Efrem

I live in the US and need Africa for the OW continents bonus. I will be in London the last week in July. I'd like a cheap RT to someplace in Africa that weekend, leaving not before late pm Friday the 28th and returning in time to catch the 6:05 pm AA flight to Boston on Sunday the 30th. The cheapest I've found on BA is Cairo for $1000+ round trip, which would blow my target budget total for this promo. Does anyone have other ideas? Would Iberia to someplace like Casablanca via Madrid help?

By the way, I don't care if it's Heathrow or Gatwick, though if the return is to LGW it would have to be early enough to allow time for transit and still catch the AA flight.

All suggestions gratefully appreciated! (The eventual choice will be posted here.)

[edited to add the "By the way" paragraph]

[This message has been edited by Efrem (edited 07-06-2000).]

MRKEY

Efrem : Look at IB#3700/3701 MAD-CMR-MAD. tHEY ARE Iberia flights, just make sure they are not operated by Royal Air Maroc like mine was on the arrival flight. You should be able
to get a cheap LHR-MAD-LHR flight with no problem.

------------------
MRKEY

Efrem

Unfortunately, the Iberia site says its MAD-CMN flights are, as you experienced, Royal Air Maroc codeshares. It's that dang "op" tag on the flight info... (I didn't check that until after my original post.)

[edited to correct typo in airport code for Casablanca]

[This message has been edited by Efrem (edited 07-08-2000).]

sarecca

Efrem,
Try GB airways from LGW to CMN. It makes one stop in Spain. GREAT flight and it is eligible for OW promo as it is a BA subsidary

Efrem

Now you're talking! Booked at $570 for Friday evening departure, Sunday morning return, and I get to see Casablanca for a day too! (Had to change my return to Monday AM, but that was because the cheap seats were all gone on AA's Sunday flights back to JFK or BOS.) Thank you!

Five continents down. South America, here we come!

[This message has been edited by Efrem (edited 07-08-2000).]

fallinasleep

Not sure on the airfare, but when I checked Iberia, they also had a good deal to go to TUN (Tunis, Tunisia). Fare was less than $300 when I checked from MAD or BCN. However, there may be an advance purchase requirement.

Efrem

Good idea and thank you. I'm already committed to the above but it may help the next person. I checked fares out of curiosity. Because of my schedule constraints and popular BCN-TUN flights the best I could do was $1300, but on different days this could be the way to go!

Related question: any suggestions for hotels in Casablanca, a couple of price bumps cheaper than the Royal Mansour? (My travel agent has expensive tastes. I'm pretty low-maintenance.) Feel free to e-mail me privately if you think this is getting a tad off-topic.

MRKEY

Efrem: Try the Ibis hotel next to the train station in Casablanca and also in Marrakesh. It is priced at about $60 U.S. and has a good restarant and a great location to the major sites. It is clean and safe. I was there,as you know, last month.

------------------
MRKEY