How best to secure reward travel YYZ-DAR, maybe on Turkish?
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Toronto
Programs: AC*50K
Posts: 137
How best to secure reward travel YYZ-DAR, maybe on Turkish?
Just over a year from now, I will need to fly round-trip from Toronto to Dar es Salaam. I'd like to try for reward seats in J. I have the necessary miles.
It looks as if the ideal option would be on Turkish, YYZ-IST-DAR. Fewest stops, good airline, shiny new airport for the connection. Maybe I'm dreaming, thinking I can get seats, but it can't hurt to try. Any advice would be welcome. Should I sign up as a Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles member and check their reward availability at the appropriate time? And/or are there other tools I should consider, apart from Aeroplan's search engine?
I ask in part because I'm rusty at this kind of strategy, and also because in playing around on the Aeroplan site with dates next spring, I never see TK's non-stop IST-DAR come up as an option.
Many thanks in advance for any wise words.
It looks as if the ideal option would be on Turkish, YYZ-IST-DAR. Fewest stops, good airline, shiny new airport for the connection. Maybe I'm dreaming, thinking I can get seats, but it can't hurt to try. Any advice would be welcome. Should I sign up as a Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles member and check their reward availability at the appropriate time? And/or are there other tools I should consider, apart from Aeroplan's search engine?
I ask in part because I'm rusty at this kind of strategy, and also because in playing around on the Aeroplan site with dates next spring, I never see TK's non-stop IST-DAR come up as an option.
Many thanks in advance for any wise words.
#2
Join Date: Mar 2019
Programs: Aeroplan
Posts: 99
Just over a year from now, I will need to fly round-trip from Toronto to Dar es Salaam. I'd like to try for reward seats in J. I have the necessary miles.
It looks as if the ideal option would be on Turkish, YYZ-IST-DAR. Fewest stops, good airline, shiny new airport for the connection. Maybe I'm dreaming, thinking I can get seats, but it can't hurt to try. Any advice would be welcome. Should I sign up as a Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles member and check their reward availability at the appropriate time? And/or are there other tools I should consider, apart from Aeroplan's search engine?
I ask in part because I'm rusty at this kind of strategy, and also because in playing around on the Aeroplan site with dates next spring, I never see TK's non-stop IST-DAR come up as an option.
Many thanks in advance for any wise words.
It looks as if the ideal option would be on Turkish, YYZ-IST-DAR. Fewest stops, good airline, shiny new airport for the connection. Maybe I'm dreaming, thinking I can get seats, but it can't hurt to try. Any advice would be welcome. Should I sign up as a Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles member and check their reward availability at the appropriate time? And/or are there other tools I should consider, apart from Aeroplan's search engine?
I ask in part because I'm rusty at this kind of strategy, and also because in playing around on the Aeroplan site with dates next spring, I never see TK's non-stop IST-DAR come up as an option.
Many thanks in advance for any wise words.
I'm seeing lots of direct TK for IST-DAR so I'm guessing the one you're seeing limited results for is actually TK YYZ-IST J. That *has* been very iffy - TK don't seem to be releasing much to Canadian cities. Might have to look though a US city: YYZ-BOS-IST-DAR looks promising.
Not as fashionable of course but ET would be the other obvious option YYZ-ADD-DAR on their new A350s.
EDIT: Grammer
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Toronto
Programs: AC*50K
Posts: 137
Thanks, and you're right about IST-DAR. I wasn't clear. If I use the Aeroplan site and try YYZ-DAR, I don't see the TK non-stop options. I do see them come up if I try IST-DAR instead. So I guess I should break the legs down like that, and when the time comes, if all the pieces align, I call Aeroplan and spoon feed the segments?
I appreciate the UA, connect-thru-US, and ET suggestions. I'll add those to the toolbox.
I appreciate the UA, connect-thru-US, and ET suggestions. I'll add those to the toolbox.
#4
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: YVR YLW PSP
Programs: SE 100K MM,UA Gold, Marriott Titanium,Hilton Diamond, Golden Circle Jade, National Exec Elite
Posts: 408
Thanks, and you're right about IST-DAR. I wasn't clear. If I use the Aeroplan site and try YYZ-DAR, I don't see the TK non-stop options. I do see them come up if I try IST-DAR instead. So I guess I should break the legs down like that, and when the time comes, if all the pieces align, I call Aeroplan and spoon feed the segments?
I appreciate the UA, connect-thru-US, and ET suggestions. I'll add those to the toolbox.
I appreciate the UA, connect-thru-US, and ET suggestions. I'll add those to the toolbox.
#5
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: YOW
Programs: AC-SE100K, AC-3MM, Marriott- LT Titanium, SPG RIP
Posts: 2,959
I just did this, in J, for 3 people.
We flew YYZ-GRU-JNB-DAR.... all widebody ie-flat except the last leg on SA .
If interested, you could also try to find YYZ-IAD-JNB-DAR.
We flew YYZ-GRU-JNB-DAR.... all widebody ie-flat except the last leg on SA .
If interested, you could also try to find YYZ-IAD-JNB-DAR.
#7
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: DXB
Programs: TK Elite Plus
Posts: 413
You may want to check ET also? Not as good in terms of service as AC or TK though. But non stop YYZ-ADD.
#8
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: YYZ
Programs: AC 50K, Marriott Lifetime Platinum
Posts: 1,551
For next summer, I just booked IAD-IST, 4 J seats. BOS-IST was also available. The AE agent could see 7 seats on that flight in J! Getting the connecting flight on AC from YYZ was easy.
#9
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Toronto
Programs: AC*50K
Posts: 137
Thanks all for the suggestions.
Wow. That's a long way to get there. I'd prefer to minimize connections. Did you want to stop over in GRU or JNB for some reason? And out of curiosity, how did you get that route? AE website search engine? Phone? Other?
Wow. That's a long way to get there. I'd prefer to minimize connections. Did you want to stop over in GRU or JNB for some reason? And out of curiosity, how did you get that route? AE website search engine? Phone? Other?
#10
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: YOW
Programs: AC-SE100K, AC-3MM, Marriott- LT Titanium, SPG RIP
Posts: 2,959
I know its a long way...but we wanted J and for 3 people.
The way i figured it, is that the routes through Europe have you travelling over 2 nights...first night overnight to Europe, then all day in Europe, and the 2nd night overnight flight to Africa. So we had a similar experience... Overnight to GRU (spent the day in GRU and organized a city tour) and then another overnight to JNB. As we were in J with lie-flats, we had great sleeps on both overnights.
I had to call in in to book that itinerary (at a $30 cost per ticket) and feed them the segments one by one. But managed to find J x 3 seats on each flight.
One of the issues i found with IST and some of the cnx through Europe was that some flights of 5-7 hours ended up being on a narrow-body aircraft with no lie-flats.
We took the same route home and spent 28 hours in JNB and got to look around the city... it was great!
SA has some very nice South African wines on board!