Just thought I'd post this strategy for any of you making multiple trips to Africa within a year. Every now and then major airline ticket price discrepancies arise due to currency fluctuations.

Right now the Rand has weakened quite a bit against the dollar and a roundtrip flight from South Africa to the U.S. is quite a bit cheaper than a roundtrip flight from the U.S. to South Africa (Even though the airline and flights are the same).

As an example, Delta from ATL to JNB return in June is $2,350 in economy and $12,682 in business (I just picked random dates). The same ticket booked from JNB to ATL return is $1,854 in economy and $8,085 in business.

To use the strategy you will need to make at least two trips within a 365 day period or part of your ticket will expire.

Basically you fly one-way from the U.S. to South Africa (This is an excellent leg to use miles for a free ticket). Then you use the South Africa to U.S. round trip tickets for the rest of the flights realizing the savings.

As long as you are going to South Africa roughly once a year you can keep this going for a long time. Years ago I used this method when I was flying to New Zealand frequently and it saved me a ton of money.

I realize that there are not many people who this applies to but if you are making multiple trips the savings, particularly in business, can be huge.