Early visa applications are vital
THE biggest issue at
the moment for South
Africans travelling to
Australia arises when they
don’t apply for visas on time
and are therefore unable to
travel when planned, says
Jean Bothma, director of
Visas To Australia.
He says it currently takes
45 days after the application
is received for a visitor
visa (Tourism stream) to be
issued, so travel consultants
need to advise clients to
submit applications two
months prior to travel.
Visas To Australia assists
with short-term visitor visas
for tourists, VFR travellers,
business visitors attending
meetings or conferences, as
well as sporting groups and
professional sports people.
Of the visas processed by
his company, he says about
90% are for VFR travellers.
Jean doesn’t work on longerstay visas or immigrations.
Qantas Airways is aware
that the Australian visa
processing time is averaging
45 days due to high volumes.
“We always recommend
agents and passengers to
apply for visas a minimum of
45 days prior to departure or
to apply for their visa before
making their flight bookings,”
says Lauren Egger, marketing
manager for Qantas in SA.
Priti Ramkissoon, coo of
Thompsons Travel, says the
delay with the Australian
visas has been stressful for
travellers and consultants.
“Thankfully we had sent
out a communication to
ensure timeous submission
of applications. Thus far we
have received all outstanding
visa grants for corporate and
leisure clients in time for their
departures.”
Jean says business visas
can take between two and
three weeks to process.
Urgent/compassionate
visas can be arranged only
in emergencies, such as a
death in the family or when a
family member is critically ill.
These visas take around five
days to get processed.
12-hour direct route to Oz
PEOPLE often comment on
how far away Australia is,
but in reality the flight from
JNB to SYD is only 11h45m,
says Lauren Egger of Qantas
Airways.
“Time is money/leave so
why would you not want to
get to your destination as
quickly as possible?”
In comparison, a flight to
the Middle East is eight
hours and then another 14
hours to Sydney. From SA to
Asia it is 10h30m and then
a further 7h40m to Sydney,
excluding the stopover time
between flights, she says.
“Currently we fly a Boeing
747 six days a week (daily
during peak periods) between
JNB and SYD and then on to
60 destinations in Australia.
Our Trans-Tasman offering
allows customers to connect
quickly to New Zealand via
Sydney and if the transit is
less than eight hours, no
Australian visa is required.”
All Qantas fares are multicity fares, Lauren advises.
These allow passengers to
add two extra Australian
stops on the same base
fare (conditions apply) – the
only additional cost will be
the applicable cities’ airport
taxes.
“This is a great way to
discover Australia for less
or allow passengers to see
Australia and New Zealand.
A further two Australian
cities can be added, making
it a total of five cities, at an
additional R1 000 each plus
taxes.”
For immigrations, Qantas
offers a one-way immigration
fare in economy class where
an additional 10kg is added
to the baggage allowance so
the total allowance becomes
40kg per adult/child instead
of the usual 30kg, Lauren
confirms.
“Finally, not only will
passengers experience the
warm Australian culture from
the moment they board, but
we also have a self-service
snack bar that stocks Tim
Tams.”
Mauritius – the dream stopover
GEOGRAPHICALLY, Mauritius
is ideally located to be
a preferred stopover
to Australia, says Air
Mauritius’s Carla da Silva.
“The flying times are
short – to Perth only 6h30m
from Mauritius – offering
passengers a pleasant
experience with short flying
times and a transit through
a world-class airport.”
On the return from Perth
to SA, Air Mauritius offers a
free stopover in Mauritius,
Carla adds. “Our flight
departs Perth conveniently
at 13h05 and arrives in
Mauritius at 17h45. We
also offer passengers a free
night in a four-star hotel
with dinner, breakfast and
airport transfers included.”
The following morning,
the flight departs at 09h15
arriving in JNB at 11h40.
“The free stopover is
hugely popular and assists
travellers with jetlag and
time zone adjustments.”
Air Mauritius flies to Perth
twice a week from Mauritius,
with an additional frequency
over peak periods.
The airline offers a
generous two-piece luggage
allowance to Perth per
passenger in economy and
business class, Carla says.
“Passengers may also elect
to take additional pieces of
luggage at a competitive fee
per piece.”
Air Mauritius is currently
offering an economy-class
fare of R11 530 and
business-class fare of
R27 300 on the route. This
is inclusive of taxes and
subject to availability and
currency fluctuations during
off-peak until November 30.
New SQ flights give good connections
SINGAPORE Airlines
(SQ) now offers ten
weekly flights between
Johannesburg and
Singapore, the increase
in capacity having taken
effect from March 31,
confirms Sally George.
“The three additional
flights depart from JNB at
22h30 on Wednesdays,
Fridays and Sundays,
arriving in Singapore at
14h55. This means the
flights connect well with
services to SQ’s Australian
destinations. Return
flights from Singapore to
Johannesburg depart on
the same days at 16h35,
arriving at 21h10.”
The airline operates a
daily service on SQ478 to
Cape Town (via JNB) and
SQ479 to Singapore (via
JNB).
Services into Australia
operated by SQ include
Perth (28 flights a week),
Sydney (35 flights a
week), Melbourne (32
flights a week), Brisbane
(28 flights a week) and
Adelaide (seven flights
a week). Partner airline,
SilkAir, operates five flights
a week to Cairns and six
flights a week to Darwin.
Scoot operates four flights
a week to Gold Coast.
For immigrations, SQ
offers competitive oneway fares, Sally says. The
baggage allowance for
economy is 30kg (35kg
for higher economy fares
booked in E, B and Y
class), 35kg for premium
economy and 40kg for
business class.
Singapore is a preferred
stopover, she believes,
because there are
affordable stopover
packages available from
R400 per person in a twin
room. “There are also
exciting tourist attractions
to visit such as Universal
Studios or Gardens by the
Bay and, of course, the
shopping.”
The 45 days advance
purchase lead-in market
fare starts from R11 290
(JNB via SIN to PER) and
R13 000 from JNB via SIN
to SYD (inclusive of all
taxes).
Book it!
Thompsons Holidays is promoting a five-night fly-in package to Brisbane from R21 743pps. The
Brisbane city package includes return flights with SAA from JNB to BNE including airline levies, car
hire and accommodation at the Ibis Brisbane. Travel dates are up until October 31, 2019 and the offer
ends on July 5.
