Vitality Travel does not necessarily offer the Best Travel Deals

Intro

I am not going to bore you with the detail but let me try and summarise my experience in purchasing return tickets from O.R. Tambo International (Johannesburg) to King Shaka International (Durban).

I made use of the following websites, portals/ Apps

• Vitality Travel (through my ‘Discovery Bank’ app)
• Google flights > 
• https://www.travelstart.co.za/ 

Below my findings

• I have 26,728 Discovery Miles. I could have converted half of these Discovery Miles to get a free return ticket to Durban. My dad is also on Discovery but he is not on Vitality. I therefore decided not to use any of my Discovery Miles.
• The 2nd option I had with Vitality was to buy a ticket using my 25% Vitality discount but the price was still higher than Google/ SAA.
• travelstart was the most expensive of the three. Not only more expensive but at Checkout I was asked if I wanted to book a seat. R210/ person, single way (one way) to book a seat. It costs R51 on Google/ SAA. Unreal!!!!!
• There are many flights from OR Tambo to Durban on a daily basis and prices change based on the time of day. On a Sunday afternoon the price on SAA can double if you depart around 5pm when compared to departing at 2pm…
• Both Googel and TravelStart display all the flights for the day you choose. In my case the best price I could find departing Joburg at arounf midday was on SAA on Google. I clicked that flight and from the Google page I was redirected to the SAA flight where I just had to follow the prompts, register and pay. Very simple.

Booking accommodation? I didn’t bother with Vitality Travel. I used https://www.booking.com/ I am really impressed with this website.

Is a Vitality Membership useful to have?

Definitely yes! I get a massive price reduction on my monthly Virgin Active Membership. Last year I had a 20% discount on my Garmin smart watch. This year I had 20% on Adidas and 50% off on Nike running shoes (at Sportsman’s Warehouse). Every month I get free smoothies and/ or hot drinks.

My recommendations

• Keep your Vitality Membership.
• Concerning travel and accommodation, search reputable websites such as https://www.booking.com, Google flights and https://www.travelstart.co.za/.

What is your experience on travel deals

You are welcome to share your experiences with us on travel deals.

Happy Travels!