Help and Information

Find information and get tips on how to use Flightmate.co.za. You will find the answers to most of your questions in the FAQ section, as well as contact information for Flightmate.co.za.

Information

Flightmate.co.za is a price comparison site that compares the price of tickets from over 1,000 online travel agencies, regular airlines and low-cost airlines. Finding cheap flights is fast, easy and it’s for free at Flightmate.co.za. When you find your ticket you purchase/book yourself directly with the airline or online travel agency. Flightmate.co.za does not sell flight tickets.

When you visit Flightmate.co.za you can find the cheapest and best trip to the destination of your choice. We can also help you find trips with multiple stops or which go via secondary airports. You can also use our unique search functions to search up to 15 destinations simultaneously and mix and match with our Price calendar, or put a price alert on your planned trip(s) for those dates you want to travel.

Flightmate.co.za is a product of Flightmate AB, Sweden. Since 2007, Svenska Flightmate, via the brand name Flygresor is Sweden’s biggest cheap flights comparison search engine. It is our ambition to be your local choice too. We want Flightmate to be the world’s most user-friendly and social search engine for cheap flights and your user experience means everything to us. We are always looking to improve our service, develop new, useful functions and offer trips from an airport near you. Travelling is something social and positive, and our aim is that the booking is too.

Search box

The easy-to-use Flightmate.co.za search box lets you search and compare prices on one-way flights and return flights.

Flightmate.co.za compares prices from all leading travel agencies who, in turn, provide tickets from over 800 regular airlines and 100 low-cost airlines spanning the globe. That is why you will find the cheapest and best alternatives for your trip at Flightmate.co.za.

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Filtered search results

By default, Flightmate.co.za lists search results in price order, with the lowest price on top. You can change the order of this information, for example by fastest travel time, or by best possible results, which means that you see the best combinations of travel time and price at the top.

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In addition to changing the sort order, you can also filter out unwanted search results. For example high prices, long transfer times, transfers on unwanted airports or trips that require a change of airports. You can also filter by payment method, travel agencies and airlines.

A useful tip if you are travelling long-haul; sort by “travel time” and use the “price filter” to filter out the most expensive flights, in order to search for a ticket that combines low price and short travel time.

Search result Price calendar

If you are flexible about departure and return date(s) use the Price calendar to find the cheapest date(s) to travel.

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PriceHunter

The PriceHunter enables you to search for prices and flights that other visitors have found. It is possible to search for cheap tickets over a longer time period, when you do not know the precise travel dates.

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Price Alert

Are you waiting for prices for a certain destination to fall? Let Flightmate.co.za help you by creating a watch list that automatically informs you via email when the price to a selected destination falls below a certain price.

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Climate change

How we rank CO2 emissions

Flightmate.co.za commissioned the world famous KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and Stockholm University to help develop a mathematical model to estimate C02 emissions produced by flights and a multitude of additional factors. With KTH’s help and expertise we hope to refine and develop the model and encourage others to contribute their data and research so that we can make it as accurate and as easy-to-understand as possible. Quite simply, we want to empower you to make informed decisions about the environmental consequences of flying. One very pleasing result from the study is that just because a flight is more expensive, it is does not automatically mean that it is better for the environment. It’s quite the opposite in many cases and means that even if you buy cheap flight tickets you can limit your environmental impact. But what you need to know is which cheap flight ticket you should buy.

The parameters

  • Fuel consumption on start, taxiing, take-off, flying at cruising altitude and approach.
  • Distance covered; an approximation of the actual distance, not just in a straight line.
  • If the aircraft is equipped with winglets (wingtips devices that control aircraft drag)
  • Increased effect of cloud formation when flying at high altitude
  • Seating configuration of relevant airline’s aircraft type on the route
  • Seat occupancy rate for the relevant airline
  • Carbon dioxide conversion factor to calculate the amount of CO2 per kg of aviation fuel

Impact of data quality

Data gathered from airlines, travel agencies and others is not always of the highest quality and we have used approximations based on relevant routes and airlines in this case. The airline and travel industry is improving at providing primary, real-time data and this will increase the quality of the calculations.

