Direct flight to Maldives - Is it really better?

There has been much reporting and advertising around the 'direct' Air Seychelles flights between Johannesburg and Maldives with only a short technical layover in Seychelles. I had the privilege of experiencing this return flight and would like to share my flight and booking experience.

My entire package was booked through Priority Escapes - flight dates for travel at the end of June (coinciding with the school midterm break) were confirmed as early as January. I try to plan my trips well in advance to benefit from the best flight/accommodation options available before costs rise and availability wanes closer to peak travel periods (which for various reasons seemed even more exaggerated as we approached this South African winter '22). I'm sure many of you can identify with me and place a premium on reliability.

Towards the end of April, I rechecked the link to the online booking confirmation sent to me by Priority Escapes. To my surprise the flight dates had been changed without any prior notification and on the same online form that I had reviewed and signed earlier in the year. I have no idea when these changes were made. After having received no correspondence in this regard, I contacted the agent eight days later after which I received an email stating: ”please see the official communication attached which was going to be sent to you today to advise of the flight changes“ (Pure coincidence perhaps?)

The email further states that the agent only recently received notification of the flight cancellations and goes on to state that “we are at the hands of the airline, and this is beyond the control of Priority Escapes“

I fully understand that we’ve come through an uncertain couple of years. The concern here is if their website boldly advertises that ”Priority Escapes is currently the only travel operator offering this eight-hour flight via Air Seychelles, which cannot be booked with the airline by the public“, then it is only fair that they at the very least take responsibility and ownership of the blunders that follow.

Priority Escapes then presented me with a few alternatives. In summary I could either accept their revised dates or change to another airline at a significantly higher cost (to myself not the agent) at this 25th hour.

Amending the dates came at much inconvenience to my pre-planned work schedule and at the sacrifice of a day’s school, despite planning for midterm break 6 months in advance. The consumer was dealt 3 bad hands, with no cost to the agent whatsoever. The unrealistic price and/or travel duration differences left me with no option but to accede to their revised dates.

To their credit, the agents involved remained apologetic, polite and courteous at all times.

Moving to the flight then - yes it is considerably shorter than other available options. However, it’s a small A320neo aircraft with a 3-3 seating arrangement much like our domestic carriers, which is fine for a 2 hour Joburg-Cape Town flight, not so much for an additional 6 hours . Add to this the absence of an in-flight entertainment system. Well they do have a wireless entertainment system called ‘seyStream’, which is accessible through your own device. I unfortunately never managed to connect to anything more substantial than the flightpath. I am quite content sitting in a cramped seat doing nothing for 8 hours (in fact that’s where I had all the time to draft this reviewl), but the many kids on-board seemed to voice their difference of opinion for most of the 8 hours.

So after all of this it’s a choice between the shortest flight on an airline monopolised by one friendly agent versus a rather boring, uncomfortable trip on an airline with an unreliable schedule that is beyond the control of the same agent….

Despite this we were still able to enjoy a fantastic holiday. I certainly hope to repeat the experience, perhaps even with Priority Escapes BUT I’ll reconsider my route and be sure to look for conditions not stacked so heavily against the consumer. If you're a celebrity or influencer then you'll have a different booking experience of course as seems to be the trend.