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in "entire flight" what do you mean ?

home to home ?... more than 24 hours
only the long flight ? about 11 hours
the long flight and the connection ? + 1-2 hours depend where start the long flight

Direct flight from Amsterdam to JHB is 10 hours and 50 minutes...
We are now booked via Dubai, Leave at 15.30, and arrive at 10.50 the next day. Which is quite a bit longer, but was also quite a bit cheaper.

Stark

I'm flying from J'burg to London Heathrow - non stop and it's 12 hrs. 25 mins.

From Washington DC to J'burg it's 16 hrs. 40 minutes - 1 hr stop in Dakar by SAA.

I start looking about 10 months out but usually end up booking about 5 months ahead. From Australia it is very limited. 'Direct' flights' (there are no direct flights for us!) from Perth or Sydney to JB are only operated by Qantas/SAA codeshare so the prices are HIGH! We usually end up paying US$2300-2400 to get us to Phalaborwa on one ticket from Adelaide. There are lots of much cheaper options via Asia or the middle east but I've 'been there done that' twice and the last time said NEVER again. The connections are horrible and you end up in transit for hours and hours not to mention the longer flying times. Oh to live in Perth......

to clarify: that's US$2300-2400 per person!!

about the same price for me from Swizerland
Geveva, via Francfurt, or Amsterdam, or Paris, or London... all the big towns around
a bit cheapper with Emirates, Turkish Air (no more Egyptair) but not on time to catch the connection to Upington = 2 nights

I usually like to book flights about 3 months in advance, but I didn't have that option when I booked my current tickets. I was worried that getting tickets 2 weeks before flying would put the prices WAY up, but it didn't

I even searched for flights departing between 6 months and a year from now and they all cost the same as what i've just paid. I found that pretty interesting.

Return flights London to Joburg via Dubai (very short stopver) for just under £500, booked just under two weeks before flying. The cheapest I could find were just under £400, but involved some pretty crazy connections and stopovers.

I don't mind the stop in Dubai, especially when it saves money Although this time i'll have just an hour to make my connection. If my flight is late leaving London, i'll get quite stuck...

For me, the most expensive part of a trip to South Africa is getting from the little Island where I live, to London to get an international flight. This can cost almost as much as the flight to SA

So the point is that you can definitely find cheaper fares without much planning ahead