After analysing a huge amount of data on actual flight routes, aircraft types and configurations used on relevant routes, there exist approximated values on actual routes, airlines and aircraft types based on data being of deficient quality at the time of the user performing the search.

General conclusions

Fewer stopovers, more modern aircraft and more passengers per flight have less impact on the environment, as do airlines with modern fleets that configure their aircraft with more seats. But even a flight with an airline with older aircraft that is configured to carry more passengers, or is a direct flight, produces the same effect. You may think that this gets very complex and you would be right. That is why you should only use this tool for your planned trip to figure out the optimal conditions between your various travel options, based on airline, aircraft and actual route. This is why you should not arrive at the hasty conclusion that you should only ever choose one, particular airline. Instead you should take the whole picture into account when the model is applied in the search results.

Have a great trip!

You can download the full study (Master’s Thesis) from KTH and Stockholm University for more information. The thesis resulted in a paper published in Sustainable Environment Research in 2019. You can read the paper here.

Climate compensation

Our partner for Climate compensation is Go Climate Neutral.


Questions and answers

Why use Flightmate.co.za?

Many airlines and travel agencies claim they sell the cheapest tickets. By searching at Flightmate.co.za you can quickly and easily find out who is telling the truth.

Five excellent reasons why you should search for flights at Flightmate.co.za:

  • Flightmate.co.za works with all leading online travel agencies and airlines in our price comparison and provides the best price and ticket for your search.
  • Flightmate.co.za has several filters that enable you to quickly and easily find the best flights for you.
  • Flightmate.co.za show information when other travellers find the cheapest ticket, which may give you hint about when it is cheapest to travel.
  • Flightmate.co.za has price calendars for the 300 most common destinations showing you the cheapest prices month by month.
  • Flightmate.co.za has a Price calendar that helps you find prices, plus/minus three days, for your search, telling you if there are cheaper flights on nearby dates.

How do I find the cheapest tickets?

A general rule is that the earlier you book, the cheaper the flights. And the longer the trip, the earlier you need to book.

Flightmate.co.za provides several tools, such as the Price cutter and Price calendar, to help visitors find the cheapest flight.

Can you send me a quote for a trip

Flightmate.co.za does not sell anything and consequently, cannot provide quotes. Flightmate.co.za provides web services to enable you to compare prices from the cheapest airlines and online travel agencies.

Can I call anyone for help with booking a flight?

Flightmate.co.za is an online service through which you can search for the cheapest flight yourself. The prices are retrieved from the largest and cheapest airlines/travel agencies and apply when you make the booking yourself with each airline/travel agency. If you still require phone support, some online travel agencies provide a support phone number, but it commonly involves other prices than those shown at Flightmate.co.za

As Flightmate.co.za does not sell flight tickets, Flightmate.co.za is unable to provide phone support.

Om du har bokat men inte fått någon bokningsbekräftelse?

Om du inte har fått någon bokningsbekräftelse kan det bero på flera saker, det vanligaste är att du skrivit fel epostadress vid bokningen på resebyråns hemsida. Då kan du vända sig direkt till resebyrån där du köpt din flygbiljett och be dem skicka ut den på nytt.

Om du inte vet hos vilken resebyrå du köpt din biljett kan du kontrollera med den bank till vilken resebyrå du har betalat. Ett annat knep är att kolla webbläsarhistoriken på datorn eller mobiltelefonen där genomfört köpet. Då ser du vilken resebyrå-sida du varit på.

Kontaktinformation till aktiva resebyråer på flygresor.se hittar du här

Flightmate.co.za only provides flights for which you know the dates of both the departure and the return flight. If you would like another type of ticket, please contact the airline or travel agency to find a suitable solution.

Can I search for flights with stop-overs?

Flightmate.co.za only provides flights between two locations with no stop-overs. If you would like another type of ticket, please contact the airline or travel agency to find a suitable solution.

Can I bring my dog on the plane?

Flightmate.co.za does not sell flight tickets, but is a price comparison site that helps the visitor find the cheapest airline/travel agency. You need to contact the airline directly to find out about the rules regarding travelling with animals. The rules vary depending on airline and destination.

