June 8, 2004 -- Flying to Africa isn't cheap. For many destinations, you'll be lucky if you find a fare under $1,000 -- especially to South Africa, the gorgeous diamond set at the bottom of the continent.
So we were heartened when we saw Iberia's (www.iberia.com) latest sale to Africa and the Middle East, for flights between Sept 1-Oct 31 and Dec. 15-31.
We generally take a skeptical eye to Iberia's sales, because they do a lot of baitin' and switchin', and have what may be the world's worst airline website. But we checked several routes and sets of dates, and these fares seem to hold up.
Iberia flies from 25 US gateways to Casablanca, Marrakesh, Tangier, Beirut, Dakar, Johannesburg, Cairo, Istanbul and Tel Aviv. While their fares are so-so for Istanbul and only pretty good for Tel Aviv, they're absolutely kickin' for flights to Dakar or Johannesburg.
One down side: all these trips will require a very long layover in Madrid, sometimes overnight. And if you're not flying from New York, Miami or Chicago, you'll have to change planes in one of those cities, too.
Here's their chart of fares, because you can't link to or bookmark anything on their site (all fares roundtrip, before $100 tax):
- Zone 1 is Casablanca, Marrakesh, and Tangier.
- Zone 2 is Beirut, Dakar, Malabo and Johannesburg.
- Middle East is Cairo, Istanbul and Tel Aviv.
Originating City | Zone 1 | Zone 2 | Middle East |
New York | $731 | $761 | $721 |
Miami | $791 | $821 | $781 |
Chicago | $901 | $831 | $811 |
Atlanta, Boston,Cleveland, Detroit, Orlando, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington D.C. | $761 | $791 | $751 |
St. Louis*, Houston*,Minneapolis*, Dallas*, New Orleans* | $811 | $841 | $801 |
Denver, Las Vegas, LA,Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle | $851 | $881 | $841 |
We found these fares available for October dates for flights from Miami and DC. For a flight from New York-Johannesburg, we found a slightly higher fare of $855 -- but that's still a great fare.
In our other searches, we found normal rates from Chicago-Johannesburg from $1,200 on up, and flights from Miami-Tel Aviv starting around $900. So these sale fares are very competitive indeed.
Book online at www.iberia.com.