Flight 11
BAH-DXB J9 (Jazeera Airways) A320
In the battle of the Middle East low-costs, Jazeera wins in many aspects.
Flying into DXB vs SHJ is a definite advantage, the service is friendlier, the aircraft comfortable with leather seating and reasonable food/drink prices.
Flight was uneventful, and arrived in DXB about 20 minutes behind schedule.
If I had a choice, I would fly Jazeera again over Air Arabia anyday. Try to catch one of their sales (which seems to be always on) and tickets cost next to nothing. Although I do see that lately they started to charge for luggage and change fees have gotten ridiculous.
From what I could tell, Jazeera Plus, the pseudo business class, was not worth the money, as it was coach seating with a small meal.
As this was an evening flight, I have no photos from this bit.
Flight 12
DXB-NBO KQ 767
Flight was supposed to depart at 2:35, but left just after 4am.
The SkyTeam lounge in Dubai was pretty bad, and I left it to use the Diners Club lounge, which at least had food, showers and a couch to snooze on.
Once on board, the seating arrangement on the 767 was 2-1-2, and I had 2C, the individual middle seat. After take off I hit the lie-flat button and went to sleep. The seat was excellent, truly flat, and very comfortable.
One thing KQ lacked on this particular flight was IFE, still a big screen in front of the cabin, waaay behind the times!
I asked to be woken up for breakfast, which was delicious scrambled eggs with sausages, just before arrival in Nairobi. I also found a nice amenity kit by my seat when I woke up, not as nice as EK's Bvulgari kit, but heaps better than the cheap looking one KL hands out.
Lie flats on KQ 767
Arrival at NBO
Next 7 weeks I would spend on an overland truck on an unforgettable journey across Africa with Intrepid Overland.
Map of journey
Flights 13/14
CPT-DXB-JFK EK 777/777
This was to be a 26 hour journey with Emirates in business.
As dreadful as a long journey is, Emirates made it go by relatively fast.
Ready to depart CPT
After 7 weeks of sunsets in Africa, this was my last one after departing CPT
We left Cape Town on time for the 9 hour journey to DXB.
Seat 7A
Dinner choices on this leg were Masala Ostrich Fillet, Stuffed Chicken Breast, Spinach tortellini, and Seafood peri-peri which I had.
Dinner while watching the Aussie classic "The Castle"
This was not a widescreen ICE-equipped aircraft, but it did have the lie-flat seats, which were quite comfortable, although a bit narrow.
ICE
7A fully flat
I had no neighbour in 7B, so it made getting out easy, unlike on the next flight when I had to step over a person to get out.
After 3 hours at the wonderful new EK business class lounge in Dubai, it was time for my 13 hour journey to JFK. I tried last minute to get onto the EK direct flight to Toronto on the A380, but there were no seats left in business (which means they fill over 70 J seats! on those flights)
As this was an 8:30am flight first was breakfast, for which I had delicious chocolate chip pancakes. There were various snacks mid flight including a delicious Beef Pie and Seafood Biryani. Lunch choices were Fillet Mignon, Kadhai Chicken, Poached Sea Bass, and a Seafood platter.
Appetizer
Main seafood platter
The whole 13 hour flight was pleasant, and the crew made sure we were comfortable, and were always around to help out. ICE wide-screen had more than enough entertainment.
Seat controls
The cabin was kept mostly dark so people could sleep. A lot of the passengers were connecting from somewhere else I would imagine.
I've flown DXB-EWR in coach before on MH many years ago, and must say, EK business was a much more pleasant journey
One more noteworthy thing was that there was
not a single person in First Class on either segment!!!
Flights 15/16
JFK-DTW-YYZ NW F/Y DC9/CRJ
This was the part of the journey I was dreading. It was much easier to find award space to Africa than it was for a simple JFK-YYZ leg.
The only choice was via ATL or via DTW.
After exiting customs, I learned I had to carry the bag upstairs to NW to check in, because it was in the same terminal. Check in was chaotic, I looked for a first class line, but there wasnt any, but I did find one helpful agent who checked me in. Next was security, and the insanity of the shoe carnival. Not once in Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia did I have a negative security experience. Not until JFK. I always dread connecting thru the USA.
The line was about a mile long, but luckily I snuck into the First Class security line, and only took about half an hour to get through. All for nothing because JFK-DTW was delayed a couple hours, which would mean I arrived into DTW with a half hour to spare for my YYZ connection. But never fear, that flight was an hour late as well. On top of that, my bag got left behind in DTW. All the other connections around the world, never a luggage issue, until the last leg!!
In conclusion, 120k for a business class ticket to Africa on EK/KL/KQ was miles well spent. It was relatively easy to find award space on EK using their own website, and all seats came back confirmed within a few minutes, sometimes even when I was still on the phone, and even though I had to wait 24 hours for official confirmation, it was a breeze.
Kudos to CO agents who were helpful in putting this together (although I did spoonfeed the flights) thru many schedule changes, and my changes as well.
None of the flights remained the same from the original booking 8 months out, and the record apparently was pages long, but it all worked out in the end.
Emirates lived up to my expectations, KLM, Qatar and Kenya surpassed them. The only negative experience was the NW debacle at the end of the journey.
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