Club_IC

My next trip to Africa will be in December, and will include Botswana, Lesotho, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda over three weeks.

Suggestions for doing this most cost effectively are very welcome;-)

I have previously used Kenya Airways for travel between Jo'burg, Nairobi and Dar Es Salaam, and they seem to have quite a good network I can use. While I am concerned about the recent crash, generally they seem to have a good safety record.

However, Sky Team do not seem to have an Africa Pass, unlike Star Alliance.
Am I missing something?

On this occasion, unless I can get some good deals with either KQ (which seems very unlikely in December), I may have to consider using Star Alliance
for the intercontinental flight and buy the Star Alliance Africa Pass.

Has anyone used this Pass? Do you know in what class were the coupons issued? I do not want to change my travel plans and then discover I got less than 100% miles. Some of the SAA classes (T, V, L, W, G) will only earn 50% miles with bmi, and if I use Star Alliance for this trip, I want to maximise miles towards retaining Star Alliance gold status.

On some of the longer legs, I am also interested in more comfort. Does anyone know if KQ has got new business seats? The prices seem very expensive in December.

Thanks for your feedback.

Cris L

Skyteam doesn't, but KLM/KQ/NW have the KLM Passport to Africa:

Experience Africa. Our special package consists of 3 to 12 African flight coupons in combination with an intercontinental ticket of KLM, Northwest Airlines or Kenya Airways.

This is found under - Homepage: Special offers: Worldwide and regional packages

Club_IC

Thanks Cris - this is very useful. I will follow up with KLM.

The only downside is not being able to fly AF. The IFE is supposed to be better with KLM, but everything else seems to be better with AF;-) I also need to check the price differential between WBC and Affaires with AF.

The business class prices for KQ have gone crazy - perhaps it is because of holiday season or perhaps they have finally got modern business class seats and are looking for a return on investment.

Do you know if NW codeshares the intercontinental flights with KLM?

layz

Not just better IFE (except on 747 and M11 aircraft) but a better hub airport too. AMS is much more of a pleasure to transit through.
Without checking I'd say that there's a good chance that NW codeshares.

Cris L

And you would be wrong ! NW codeshares only on the KLM flights to AMS. That is according to the NW timetable.

Club_IC

Rules for Star Alliance Africa Pass (all flights with SAA)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Airpass is available in Economy Class only.
• The Airpass is available for travel within Africa only
• The Airpass is valid for travel from 10th April 2006.
• The Airpass is available to non-African residents.
• The Airpass is only available in conjunction with an intercontinental ticket to/from Africa on a Star Alliance member airline.
• All flights taken with your Star Alliance African Airpass will be with South African Airways.
• Eligible flights taken with your Star Alliance African Airpass will earn miles towards your nominated Star Alliance frequent flyer programme – so you can earn status much quicker.
• You must confirm your first coupon at the time of purchase. All other coupons can be booked at any time subject to availability.
• Minimum 4 sectors, maximum 10. Minimum mileage 750.

Advanced purchase: Reservations are required at least 7 days prior to departure.
• Booking class is V.
• Minimum stay: 3 days. Maximum stay: 2 months.
• Tickets can only be sold or ticketed outside South Africa before arrival.
• Cancellation fee: 25% of the fare.
• Changes: free of charge provided V class is available and ticket does not have to be reissued. The first sector cannot be changed.
• Baggage allowance: 20kg for adults and children, 10kg for infants.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
V class on SAA will only earn 0.5 * miles (at least on bmi), which is disappointing and no coupons can be upgraded to business class.

The other difficulty is that V class may have limited availability at certain times of year on certain routes. For example, I have been told there is no V class availability from JNB to Mauritius, which means I cannot visit a college friend who went back home to work in the family business;-(

The coupons themselves are quite good value for money (0.15 cent per mile), but the taxes can add up. I was given on example of a 6 coupon pass where the taxes were more than the coupons. On a 10 coupon pass - witha number of longer routes, the taxes were a small amount of the overall cost.

I hope this is useful to others.

Please let me know if you are interested in having two example routings with pricing posted for future reference.

hserus

Er, that's SA's africa airpass, not KL's - but otherwise, thanks for sharing. Would suggest KL, as KQ is rather cheaper than SA and has a denser network in some parts of africa.

NOLAnwGOLD

The best deal is to redeem NW miles for intra-Africa flights for 25,000 roundtrip. Most state that KQ availibility is wonderful.

Club_IC

Oops! Sorry about that - posted in the wrong place;-(

Coupons with KQ on KLM Passport for Africa range from 100 - 250 euro economy and 150 to 400 euro business class depending on routing.

Trying to work out route now and will then check the additional cost for taxes.

gohoward

KQ business class is second only to SA's on the continent; SKYTRAX rated their seats third best in the world two years ago. On medium- and long-hall routes it is a fully flat 6.5' bed with canopy. On domestic their seats are the more conventional cradle setup, but I have experienced 80" pitch on NBO-Mombasa flights.

Also, Simba lounge is excellent, but can only be accessed if you are flying internationally; the domestic concourse is separate.

Cris L

Having flown KQ several times in both classes, the service levels outshine KL/NW anyday. They are my carrier of choice.... but unfortunately I only go to South Africa once a year at the most !

ps - I am South African temporarily resident in the UK (OK so its been nearly 20 years now!)

Club_IC

For the last two years, I have been in South Africa at least twice a year, and this is likely to be the case for another two years.

I have only flown KQ from Joburg to Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. I have no complaints, although I will admit I was very concerned after the recent crash. That having been said, in general they seem to have a good safety record and weather seems to have been a major contributing factor to this incident.

tgv2

No, also on African flight^

PaulRO

Try the KE site and/or KLM's Kenyan site.

When I was doing a budget for loads of East African travel this summer, involving stays of 2-4 days in several capitals, I came across a sort of pass on the KE site. It was the best way to do the following cities, from points of view of finance and reliability! The downside is that it involves backtracking to the NBO hub and its gruesome immigration queues, but, hey, everything is relative.

I was looking at quick trips to LUS DAR EBB Kigali Bujumbura ADD MTM.

AND -- best advice of all if you have such ??s now and then -- is to join ClubAfrica, a special service run by a really cool and motivated team at KLM. It's a news and networking service for all their Africa pax. Lots of helpful inter-pax exchanges, country backgrounders, ticket specials, and it all helps KLM to get more seats occupied. Win-win.
You can link to it from most KLM home pages.

Club_IC

I have now found information on the KLM Passport for Africa pass, which essential provides the option of economy or business class travel on Kenya Airways within Africa, as long as it is purchased in association with an intercontinental ticket with either KLM, NWA or KQ.

Club Africa is a good idea. The only thing I cannot ifnd is information on the ticket specials you mentioned. Where is such information posted on the Club Africa site? Thanks for your feedback.