Ramz

Hello I am planning two business class Aeroplan award tickets for our trip next OCT 2017 from YYZ, to Entebbe Uganda to spend 5 days there to hike up to the gorillas, then we are flying to the Seychelles. Also how soon do I need to book this?

Can anyone help on the best airline to get us there and if you were planning this trip which route would you take to get the best bang for your points. Thanks.

LondonElite

I think you have quite a bit of playing around with Aeroplan ahead of you. To get to Entebbe (EBB) on Star Alliance you'll have to go through Cairo, Addis Ababa, Johannesburg, or Istanbul (or maybe Brussels). So at least one stop somewhere from Toronto. To then get to SEZ on Star Alliance you'll have to backtrack to Addis Ababa or Istanbul (there are a few more options but I think you'll then have three flights to SEZ). Then you need to get home from SEZ. That's probably going to get expensive since it won't qualify as a stopover. As far as timing goes, start looking asap. SEZ is tricky!

Just had a quick look for you. TK has availability and RT business will cost you 300,000 to EBB. To get from EBB to SEZ on Ethiopian will cost you 160,000, butcher calendar has not been published that far out yet. So 460,000 total.

YOWgary

The particularly difficult part with multi-stop, award tickets to this part of Africa is that you can only connect through any one city twice; we are looking at a trip to Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania next year, and the main difficulty has been doing while only connecting through ADD twice.

rankourabu

I flew BRU EBB KGL this summer for the gorillas.
You can then go to SEZ via ADD, and continue home via IST

This should not be an issue as far as routing is concerned. No backtracking.

The BRU EBB flight was always open in business, up until departure

Ramz

Which airlines did you fly?

The Lev

Looks like Brussels, Ethiopian and Turkish.

Jasper2009

You should be able to book everything on one award as long as your routing isn't too indirect.

I'd aim for any of the following options:

YYZ-BRU(AC/SN)-EBB(SN)-ADD-SEZ(ET)-IST(TK)-YYZ(AC/TK)
YYZ-BRU(AC/SN)-EBB(SN)-ADD-SEZ(ET)-IST(TK)-Europe(TK)-YYZ
YYZ-BRU(AC/SN)-EBB(SN)-ADD-SEZ(ET)-VIE(OS)-YYZ
*note: VIE-SEZ will launch sometime next year afaik

Ramz

Thank you it looks like ADD to SEZ schedule is not out yet.

LondonElite

It's not, but you should try to play around on the website to see how your plan prices out using dummy dates ca 11 months from now.

Ramz

Thanks will do.

LondonElite

What you want to achieve (obviously) is pricing this as one award rather than two. Your ability to do so depends on the airports you go through and the resultant backtracking (or not).

rankourabu

Keep in mind that flying AC instead of SN on YYZ BRU will not only be a very inferior flying experience, but will also add hundreds of $ to the price, as well as a YUL connection

If you can get only TK, ET and SN, your fees will be q couple hundred instead of several hundred.

Ramz

SO you are saying stay away from AC if I want a better product and lower fees? also whats SN?

rankourabu

Exactly. If you fly AC on rewards , you will pay hundreds of dollars for a crappier product. Backwards reasoning.

SN is SN Brussels Airlines. an Aeroplan partner.

Ramz

Thanks will keep that in mind? How is SN business class product?