How much luggage can I bring?

Flightmate.co.za does not sell flight tickets, but is a price comparison site that helps the visitor find the cheapest airline/travel agency. Any questions concerning the flight and the booking must be addressed to the travel agency or airline with which you make the booking. The rules vary depending on the airline, the ticket and the destination.

I found a cheap flight yesterday, but it seems to be gone today. Will the price come back again?

Flightmate.co.za is a price comparison site with prices from different online travel agencies and airlines. Flightmate.co.za does not sell any flights or set any prices. Consequently, Flightmate.co.za cannot affect which flights are included in the price comparison. When you find a cheap ticket, you need to be quick to book it if you want to make sure you get it.

Why is it more expensive to book two tickets than one?

The reason is that airlines use a system of of different price/booking classes in which the price increases with each seat sold. For example, if there is only one seat available in the lower booking class (X) and you try to book two seats, most airlines will book both seats in the higher booking class (Y). So it may pay off to buy the two tickets separately (X + Y) instead of buying them together, but you also risk something going wrong or being unable to sit together. Some airlines or travel agencies give you an error message if you try to make a booking with seats in two different booking classes.

Why does the price not match when I click on a link to a travel agency?

When you perform a search at Flightmate.co.za, the travel agencies' and airlines' systems are searched in real time for the availability on the different GDSs. These are advanced and complex systems managing billions of flights and constantly changing prices so occasionally errors occur, but all parties involved are working to minimise them.

A common problem is when you are booking several tickets where there are insufficient seats in one price/booking class for all travellers (see question "Why is it more expensive to book two tickets than one?"). Sometimes prices may also be displayed for flights that just sold out or where someone made a reservation but has not yet paid. Keep in mind that prices of flights fluctuate with the dollar rate, supply, demand, airline and travel agency campaigns as well as a number of other factors.

How can a flight be available at Flightmate.co.za, when it is sold out at all travel agencies?

Most airlines sell their tickets through a so-called GDS (Amadeus, Sabre or Worldspan). The agencies have agreements with one or several GDSs and sell flights that are available at the GDS. If a flight sells out with one GDS, the flight will be sold out with all travel agencies that use that same GDS. In some cases, it may be that someone has reserved a ticket but not yet paid for it. If payment is not made in time, the ticket may become available again.

How do I change the date of my flight?

Most cheap flights cannot be cancelled or rebooked. The pre-requisite for buying a cheap flight is to know beforehand the travel date and that you cannot change this date after purchase. If you purchase a flight and need to rebook it, you can contact the online travel agency or airline you booked with to see if they can assist you in finding a solution. If you know beforehand that you may need to rebook your flight, you can buy a more expensive ”flex” ticket directly from the airline.

How do I cancel my ticket?

Most cheap flights cannot be cancelled or rebooked. If you purchase a flight and are unable to travel, you can contact the online travel agency or airline you booked with to see if they can assist you in finding a solution. If you know beforehand that you may have to cancel your flight, you can buy a more expensive ”flex” ticket directly from the airline.

Remember to review your insurance before booking your ticket, so that you know the conditions concerning travel cancellation. A simple travel insurance is commonly included in your home insurance policy or if you pay using a bank/credit card. There is also complementary and more comprehensive insurance available from the insurance company or online travel agency/airline when you book your ticket.

Will I receive a paper ticket?

Almost all airlines have switched to electronic tickets, which means that all the passenger information is stored in the airline's computer system and all you need to present at check-in is your passport and you will receive your boarding card. More and more airlines also provide an electronic check-in option at the airport, at home on your computer or via your mobile phone. All online travel agencies and airlines send a confirmation of your booking after you made it. If you have not received a confirmation, check if it was caught by your spam filter.

Can I check that my booking is made correctly?

Most online travel agencies and airlines book their tickets through a so-called GDS (Amadeus, Sabre or Worldspan). Based on which GDS is used, it is possible to check your booking on different sites:

Some low-cost airlines dot not use a GDS and their tickets/bookings can only be checked with each respective airline.

Can I trust the travel agencies participating in the price comparison at Flightmate.co.za?

