The 12-minute flight

Seats on shared flights are sold individually, and the operator fills the remaining places with other passengers. The minimum applies to the departure: a shared flight operates once at least two passengers are booked in the same time slot. Booking a second seat yourself, or the whole helicopter, takes that condition out of the equation.

Yes, unless you book the aircraft privately. Shared flights are filled with other passengers up to the six seats, which is what keeps the per-person price down. Every operator also sells the helicopter exclusively; on the booking sites that is priced as extra seats, and how many depends on the operator, so it is worth pricing before you assume it is out of reach.

More on this: The three operators, side by side →

Yes, and it depends on the aircraft. The published per-seat limits run from 113 kg to 140 kg, with an average of 75 to 90 kg across all the seats — so a group is assessed as a whole, not one passenger at a time. Everyone is weighed discreetly at check-in, because the seating plan depends on it. If anyone in your party is near 120 kg, mention it when you book rather than on the day: it can decide which aircraft flies, and that is far easier to arrange in advance.

More on this: The three operators, side by side → · What to know before you book →

Thirty minutes before departure. Check-in, weighing and the safety briefing all happen before boarding, and a scenic flight runs to a slot — arrive late and it does not wait. Thirty minutes is the only check-in time any of the three publishes, and the safer assumption at all of them.

More on this: What to know before you book →

Yes. Every listing on this site cancels free up to 24 hours before departure, at all three operators and both booking sites. That is worth using: if the forecast turns, you move the booking yourself at no cost rather than hoping the flight goes ahead. Booking direct with an operator instead can mean a longer notice period and a non-refundable deposit.

A flight cancelled by the operator is refunded or moved to another slot — you are not charged for weather. What grounds a scenic flight over Cape Town is wind rather than rain, and the south-easter usually builds through the day, so a morning slot is both calmer and easier to rescue: if it is cancelled, there is still a day left to fly.

More on this: Season, wind and when to fly →

Yes, and there is no upper age limit. A child over two needs its own seat and counts as a passenger, both towards the two the flight needs and in the weight calculation. Under-twos can sometimes be carried differently depending on the aircraft, so ask the operator before booking rather than assuming a free seat.

East Pier Road at the V&A Waterfront — the far end of the road, past the Table Bay Hotel. All three operators fly from there. Sport Helicopters is the exception worth knowing about: it checks you in at its office on Quay 5 a few minutes away and takes you to the helipad from there, and that transfer is included in its listings.

More on this: Where the flights take off → · The three operators, side by side →

Usually because of the unit. NAC Helicopters prices some flights per group rather than per person, so a figure that looks doubled is for two people — every row on this site states the unit the seller uses and what it works out to per person. The rest is real difference: the operators charge different amounts for comparable routes, and a listing resold by an agency carries that agency’s margin on top.

More on this: What a flight costs, by length →

The morning. Cape Town’s south-easter — the wind locals call the Cape Doctor — blows from late August into March and is strongest in November, at the start of the main season. It is the usual reason a scenic flight is cancelled or cut short, and it typically builds through the day. An early slot is the calmer one and leaves the rest of the day free to rebook.

More on this: Season, wind and when to fly →

No. Every booking happens at GetYourGuide or Viator, under their terms and at their price. This site earns a commission if you book through one of the links, and the price you pay is the same either way. Nothing here is ranked by what it pays — the tables sort by price per person.

It is a real flight rather than a lap of the harbour: twelve minutes covers the City Bowl, Green Point Stadium and the Atlantic seaboard past Clifton, Camps Bay and the Twelve Apostles. What it does not reach is the peninsula — Cape Point, Chapman’s Peak and the False Bay side need 24 minutes or more. If those are what you came for, this is the wrong flight rather than a short version of the right one.

More on this: All six routes →

All three operators fly one and they cover much the same ground, so price and departure time decide it rather than the route. One caveat: Sport Helicopters sells its twelve minutes as a city flight, while the description on the same page names the coastline. Where a listing contradicts itself this site shows no route description for it, which is why one row here is shorter than the others.