Booking flight tickets online nowadays is as easy as ordering an Uber or a takeaway food delivery. Not only is it more convenient, but it is also often cheaper, too. This is because there are hundreds of websites out there that are dedicated to helping you find the most affordable flights according to your chosen destination and requested departure / return dates.
However, with so many of these comparison websites available, it can be quite difficult to know which one to use. This canleave prospective travellers questioning whether or not they’re really getting the best possible bang for their buck.
The SA Airlines booking portal is recognised as one of the most trusted flight comparison websites in South Africa. We are proud of the fact that we work hard to ensure that our website is just as user-friendly and effective to use as a flight booking tool as the Google Flight Search portal itself (not yet available in South Africa).
If you’re trying to Google flights and are new to the whole online air ticket booking process, we have put together a handy, step-by-step guide to aid you in effortlessly booking your tickets via the SA-Airlines system.
How to Book via SA Airlines
Begin by navigating to our home page and selecting whether you want to book a one-way ticket or a return ticket. Next, click on the first block to enter your departure city (or the appropriate airport code) and, in the second block, your city of arrival (or the appropriate airport code). You’ll need to tell us your chosen date of departure and, if applicable, your chosen date of return. The last block allows you to select the number of adults, children and infants who will be included in your travel party.
Once you have inputted all of this data, you’ll simply click ‘Search’ and our system will browse all available flights in order to present you with numerous options. Depending on the quality of your internet connection, this search shouldn’t take more than a few seconds to complete.
There is also an option to further narrow your search by clicking ‘More Options’ below the search button. Here, you’ll be able to select your preferred cabin, preferred airline and whether or not you’re specifically looking for rebookable flights (i.e. flights that you can rebook without incurring a penalty fee).You can also choose whether you would like the search results to display flight options for 3 days after or before your selected departure and arrival dates.
At this point the SA Airlines search engine will show you a full list of all the available flight options, organised, by default, according to price. In order to provide you with peace of mind, we offer you a best price guarantee – in short, you’ll know for certain that you won’t be able to find a cheaper flight ticket anywhere else.
Each flight result displays the following information:
- The airline
- Departure time
- Airport of departure
- Total flying time
- Arrival time (along with any time zone changes)
- Airport of arrival
- How many stops, if any, you’ll be making on your journey
- Cabin class
- Total cost of the flight ticket
At the top of the results page, you’ll also have an option to sort your results to display the cheapest flights, the fastest flights and the most affordable rebookable flights. Using the ‘Sort By’ drop-down menu, you can also tailor how the results are displayed.
Further sort by options include:
- Cheapest
- Fastest
- Earliest departure
- Latest departure
On the left-hand side panel, you can narrow your search down according to specific “Filter Results” criteria. You have the option to set your price range, choose your preferred cabin class, the number of stops that you’re willing to make,departure times, as well as your preferred airline (you can select multiple options here).
Once you have found a flight option that suits your travel criteria, click on the ‘View’ button for further details and to proceed with the booking process.
The details of your preferred flight will appear on the right-hand side of the page and include information such as theflight number(s), layover time(s) and where the layover(s) will be taking place (if applicable), as well as luggage restrictions. If you are happy with all of this, click on ‘continue’ to move onto the next page.
Here, you will see a booking summary and total cost of all passengers. You will need to enter your personal details, along with the details of all others who will be travelling with you. These details will include your title, first name, surname, mobile number and email address (optional). You may also choose to add your frequent flyer number and to receive your booking details via SMS (which costs an additional R9).
There is a further option at this point to upgrade to a rebookable flight. More than half of travellers booking via SA Airlines choose to accept this offering which makes it possible for you to rebook your flight for another date up to 24 hours before departure and pay no penalty fees in order to do so. If you choose not to upgrade, any changes to the dates on your purchased tickets will be charged with the difference in ticket price and airline penalty fees will also apply.
Once you’ve entered all details and are happy to proceed, make sure that you take a moment to read through the SA-Airlines’ terms and conditions before clicking ‘Continue’. From there, all that will be left to do is to make your payment in whatever way you wish and VOILA. You’ll soon be jetting off on your holiday or business trip knowing that a google flight search to get you to our easy to use online search engine has just saved you oodles of boodle!