus Aeroplan points with the HSBC Star Alliance card! You could receive 50,000 bonus Aeroplan points by spending at least $4,000 on your card within 90 days and choosing Air Canada as your status airline. (By doing this, you’d also get Star Alliance Gold status with Air Canada!)
- Card Name
- HSBC Star Alliance Credit Card
- Earn
- 1
- Signup Bonus
-
Fast Track to Star Alliance Gold Status
- Annual Fee
- $0 in the first year, $450 p.a. thereafter
- Read more
- Read the guide
Star Alliance Rewards Star Alliance Rewards Points on everyday purchases
Fly with Air Mauritius to Europe
This Air Mauritius trick also works if you want to fly from Australia to Europe in Business Class!
It costs 110,000 Aeroplan points to fly one-way from Australia to Paris or London in Air Mauritius Business Class. Again, for an extra 5,000 points, you could choose to add a multi-day stopover in Mauritius as well.
If you don’t live in Perth, you can even add on a domestic Virgin Australia flight from your home city to Perth onto the same ticket – and still pay the same amount of Aeroplan points.
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