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Life is too short to catch regular red-eye flights between Cape Town and Jozi.

Hopefully, the past two years or so have taught us that in-person meetings can be done over Zoom, and most meetings can actually be emails.

Basically, just email and save everyone a fortune, please, because flying between the two major business hubs is rapidly becoming an expensive nightmare.

This past weekend, reports City Press, there were no flights available between Cape Town and Jozi:

The situation is barely any better for travellers wishing to take the trip this week.

South African Airways has only one flight available for Tuesday and four flights for Wednesday – with the cheapest coming in at just over R5 000 for a one-way mid-week trip.

Popular domestic carriers Lift and FlySafair have zero seats available on this route until at least Saturday.

The only available flights for Tuesday are non-direct, with the cheapest costing just over R4 000 for a one-way ticket.

One-way tickets costing in excess of R4 000? Thanks, Comair.

We knew the demise of the aviation company which operated domestic British Airways flights and low-cost carrier Kulula (combined, that was roughly 40% of domestic airline capacity) was going to sting but those prices above are madness, if you can even find a ticket.

Earlier this month, SA Flyer editor Guy Leitch stated that “domestic air travellers should be prepared to pay three to four times more for their flight tickets”.

Looks like he was on the money and travellers must adjust accordingly:

Passengers are encouraged to book flights in advance as possible as the possibility of securing a last-minute seat is near impossible.

Missing your flight is also not an option as the shortage of flights is set to continue.

If you miss your flight, the chances of getting a seat after that are slim to none… [and] purchasing travel insurance is an important add-on in times like these.

Moneyweb rang the warning bell earlier this week but pointed out that airlines are getting an unfairly bad rap because the pricing is done via algorithms based on demand.

Do we even need to mention that fuel prices have also thrown us under (or perhaps onto) the proverbial bus?

Flights on Tuesday and Wednesday will cost R6 000 or more (on Lift or Airlink), while a return flight on SAA on Friday totals R5 600.

Because of the limited number of available seats, there aren’t really any cheaper near-term flights at ‘off peak’ times. This has dreadful consequences for those who need to travel at the last minute due to an emergency.

For those with the luxury of booking in advance, the damage is more manageable.

Moneyweb’s analysis (done on Sunday evening) showed that booking a return same-day flight around 10 days ahead of travelling costs between R2 264 (FlySafair) and R3 624 (CemAir).

If you book close to a month in advance, a return same-day flight with no checked baggage can be secured for just over R2 000 on FlySafair.

All the Vaalies flying down for a holiday in a few months may be fine, but business and emergency travel is going to sting.

[sources:citypress&moneyweb]