Advice: WAS to LUN
 

Hi all,

I'm trying to make a trip for 2 to Lusaka from WAS around Aug 31 (could leave a day earlier) and departing September 9.

I have:
350k UR
18k UA
200k AA
106k US

I can't find anything using UR on *A with ANA. AA didn't show anything either.

I'm new to other alliances, so I'm not really sure how to best search for availability by transferring the points to Korean and using their partners. I called them and EK has 0 availability.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

We could also conceivably leave from NYC, but that doesn't seem to help.

Biz or Eco?

Flying Blue shows availability for IAD-AMS-NBO-LUN. I have no idea what KE's policy is regarding these flights, but DL would definitely be blocking the IAD-AMS flight. Plus, the fuel surcharges will be around 500/ticket at least.

Ethiopian has Biz availability leaving on 30th, connecting on 31st to LUN. That's about as good as it gets. All bookable on United - the award booking engine for dummies

If you want economy, it probably will require a European connection, which will force you to leave on the 29th to make that nonstop flight to LUN (on 31st) since it leaves in the morning. There is no availability on the 1st to LUN from ADD, although you can connect in JNB :)

Thanks.

I'd prefer business class because there are some pretty long flights in the itineraries I've seen.

The problem with Ethiopian is that if you select them on UA's website, it gives an error and says they're not available. Cross-checking them on ANA doesn't show any availability.

I'll try searching Flying Blue again; the last time I tried it said their tool was not available.

There's only 1 seat available unfortunately, which is the problem with UA. My fault for not double checking....no luck on the YYZ-ADD flight either.

There is KLM/KQ space - IAD-AMS-NBO-LUN, but I wouldn't do it because of the fees.

If you're willing to waste some time in transit, it's easy to leave on the night of the 29th - to ADD on 30th - ADD-LUN on 31st. Without much difficulty I found IAD-MUC-MXP-ADD-LUN. If you're willing to do something like that, there's a ton of availability.