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- Cathay Pacific will resume flights between Johannesburg and Hong Kong in August.
- To celebrate the resumption of this route, they're offering discounts on certain flights from August onwards, provided you book them soon.
- We found the deals to be competitive - with onward flights to Bali and Bangkok often cheaper than flying only to Hong Kong.
- For more travel stories, visit the News24 Life travel page.
Cathay Pacific recently announced it would resume direct flights between Johannesburg and Hong Kong after it pulled all direct flights between the two cities during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The flights will only resume in August this year, but the airline is already prompting passengers to take advantage of early-bird fares until 16 April.
If you book a ticket within the savings period and fly between August and November, Cathay Pacific is promising savings of up to 30%. And South African passengers who book on their "Travel Thursdays" can also earn an extra 2000 bonus miles using a special promo code.
Booking well in advance, an accompanying press release says, will also give you a pick of the best flights, hotels, and activities rather than settle for the pricey or unsuitable.
"For destinations like Hong Kong, where the best hotels and travel experiences tend to get snatched up fairly quickly, booking in advance gives you access to more options, and allows you to take your time and make the right booking decision," the press release says.
Flights will be in and out of Johannesburg on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. They leave Johannesburg late morning and arrive in Hong Kong at 6 am the next day. Return flights leave Hong Kong shortly before midnight and arrive in Johannesburg at 07:35.
Cathay Pacific will be selling these discounted tickets between Johannesburg and Hong Kong on its website and via agents - and the specials extend to onward destinations like Thailand and Bali.
Although the convenience of flying direct overnight is apparent, News24 also wanted to evaluate the competitiveness of the pricing.
If you aim to fly directly to Hong Kong and back, News24 found flights within the travel period for between R13 500 and R15 000 on Economy Light, depending on the exact date.
If you’d like a bit more flexibility, the option to include more bags, and a little extra legroom, you can upgrade this for between R2000 and R3000 more.
Surprisingly, we found cheaper flights if your onward destination is Thailand or Bali. Cathay is selling flights between Johannesburg and Bangkok for between R10 000 and R11 000 on the same dates.
We found flights from Johannesburg to Bali via Hong Kong for about R11 000 on similar dates in September.
How the fares compare
During our research, we found cheaper flights between Johannesburg and Hong Kong for similar dates onboard Singapore Airlines, with some fares as low as R12 734. However, these require layovers in Singapore of between one and three hours.
Flights to Bangkok are also competitive for those dates on competing airlines. However, in our checks, we found Cathay Pacific to be around R1600 cheaper, though with lengthy layovers in Hong Kong.
If your end destination is Bali, Cathay Pacific appears to be the cheapest and most convenient, with fares on competing airlines between R1000 and R3000 more.
These early-bird specials are only valid until 16 April 2023, and some additional details are available on a standalone South Africa page on the Cathay Pacific website. To check the veracity of the claims or compare schedules and layover times, it’s also worth evaluating all specials on a flight aggregator like Google Flights.