Flightmate.co.za only works with major, well-known and professional travel agencies that have been in operation for a minimum of 12 months. Flightmate.co.za continuously stays updated about the market and participating travel agencies in order to help our visitors avoid unreliable operators. Please note that Flightmate.co.za in some instances show prices from foreign travel agencies that may have a lower service level or longer response time than local travel agencies. It is important for the customer to read all the information provided on those pages when booking.

Competition for customers is intense, which puts pressure on ticket prices. The flip side of this is that the service level at some travel agencies can be quite low. Pay attention when booking to ensure that you select the right service level, in case you need to contact the travel agency after booking.

Can I book flight tickets via Flightmate.co.za?

Flightmate.co.za is a search engine that only compares prices between different travel companies online. We sell no tickets ourselves.

What happens when I click “Select”?

When you click "Select", you leave Flightmate.co.za and go to the travel company that sells the ticket.

What is the age range for children's/youth tickets?

At Flightmate.co.za you can perform a search for children's ticket up to the age of 11, but the age limits may vary from one airline to another. Special bookings such as for adolescents or pensioners can be booked directly from the travel company.

Can I add assistance as an extra service?

Contact the travel company with which you booked to see whether any assistance is available.

Before I click “Select” do I know which travel company site I will be redirected to?

The travel company selling the flight is shown above the “Select” button.

What do I do if I did not receive or lost my confirmation email?

Contact the travel company that sold you the trip.

I did not receive confirmation of my booking, can you resend it?

Flightmate.co.za is a search engine and cannot track any bookings, please contact the travel company that you booked the tickets with.

Report missing airport

We’re constantly keeping up to date with all airports around the world, did you find an airport that did not show up? Write the iata code or airport name below and we will review it.

* One of following fields is mandatory

Airport name
Airport IATA code
IATA airport code is an identifier for airports, for example Arlanda has the airport code ARN

Contact travel agency

Flightmate.co.za is a service that helps users to find flight tickets, when you find a suitable ticket and click the link you're redirected to an travel agency where you can complete your payment.

Flightmate.co.za does not take responsibility for any ticket acquisitions, below you will find a list of travel agencies and contact information where you can turn if you have questions about payments and tickets.

Contact Flygresor.se

Flightmate.co.za does NOT sell flight tickets and CANNOT answer questions about bookings! Please contact the TRAVEL AGENCY or the AIRLINE that you booked with if you have any questions about your booking!

Click here if you'd like to contact a travel agency

Flightmate.co.za is owned and operated by Flightmate AB. If you would like get in contact with us, please send an email to: info@Flightmate.co.za

Flightmate AB
Drottninggatan 78
111 36 Stockholm
SWEDEN

Privacy policy

Topics

  • Introduction
  • The personal data we collect
  • What we do with your personal data
  • Sharing your personal data
  • Third party providers
  • Your rights
  • Data security
  • Contact information

Introduction

This website is operated by Flightmate AB, reg. no. 556694-7247, (“we”, “us” or “our”). We take data security and adherence to data protection legislation very seriously. This privacy policy explains how we collect, store, use and disclose any personal data we collect about you when you use this website, so whether you are new to our service or a long-time user, please do take the time to get to know our practices – and contact us if you have any questions.

The personal data we collect

Generally, the type of personal data we collect is the information that we use for the functionality of our website and its services. We also collect aggregated anonymized statistical data for the optimization of advertisements bought from trusted business partners. This includes information such as your IP address and your email address (where you provide it to us in exchange for a service).

We handle no so-called “special categories of personal data”.

What we do with your personal data

To be allowed to handle your personal data, the applicable data protection legislations obligate us to have a so-called “legal basis” for each of our purposes to process your personal data. For this reason, we have drafted the below table to show our legal basis for each of our purposes.

