Other Middle East and Africa Frequent Flyer Programs - Checking Award Availability on SAA Airlink

The old reliable ANA tool doesn't seem to work for most international destinations served by SAA Airlink .. It just says

*A reservation for the destination you requested is not available when using internet.(A_APT_13A_004A)

Any other way to check award availability online for these SAA Airlink flights ... specificially looking at JNB-TNR-JNB .. but seems to be for lots of other Airlink destinations like POL, BEW etc.

From the discussion in a different forum (regarding a M&M award on SAA Airlink) it appears that SAA Airlink flights are not bookable as *A redemption (anymore?) as they do not count as *A operated for this purpose. Maybe you can check with the SEN line?

Interesting - was that discussion you're referring to Jarino on the Miles and More board ?

It's BMI miles I'd be looking to spend this time .. unfortunately I don't think there's an equivalent of the SEN line that you can call for that to get a clear answer :)

It seems that some airlink flights do show up as bookable on the ANA .. e.g. NLA (Ndola in Zambia) is an Airlink destination and shows ok on the ANA tool.

I was referring to a discussion on a German frequent flyer website, with BMI you're lost anyway... ;) One more thing: SAA Airlink flights aren't allowed on the *A RTW, looks like a relationship comparable to SQ/Silk Air.

In order to find out a bit more for you, as a Voyager (SAA FFP) member, I tried to see if I could make an on-line booking to TNR (using Voyager miles) and TNR does not show on the list of on-line bookable destinations. Does that mean that you cant book an award seat at all, even using Voyager miles?:confused:

Some one on the BMI board posted that they had recently enough secured a booking on BMI miles on JNB-TNR ... have PM'd them for more info

The plot seems to thicken a bit alright!

Cheapest cash fare I can find for JNB-TNR is in G-Class on and it's about R5,200 all in

Just to update - JNB-TNR flights are bookable on BMI miles , availability is a bit tricky, okay in C class, next to impossible in Y and can only be checked by the BMI staff - but if you can find availability it is bookable no problem

Wirelessly posted (Blackberry8700c: BlackBerry9630/4.7.1.40 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)

That would be me :). Success to TNR but I had no way of checking avail ahead of time.

Just to update back for reference if anyone's interested

Eventually I was able to book a round trip for 2 of us from JNB-TNR-JNB (albeit it took 3 separate bookings to get the two of us accomodated on teh flights because of drip released availabiliy)

SAA Airlink flight from JNB-TNR is a long time to spend in an RJ85 - obviously ex Northwest as the logo is still on the bulkhead ... at least they config them only 5 across (in both cabins - no real difference in seats) ... flight was half empty in both directions ... it's about 2h45 flying time over .. and about 3h15 on the way back to JNB ... cold meal served in C class - quite okay catering in both directions. In both directions you can do "valet check" of your hand luggage as there's very limited stowage on board.

TNR airport is a bit chaotic on arrival .. on my arrival on a Friday we arrived just after an Air Madagascar flight from Paris so the visa queue was very slow (not very long mind you but it's awful inefficent) ... you get through in the end.. nothing to do but relax .. probably took 1h45 from touchdown to leaving in a taxi

Departing from TNR is much more civilised .. make sure you get your lounge invite at check-in .. the Air Mad lounge is surprisingly nice .. in fact it's lovely .. one of the best "little" lounges I've seen in a long time .. it's tiny but a real pleasant surprise given the rather low expectations I'd have had.