Mail & Guardian reporter
Consider the scenario: a New York society wedding, and two Johannesburg-based guests, but only one regularly reads Smart Money & Technology.
He’s expecting his round trip to New York to cost around R1 900. This will be less than half the price paid by his less well- informed friend, who did not read about South African Airways’s (SAA) Internet seat auctions in Smart Money last year.
SAA auctions seats on international and local flights that it expects would otherwise be left empty.
Would-be buyers have to log on to SAA’s auction site at and have a valid e-mail address and credit card.
Seat auctions only run for set periods of time, but you’re notified by e-mail if one opens. The site will send an e-mail alert if your bid is beaten. This does not mean you have to up your offer if there are more tickets than bids higher than yours.
There are restrictions, so read the small print. Bids cannot be withdrawn and the ticket price is automatically deducted from your credit card once the auction closes. So make sure you really want the seat.
There are no infant or child fares, tickets cannot be upgraded, nor can you change flight details. Highest bids always win, so if you’ve bid for multiple tickets you may end up only getting some of the seats you wanted. But yes, you can claim Voyager miles.