What we do (our purposes with handling your personal data) Our legal basis Storage time
Use of cookies to for example improve the usability of this website, provision of a personalized experience and for collecting usage statistics. We also use session cookies to improve the security of this website. Our legitimate interest to (i) improve our website, (ii) show you offers of interest to you, and (iii) have a secure service offering and website. If you don’t want us to store cookies on your computer, you may change the settings in your browser at any time. Depending on the type of cookie. No cookie is stored on your computer for more than 6 months from the time of your website visit. See below for more detailed storage times.
We may provide you with our Pricewatcher-service (email subscription) provided that you have requested such by submitting your email address on our website for this purpose. The service contains a recurring price update of the trip you are interested in, as well as travel related offers and news from us and our partners. Some of the recommendations are based on profiling on your behavior in relation to our emails. Fulfillment of contract. You may at any time end the service by unsubscribing in any of the emails. Until you decide to discontinue the service (end of contract).

In addition to the above, we undertake such day-to-day measures that are necessary for businesses providing services to consumers, such as book keeping, accounting and maintaining our website security. To the extent this is not mandatory under applicable laws, we undertake these measures based on our legitimate interest. We may also analyze our customers’ behavior in order to improve our websites and services on a general level. However, such analysis will use generalized or anonymized data on an aggregated level.

Sharing your personal data

We will only share your personal data where necessary for the purposes listed in this privacy policy. This may be to other companies within our company group, government authorities and our trusted business partners. We will also share your personal data with companies (so called “data processors”) needed to deliver the services you requested, such as suppliers and vendors that will handle your personal data when providing their services to us (for example external storage).

Your personal data may be processed in different locations around the world if the parties we share your personal data with reside in a country outside the EU/EEA. Our sharing of personal data outside the EU/EEA requires certain legal ground under applicable data protection legislation. Where a country is regarded by the European Commission to be a country with adequate level of protection for personal data, this will be our legal ground. Otherwise there are three main types of legal ground on which that we may base such sharing. These are:

  1. that the transfer is necessary for our performance of the contract with you;
  2. that the transfer will be based on the standard data protection clauses for transfer of personal data to countries outside of the EU/EEA adopted by the European Commission (a copy of these standard data protection clauses can be found at http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/international-transfers/transfer/); and
  3. the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, where the transfer is made to the United States and the recipient is duly certified.

Third party providers

Please note that our website contains links to other websites and serves content from third-party providers. This privacy policy only applies to our website and our services. When you follow links to other websites, or use third-party services and products, you should read their privacy policies. Also, if you choose to contact us via social media, this privacy policy does not apply to any personal data submitted by you as part of such contact – in such case, we recommend that you read the privacy policy of such social media provider.

Your rights

According to the applicable data protection legislation, you have certain rights as a so-called “data subject”. Below, we have listed your rights. Your rights include the following:

  1. Right to access – You are entitled to access the personal data that we handle. You are also entitled to receive certain information about what we do with the personal data. Such information is provided in this document.
  2. Right to rectification – Under certain circumstances, you are entitled to correct inaccurate personal data concerning you and to have incomplete personal data completed.
  3. Right to erasure – Under certain circumstances, you are entitled to have your personal data erased. This is the so-called “right to be forgotten”.
  4. Right to restriction of processing – Under certain circumstances, you are entitled to restrict how we use your personal data.
  5. Right to data portability – You are entitled to receive your personal data (or have your personal data directly transmitted to another data controller) in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format from us.
  6. Right to object – You are entitled to object to certain types of handling of personal data that we carry out. This applies to all our activities that are based on our “legitimate interest”.

Finally, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the applicable data protection supervisory authority.

Cookies

A cookie is a small text file that is stored on your computer, some only until you close down your browser (so-called “session cookies”) and some for an extended period of time (so-called “permanent cookies”). If you do not wish to allow storage of cookies on your computer, you can change the settings in your browser. Note, however, that in a few cases some of our website features may not function properly and some content may not be displayed correctly as a result.

This website uses cookies for a number of reasons, including for provision of a personalized experience, for improving the usability of this website and for collecting usage statistics. We also use session cookies to improve the security of this website.

In some cases when using cookies, we share data with third parties. For example, we use Google Analytics and Google Adwords, services which transmits website traffic data to Google servers. Google Analytics does not identify individual users and does not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. We use reports provided by Google to help us understand website traffic and webpage usage and optimize advertisements bought from Google’s own and other advertising network. Google may process the data in the manner described in Google's Privacy Policy and for the purposes set out above in this section. You can opt out of Google Analytics if you disable or refuse the cookie, disable JavaScript, or use the opt-out service provided by Google. To opt out of advertising features from Google use this link.

