Originally Posted by
ranles
..We are not stuck on the Star Alliance, just thought we might be able to use our mileage at least one direction for the business flight. We actually have a bit more mileage on Alaska. We are working on a cruise out of Amsterdam for next year too, so between the two trips we would like to get some "saver rates" if possible.
USA South Africa award can be hard to get. Many will involve via Eu or the middle east or Asia.
Cathay, Delta & Emirates are AS partners. But the AS award cost on EK increased dramatically no that long ago
The most expensive cash flight is likely to be to/from an airlines home base. A captive market and people do not look for alternatives.
Usually flying an airline that is not to/from home base will be cheaper.
examples'
EK NYC-DXB-JNB expect to be cheaper than SAA NYC-JNB (have not checked)
QR LHR-DOH-DXB expect to be cheaper than EK LHR-DXB
http://www.johannesburg-airport.com/flights.html
http://www.johannesburg-airport.com/airlines.html
http://www.airports.co.za/airports/o...rport/airlines
A technical stop is a stop for fuel. Not to embark or disembark passengers or cargo.