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Navigate to the Kulula website and it’s easy to see that there have been changes.

Here’s what the site used to look like:

And here’s the new look:

The most obvious change is that the booking engine is no longer a skyscraper, it’s now longer on the horizontal. This means that the flight booking engine takes up more space above the fold of the page, which is appropriate for an airline. The info about add-on products like credit cards, car hire, holiday packages and vouchers are now rightly receiving less screen-space. They have added a changing image banner below the booking engine, which grabs one’s attention, and gives the page a more modern feel to it than the relatively static old page had.

However, the change is not just to the look & feel, but under the hood there have been some significant changes. Kulula have changed to the Sabre system, flight extras can be purchased online (e.g. extra bags) and their e-ticketing system means that passengers only need produce their ID (or passport/drivers licence) at check-in.

From an operational point of view, Kulula wisely reduced their flights during the changeover period to help them cope, and also dropped all service fees through the contact centre during June.

Two negatives are that:

• Jetsetters no longer receive Kulula Moolah as a result of flights, the only way to accumulate Kulula Moolah in future is through spending on your Kulula credit card (great program by the way – both my partner and I use Kulula credit cards).
• There is no longer a Bargain Browza facility (this allowed browsers to see Kulula’s cheapest flight prices on each day of the month)

Whilst some things have changed I’m sure the important things will stay the same – excellent Kulula specials & their refreshing sense of humour.

The last 10 years in South Africa has seen a remarkable drop in the real cost of flight prices.  Airline prices are more or less the same in Rand terms as they were 10 years ago, but consumer price inflation has averaged 65%, meaning that in real terms the cost of a flight has fallen by about 65% – a massive drop. What makes the steady flight prices even more remarkable is that the price of oil (a major input into flight costs), has increased by some 300% over the last 10 years.

This economic miracle was brought about by the injection of competition in the form of low cost carriers, which cut costs to the bone and focused on fast turnaround times, coupled with the existence of 3 airlines which are willing to run at losses (the state-owned carriers).

Kulula got going in July 2001 and was joined by 1time in February 2004.  Intensifying competition saw Nationwide go into liquidation in 2008 and Interlink in 2010. Velvet Sky joined the fray in 2011 and went into liquidation a year later.

The airlines which remain are struggling financially.  If SAA were a private company it would have gone into liquidation as well; but itself, Mango & SA Express have the deep pockets of the government backing it.  It’s deeply ironic that a government which, on the one hand says it is batting for the poor, on the other hand puts so much effort into the ongoing subsidisation of the flights of the wealthy, and this is one of the structural factors which keep flight prices low in South Africa – the existence of a company which can go into bankruptcy unscathed.  However, this also drives private companies out of business, and this reduced competition in the long run isn’t good for the consumer.

I suspect that the financial struggle of the private airlines is going to be the catalyst for higher flight prices in South Africa – the 1time share is trading at a record low, and Comair (which runs the Kulula and British Airways brands in South Africa) posted its first loss in 50 years of operations.   Not only do I think that we’ve seen the end of the era of  cheap flights in South Africa, but also that we are going to see more and more innovations geared to make money out of the consumer.  We’ve seen this in Europe already, where if you check in luggage with the likes of Ryanair or easyJet you’ve got to pay extra, in fact if you check in physically as opposed to electronically you’ve got to pay more. There are also extra charges if you don’t use a specific credit card.

We’ve already seen the beginnings of this – flight prices this year are higher than last year, and we’ve already seen Kulula tighten up on its luggage requirements, and Mango introducing wifi (which you have to pay for).  Hold onto your seatbelts – nobody knows how high and how far the South African airlines are going to take us down this path.