Our website also uses Facebook pixel, which collects anonymized aggregated data that helps us with optimization of ad purchases on Facebooks different platforms (including Instagram). Facebook collects a user id that will allow them to match if a user has visited a site with the Facebook pixel. We as advertisers can however never identify the behavior of a specific user. Facebook and its related platforms are in a closed advertising ecosystem where their users can regulate if they consent to advertisers using data collected from their websites to purchase ads on Facebook. To view and change your advertising settings on Facebook use this link.

Further, our website uses conversion tracking scripts and cookies from Microsoft Bing Tripadvisor and TvSquared (you can view their privacy policies by following the links). All these services collect aggregated statistical data that helps us optimize purchases of advertisements. We as advertisers cannot identify a single user using this data. You can turn of the use of cookies in your browser settings.

To be transparent, we have summarized the cookies used on this website here. For further information about cookies visit www.youronlinechoices.com.

Data security

In order to keep your personal data secure, we have implemented a number of technical and organizational security measures. For example, we maintain high levels of technical security in all systems (including traceability, disaster recovery, access limitations etc.). In addition, we have adopted policies to ensure that our employees (which of course are subject to confidentiality obligations) do not use personal data when it is not necessary. Such policies also set out our standards for when we contract suppliers, or introduce new IT systems within our operations.

Contact information

If you have any questions relating to our handling of your personal data or our use of cookies, or if you would like to invoke any of your rights under applicable data protection legislation, please send an e-mail to integritetspolicy@flygresor.se or use the details below.

Flightmate AB
Att: Privacy Manager
Flightmate AB
Drottninggatan 78
111 36 Stockholm
Sweden

Changes to the privacy policy

If we change how we handle your personal data or how we use cookies, we will promptly update this privacy policy and publish it on this website.

Last updated: 2018-05-24

End-user terms and conditions

End-user terms and conditions at Flightmate.co.za

These terms and conditions apply to the search tools (”Search services”) provided at the website www.Flightmate.co.za by Flightmate AB, 556694-7247. By using the search services you agree to these terms and conditions. If you do not agree to these terms and conditions, you shall immediately cease using the search services. Swedish law shall be applicable to these terms and conditions.

About Flightmate.co.za

The search services means that you, free of charge, can perform searches and price comparisons concerning the products and services provided by the travel companies working with Flightmate.co.za, such as flights and packages published by Flightmate.co.za. Flightmate.co.za does not sell any products or services on the site.

Any ordering of the travel companies' products and services shall be made directly with each travel company through the travel company's own website or other ordering service. Flightmate.co.za accepts no liability for your order, or use of any of the products or services provided by the travel company. Read more in “Liability, etc.” below.

Intellectual property rights, etc.

All intellectual property rights to Flightmate.co.za and the material (including text and pictures) contained on Flightmate.co.za belong to Svenska Flightmate AB and, when applicable, each travel company. The material shall be copied, distributed or in any other way be made available to the public, e.g. on another website, without the written consent of Flightmate AB.

Liability, etc.

Flightmate.co.za strives to provide current and updated information on the site regarding the travel companies' products and services. However, Flightmate.co.za cannot guarantee that the information about the travel companies' products and services published on the site is correct or updated.

Flightmate.co.za accepts no liability for the information about the travel companies' products and services, or any information published on each travel company's website or on other sites with links to or from Flightmate.co.za.

Flightmate AB accepts no liability for any losses, costs or damage incurred by using the search services, nor for any orders or purchases made by you concerning the travel companies' products or services.

The travel companies are liable for any customer relations between you and the travel company pertaining to your use of the search services.

Liability, etc.

For use of the services of a third party, such as Facebook, the terms and conditions of that party may also apply. For example, Facebook's "Statement of Rights and Responsibilities" apply to all users and visitors to Facebook and we recommend that you read those terms and conditions before using the services of such a third party.

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