Airlink is an independent South African airline and one of only two carriers that fly directly from Cape Town, South Africa to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe (VFA). Victoria Falls was a must-see for us after a cruise ending in Cape Town, particularly since May is an excellent time to see the falls. However, we didn’t know anything about Airlink when we booked. Hopefully this Airlink Airlines Review is helpful to others in the same boat so you can Travel Wisely, Travel Well!
Why Airlink?
We chose Airlink for the flight (the other option is Kenya Airways), largely because of the timing. The Kenya Airways flight is in the afternoon, not arriving VFA until 5:20pm. Our Airlink flight left in the morning and landed at 12:40pm, allowing us time to get to the hotel, check-in, and relax before enjoying a sunset cruise on the Zambezi river. They also have the cutest Sunbird logo!
Plane and Seats
The flight was on an Embraer E190, with 2-2 seating in economy and two rows of business with 1-2 seating. We were taken to the plane via bus and boarded using an outside stairway. The seats were leather and quite comfortable, with pretty typical size and spacing for an Embraer. I enjoy these planes on shorter flights with the row just to me and my handsome husband, and the smaller size allows for quicker boarding and exiting.
Service
The flight was just under 3 hours and they served drinks and what they called a “sub lunch”. It was a boxed lunch, the box itself beautifully decorated with pictures of, you guessed it, sunbirds. I had roast beef, and my husband had turkey and they both came with pasta, salad, and a delicious dessert cheesecake. We were quite surprised and pleased with this meal service. The quality was great and the meal unexpected with a 9:45am departure. We’ve been on flights in the U.S. recently where we didn’t even have drink service on a 3 hour flight!
Booking
We couldn’t book this on points and made the cash booking for approximately $234 each (fare paid in South African Rand), directly online with Airlink. Several fares are offered and we opted for the lowest, Basic Sunbird. Since these fares aren’t refundable and we booked 6 months in advance, we made sure to pay with a Chase Sapphire Preferred card so we had Trip Interruption and Trip Cancellation insurance. There’s quite an increase in price for more flexible fares.
Practical Tips
We followed the instructions to arrive at the airport 3 hours in advance for an international flight. I thought this was awfully early but didn’t want to take any chances. I think 2 hours would have been fine.
The Airlink luggage allowance for this flight is one checked bag, limited to a typical 20kg, per person. Since we were coming from a long cruise, we had 3 bags to check and had to pay an extra $40. The fee was based on how much overweight we were in total (for the bags, not us!). It seemed pretty reasonable and I was afraid we’d have to pay a lot more! They also allow for a cabin bag of up to 8kg and an underseat bag. We were concerned we might have to juggle some things around since we had a heavy cabin bag, but they made no effort to check the weight.
As you can probably tell in this Airlink Airlines Review, we enjoyed our flight and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them, especially with the direct route from CPT to VFA. We’d also HIGHLY recommend a trip to Victoria Falls if you ever get the chance.
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