Imagine winning R100 000 simply by completing a few “tasks” from a list, you’d do it, right? Well, if you think you can complete at least 4 of the following challenges in each heat, you have to enter the Mango Airline Bucket List competition:

Heat 1: 16 March 2012 – 31 May 2012

• Ride the Anaconda – Gold Reef City – JHB
• Uncover the Origins of Mankind – Cradle of Humankind – JHB
• Bungee Jump – Soweto Towers – JHB
• Explore the Dungeons – Castle of Good Hope – CPT
• Take a Hike – Lion’s Head – CPT
• Go to Jail – Tour Robben Island – CPT
• Take a Skycar Ride – Moses Mabhida Stadium – DBN
• Cage Dive with Sharks – Ushaka – DBN
• Rock Climb – Gateway – DBN
• Spot a Cheetah – Get spotted with a cheetah at the Bainsvlei Cheetah Experience – BFN
• Down a beer – Mystic Boer Pub – BFN
• Come Face to Face with a Mongoose – Take your picture with a mongoose while enjoying a day at the Free State National Botanical Gardens – BFN

Before you think you can complete all of them in your home town, look carefully at the list. You will notice that they have only picked 3 challenges from Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Bloemfontein. So you will have to fly somewhere to complete 4 tasks. This is of course a good thing, since your entry will only be valid if you have flown with Mango between the 2 heat dates.

To complete the first 4 challenges, you must have flown with Mango between 16 March 2012 and 31 May 2012. To complete the second 4 challenges, you must have flown with them between 17 August 2012 and 31 October 2012. You need to retain your ticket, so keep that in mind.

Let’s see, if I had to take part and money was no option, it is very likely that I would go for the more challenging tasks. I’d love to bungee jump off Soweto’s Orlando Towers! I’ve done the Gouritz Bridge, how scary can it be? Well….it actually looks pretty darn scary. At 100m high, this jump is about 30m higher and the fact that you are jumping from a building-like structure makes it even more interesting. No river to break your fall either, should something go wrong (which it won’t, of course!). Just some nice, cold, solid concrete to welcome you back to Earth. I’m totally up for it though, anyone want to sponsor a flight to Joburg? No?

Next up, I’d go and explore the Dungeons of the Castle of Good Hope. You might be thinking, how is that challenging in any way? Surely a hike up Lion’s Head is much more difficult physically; a visit to Robben Island will be very hard, emotionally, but a visit to the Dungeons will answer to your simplest child hood fears. Alone. In the dark. I promise you, you have never experienced darkness like this before and knowing about all the terrible suffering that took place here, well, I think I’ve pretty much set the mood for you.

For my next challenge, I will definitely go shark cage diving. I will be completely safe and there is no way that the sharks will even be able to have a tiny little bite. Maybe I’ll try poking one of them with a finger or a toe, to ramp up the danger factor; then again, that might not be such a good idea! Who wouldn’t want the chance to tell their grand children about the time they went swimming with huge sharks with row upon row of serrated teeth? Friends of mine did a shark cage dive near Kleinmond a while ago and to them it was a wonderful experience, more fascinating than scary.

The last challenge of the first heat will have to be a show down with a mongoose. Laugh if you want to, but if something is tough/stupid enough to catch and eat poisonous snakes, I’m afraid of it. Be careful when posing with one of these rascals, you might think he is cute as a button, but this tough little guy might just decide that you pose some kind of serious threat to its life and turn into a snake killing ninja, biting off the tip or your nose whilst trashing around like a crocodile! Oh, the humanity!

If you can’t afford to jet set across South Africa like this, you can always complete all 3 challenges in your home town and just fly to one other city to complete another one, it’s the perfect excuse to further explore our beautiful country. This competition is going to become very popular, Gareth Cliff (5fm) is doing it and you can follow his and the other entrants’ progress online.

Keep an eye out for Heat 2, which I will attempt to do on an imaginary, tight budget!

We are very excited to announce that as a big thank you for the enthusiasm shown by the South African market in taking up to local cruises, the MSC Opera will be sailing from South African shores for the 2012 / 2013 cruise season.

Whilst we will be sad to say good bye to the Melody, as she has become a firm friend of ours, it is wonderful to be able to offer the Cape Town clients, and of course the surrounding areas, an opportunity to experience the greater amenities on offer on the Sinfonia, as well as an expanded cruise schedule.

The Opera has both balcony cabins and balcony suites, which means more people can have a private outdoor area to sip their cocktail whilst enjoying the ocean views or sunsets. Heavenly!

