sdfamily

I'm trying to book some flights to Tanzania (JRO) using miles. I wanted to see if I was missing any other alternatives. Looking for 4 business (or 2 first and 2 business) coming from the West Coast of US. Ha

into JRO
-no chance of KLM via AMS
-not likely Ethiopian via IAD-ADD, Ethiopian from LAX-DUB-ADD would be double red eye
-not likely QR from DOH
-TK from IST arrives in middle of night and is 737

into DAR or NBO
-BA, LH, LX connecting through Europe all get in too late to transfer to JRO, so would have to overnight in either NBO or DAR
-connect in Middle East, overnight at DOH, DXB or AUH, daytime arrival into NBO/DAR and transfer to JRO, availability is scarce from West Coast, but I can get Emirates from DFW and Qatar from DFW, ORD, ATL, IAH
- Qatar would use American miles while Emirates would have fuel surcharges on JAL

Any other thoughts?

StartinSanDiego

This thread caught my interest because I'd like to know the options for a future trip, not because I have any tips. I assumed that I'd leave LAX and overnight in Europe, then continue with a connecting flight. I've done that before, and it went smoothly. I had booked LAX-FRA-JNB. We had an evening in FRA and then a bit of rest before continuing on the next morning.
I have an upcoming trip that is LAX-MAD-JNB-HKG-LAX on OneWorld. I'm thrilled to have found this award.

Of your choices, the DUB option looks interesting. You could sleep on both flights. There are lots of connections from JNB if that's an option for you For myself, I'd hate to have to double back up the planet to connect from JNB if going further north. Perhaps you share that sentiment.

I know there are less flights to NBO or JRO, but some cursory looking a month or two ago showed some decent choices on Star Alliance to NBO. Is there a reason that an EU layover isn't an option for you? Did you actually find saver space for 4? That might prove to be the deciding factor.

metoo

I have a flight booked on Qatar Biz class , LAX to DOH to JRO this month using my AA points. There is a forced overnight in DOH

tomanova

We flew QR from IAH with about 12 hours in Doha - we got a hotel near the souk and had a nice meal, walk around, and good night's sleep. DOH-JRO is on an A320 (or variant), a long flight on a narrow body. Check the triangular route with stops in ZNZ and JRO. Return had us in Doha for about 8 hours overnight, we stayed at the airport hotel, convenient sleep in a bed but I suggest you book that in advance. Coach flights were fine (not J, not horrible) - two weeks on safari and at the beach in Zanzibar were incredible!

cheltzel

An alternative on TK is to fly IST-NBO. It is on a 332. At worse an angled-flat seat and probably a full lie flat business seat. Arriving NBO around 02:00 and the first flight to JRO is 07:35 and to DAR is 06:50. Not a terrible connection (considering it will likely be a separate ticket).

sdfamily

I'm going to answer my own question.

Here's what we've got booked now. This is for July 2018, so I was getting nervous having nothing booked to the continent of Africa, much less Tanzania.

SAN-NRT-SIN (J) Japan Airlines - 4 people
a couple of days in Singapore
SIN-JNB (J) Singapore Airlines - 5 people
JNB-JRO-JNB paid via DAR/NBO on South African Airlines
JNB-LHR-PHL-SAN (J) British Airways - 5 people

I'm hoping to change the outbound to SAN-LAX-HKG-SIN and the return to JNB-LHR-SAN. These were the only flights to Africa that I could find that had this much availability. I found that amazing! Granted, we're paying the large $$$ taxes on BA, but it's only 75K AAdvantage miles. All other awards were more miles.

Although there was some availability to DOH from NBO and JNB, there were not 5 on the same flight and ZERO availability from DOH to any US city.