ecuaqueso

I'm trying to book Intra-Africa tickets using Skymiles, which means, basically, Kenya Airways. I found availability in "classic" using Flying Blue, called Delta and... the person I got couldn't even see flights as extant between the city pairs I want. She was very friendly and did some fiddling around, and we found some availability on AF from LFW -> TNR via CDG, and a crazy routing on MEA that involved multiple overnight layovers and 100k miles, but nothing to ADD or anything on KQ at all, anywhere on any dates. Was this just a computer problem because I called late at night (great for short phone wait times, maybe not for availability), or does DL no longer have award space on KQ that corresponds to FB classic levels of availability? Has anyone successfully booked an award that has a KQ segment, or an award completely on KQ in 2015?

For reference, I'm looking to fly
ACC -> TNR (August 17 +- week)
TNR -> ADD (October 1 +- 2 days)
ADD -> LUN (October 28 +- 1 day)

355F1

Can't help you with your question but I know KQ has VERY reasonable prices to UG to Business Class. I paid $600 for NBO-AMS (10+hr flight) on a brand new 777 in November of last year.

They also applied mileage earned to my regular DL Skymiles account...as well as my FB account. No idea how or why but I got mileage in both programs for the KQ flights on my MR to Dubai.

bgriff

You will probably have to call a few times until you find an agent who knows how to do this, they don't see Kenya Airways awards very often. Someone on another thread trying to book a Garuda award reported they had to call 4 times. Calling during business hours when the most experienced agents will be working, preferably on a day when there's no major weather disruptions in the US (difficult lately), is your best bet.

NHFL9

I finally gave up last year. Tried 3-4x to book KQ flights with "O" showing available on ExpertFlyer and airfrance.us and Delta insisted that they couldn't see the availability. One agent even made the audacious claim that it was not possible to redeem miles on KQ. Another agent assured me she knew what she was doing because she had been able to successfully redeem miles for another passenger on KQ's "JFK to Accra route". Good luck

michael_v

I would also suggest telling them to "manually request seats".

BringBackTWA

Yes, I do have a couple of seats booked on KQ in J for August and September of this year between NBO and SEZ and back via a DL award. I did have to call back a few times, but this was due to the seats coming back as unconfirmed for the agents. If I remember well, I ultimately got it done through the International Reissue Desk (?) with a skilled agent. As a data point, I got this booked in December of last year.

RealHJ

More accurately and clearly, ask for long sell. That should usually get around the DL res dumbed down GUI limitations.

MSPeconomist

.....and hope that you have a phone agent who is able and willing to do a long sell.

hauteboy

I've been having problems with this as well.. Availability shows on ExpertFlyer and Airfrance, but Delta can't see anything. Even doing a long sell didn't work.

MSPeconomist

On some DL partners, to have a long sell work, you must start with nothing else on the PNR. Once the requested long sell segments are confirmed, you can add DL and other segments to get the trip you want. I've had to do this with KE award space.

RealHJ

Ah, that is an excellent and very helpful pointer!

Just curious, how recently (and would you happen to know why) did you need to do long-sell for KE? For KE it shouldn't be normally required.

I know it's been needed for HA, AZ, VN, and, may be, MU and/or CZ in the past, at various times.. but never heard of long-sell being needed for KE.

hauteboy

I know KQ has married segment issues, so wondering if that is part of the problem.

ecuaqueso

I waited a bit for the weather issues on the East Coast to clear up before trying again, and eventually got through to an agent today.

The short story is: it worked! KQ is definitely bookable over the phone, seemingly on any route that shows up on flying blue with classic availability.

Long story: Nothing was showing up for the agent at first, of course. I mentioned the "direct access" system someone messaged me about, which she said she was aware of. Then she said she couldn't see TNR (Madagascar) in the system at all. Then came some weird routing options through Paris, and then after I insisted that there should be a direct flight from Accra to Nairobi I was put on hold for about 10 minutes. Note that through all of this the woman I spoke with was professional, courteous, helpful, and willing to keep trying... she simply hadn't been asked for this sort of intra-africa routing before and it took a while.

When the agent came back, she had the correct flights available, waived the direct ticketing charge since these flights are not bookable on delta.com, and even requested a window seat for me.

I then asked to book the second segment once the first was completed, at which point she let me know that she can book multiple one-way awards on the same booking, so TNR-ADD-LUN is all on the same reservation and was MUCH faster now that she had the procedure down.

All told I was actively on the line with the agent for just under an hour, but I ended up getting almost $0.04 per mile for those flights, and got the exact travel dates I wanted. Thanks Delta!

hauteboy

good to hear! The flights I originally wanted to book a few weeks back are now gone so researching new dates... heading out of the country in 2 days so wanted to get this booked but with the weather backlog I doubt I'll be able to get through...

chris2323

Anyone had any luck recently? I check flying blue and plenty of award seats ROB-ACC, but I call Delta and they say they can't even pull up the flight to search. Tried a few other intra Africa routes and no dice