The MSC Opera will arrive in Cape Town, South Africa for the first time ever on 19 November 2012 and will operate out of Durban from 22 November 2012 until early March 2013, taking over the popular Mozambique three and four night cruises from the MSC Sinfonia. The MSC Opera will thus be taking over the Sinfonia’s schedules and the Sinfonia will take over the Melody’s schedules

The introduction of the MSC Opera in the next season heralds a new level of cruising in the SA market as it boasts four restaurants, eleven themed bars & lounges, two pools, and two whirlpools. Glass walls form part of the decor in order to best exploit the fabulous ocean views.

Of course, children under 18 will continue to travel free on all MSC cruise ships, making this a great family get away. To cater for their tastes, the MSC Opera has a disco, video games room (with virtual reality games), internet café and the Buffalo Bill children’s play area.

For those planning a corporate get away for their organisation, it also features a high-tech vision sharing system, which will allow vision from any given source on the ship to be shared throughout the ship, or to specific lounges or public areas. Wi-fi Internet connection is available in all public areas.

If you have been hesitating about jumping onto the cruise bandwagon, you had better jump on feet-first, before you get left behind!

The mere mention of statistics is enough to put me to sleep. However, when it comes down to the difference between being late and on time, I tend to pay attention.
If you have ever spent so much time at an airport that you were able to forget your name, but remember every single item in all the shops, I feel your pain. Fortunately, to help minimise time at airports, ACSA recently released the on-time stats of local airlines.

So that you know how they worked it out, here is an extract from their website: “Airport operational efficiency is measured through different measures, with On-Time Performance being the primary internationally accepted standard. On-Time Performance is measured by comparing the actual off-block time (when aircraft pushes back) against the airline schedule time for a departing flight. The measurement is done in accordance with the IATA (International Airlines Transport Association) universal standard benchmark which considers a 15 minute deviation from the scheduled time as an on-time departure. The On-Time Performance of the airlines is averaged for a specific airport to produce On-Time Performance for the airport. This is bench marked against a target which is agreed upon by the airport stakeholders.”

So, if you want to be on time, your best bet would be SAA. If you don’t really care too much and don’t risk the dissolution of an important relationship, you can go with Kulula. The below is an average percentage based on the various airlines departing from Cape Town, OR Tambo and King Shaka International Airports.

If you really love duty free shopping and are always last on the plane, stumbling under the weight of all your bags, you should opt to depart from O.R. Tambo.

The below is an average percentage based on the flights departing on time from the various airports.

You can’t really choose from which airport you’d like to depart, but if money is no object, you are now armed with some good information as to which airlines to fly with. Sometimes it is worth the extra R300 to be on time, rather than miss a connecting flight, or even worse, your cruise! I fondly remember clients who were meant to catch the MSC Sinfonia cruise ship. They were in the unfortunate position of not only being late, but lost! In the end they found a police station and managed to get a police escort to the harbour!

If you are a bargain hunter like me and generally use search engines to find the cheapest flight out there, you will just have to take the risks of enjoying the delights of what the various airports have to offer.

To kick off your summer holiday you might be looking for cheap local flights. Velvet Sky airline might just be the answer. They are running “December specials” (which actually are also available on some dates after December, and are available only on some dates in December…but hopefully you’ll get luck and they’ll be there on your dates):

• Johannesburg to Durban from R343
• Johannesburg to Polokwane from R310
• Johannesburg to Cape Town from R529
• Durban to Port Elizabeth from R439
• Durban to Cape Town from R439
• Port Elizabeth to Cape Town from R439

Even on the dates when the special isn’t available I’ve noticed that Velvet Sky airline is often cheapest. You can book the flights by calling 0861-835-838 or at Velvet Sky reservations.

When I was younger, I always came up with the most ingenious ways of concealing alcohol.  Ah, the sneaky bottle of juice upended and refilled with a mix of vodka and orange juice, or the 2 litre Coke bottle emptied and refilled with brandy and coke.  The half jack of Old Brown Sherry stashed away in my girly handbag.

I’m not proud of it, but it happened.

Now that I am of a more respectable age, sneaking booze into places is mostly frowned upon by my peers.  Even letting someone find out that you are in fact just refilling the same, posh wine bottle with wine from a cheap 5 litre box, is enough to have you cast out into the shadows, away from the warming flicker of the braai.

Which leads me to the following question:  Why would people of a respectable age (like me) try to sneak alcohol onto a cruise ship?  If you can afford to go on a cruise, you can afford to buy the drinks on board.  Agreed, the prices are a tad on the expensive side and from experience, I can say that the cocktails are a bit lacking, but if you really want it, you can get it.  As long as you pay for it.  It is after all, a fancy cruise ship.  A massive, self-contained, floating village, if you like.  Nothing comes in, nothing goes out.  Except of course the passengers, but you get the idea.

When I went on a cruise in January this year, I noticed a lot of booze standing around when we were checking in.  Some people seriously thought they’d be able to take crates of beer with them on board, in their hand luggage!  It’s like turning up with a bag of McDonald’s at a 5 star hotel, who does that?

Royal Caribbean has said that, if they catch you trying to smuggle vodka onto the ship disguised as water, they will destroy it on the spot!  How exactly, I’m not sure (destruction by fire breather/toilet/bergie).   I do think they should give the passenger carrying the offensive liquor the option to consume it on the spot.  You will feel like hell the next day, but at least you wouldn’t feel like you wasted the money!

The funny thing is, if they catch you trying to sneak bottles of booze onto the ship in their original containers, they will still take it from you, but will return it to you after the cruise.  One of the lessons to learn here is, if you want to be sneaky, at least do so with a bit of integrity and keep it in its original container.

The real lesson is of course to NOT do it to begin with, you are sure to keep bumping into the person who stood behind you in the queue as your drinks were confiscated.  And you just know that they will be sitting at the same table for dinner!

I was on holiday in the south of France this month when I heard about “couch surfing” for the first time.  It’s the latest fad in travel, whereby instead of paying for hotels you stay at other people’s houses for free (yes,  there are many generous souls in this world).   Several of my French were offering up their places on the couch surfing website, but mostly men, and we had a lot of fun discussing their motives for doing so.  Especially when the men reluctantly agreed that they pretty much only allowed female couch surfers to come stay with them (when the males contact them, they just say they’re busy).

I’m not planning on giving up my family’s much-loved privacy, but for journalism’s sake I signed up to the Couch Surfing program.  The site offers the option of verification, whereby you can confirm your identity with a credit card and verify your location by letting them send snail mail to your postal address with a code which you then type into the website.   When people meet up they also do a write-up, and these are perhaps the most interesting ways of assessing them.

I did a search on folk who’re letting people sleep at their spots in Cape Town.  You can specify the age of your host, whether you want a male or female host (feels a bit like a dating service!) and whether they must have a photo.  In Cape Town you can choose from 489 hosts, including Gerhard who is verified, vouched for by others and has a 100% reply rate, and Natasha who’s “up for (almost) anything”.

London has expensive accommodation prices.  Well, next time I’m there instead of paying why not stay with Andrea, who tries to host as many people as she can.  Francisco says “Andrea is a great host! I was lucky because she happened to be free much of the time I was at her place, so she showed me around St. Albans. Also, I met some interesting people at her house and I eventually went dancing with a couple of her friends at the weekend.  The house was confortable, the atmosphere was great and I was able to relax at the end of very eventful days.  Simon, her husband, is a great bloke! He’s really great fun, too!”

The couch surfing site doesn’t restrict itself to accommodation – there are also events being organised.  I saw people wanting to share a car hire and expenses – “We want to rent a car for almost 3 weeks and make a trip round Western Cape visiting national parks and cities in this side of the world.  We would like to share a car and the trip with someone, it’s definitely much more fun! and it’s also cheaper for all of us.”  And a potluck in Worcester – “We are inviting you to a potluck at our house in Worcester on Sunday 2 October @ 12:00.  A potluck is a gathering of people where each person or group of people contributes a dish of food to be shared among the group. CouchSurfing events are always a good place to meet fellow CouchSurfers, get to know your community, meet travellers, make new friends and contacts and even meet possible future travel partners.”