Award availability to Mauritius MRU with SA
Dec 20, 2013, 3:55 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: SVG
Posts: 1,172
Award availability to Mauritius MRU with SA
I have been looking at booking award travel to MRU with Star Alliance and it appears the only option is flying from JNB with SA.
I am looking for travel in September which I understand is not high season, but availability is very scarce on this segment, with the odd flight available on Thursday or Saturday typically. Ideally looking for business class, but economy will be fine
Is MRU a difficult destination for award travel? Does SA open up seats closer to travel? How far in advance do they typically make awards available?
I will be departing from Norway and atm the cheapest paid tickets I can find are USD1500 in economy, so any suggestions appreciated!
I am looking for travel in September which I understand is not high season, but availability is very scarce on this segment, with the odd flight available on Thursday or Saturday typically. Ideally looking for business class, but economy will be fine
Is MRU a difficult destination for award travel? Does SA open up seats closer to travel? How far in advance do they typically make awards available?
I will be departing from Norway and atm the cheapest paid tickets I can find are USD1500 in economy, so any suggestions appreciated!
Dec 20, 2013, 6:19 pm
#2
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: YVR - Vancouver, with most winter weekends in Whistler.
Programs: Aeroplan 35K, Alaska MVP, Marriott Titanium / Lifetime Platinum, Hertz President's Circle
Posts: 4,609
I personally did not have any issues redeeming in business for JNB-MRU and return. IT's the getting to JNB from Europe or the Americas that's the problem.
I think that this is the easiest African island to get to- Seychelles and Maldives are much harder on Star Alliance.
I think you just need to be flexible and plan your trip accordingly when there are seats available.
In my experience, they only released 2 business reward seats per flight (despite having 20 seats in the business cabin)
My two thousand-th post!
I think that this is the easiest African island to get to- Seychelles and Maldives are much harder on Star Alliance.
I think you just need to be flexible and plan your trip accordingly when there are seats available.
In my experience, they only released 2 business reward seats per flight (despite having 20 seats in the business cabin)
My two thousand-th post!
Dec 21, 2013, 11:47 am
#3
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: DEN
Programs: UA *G, Accor/Sofitel Gold, InterContinental Platinum
Posts: 462
I had no issues as well booking the JNB-MRU (and back) legs (traveled earlier this year). However, I just did a quick search on the ANA site and nothing at all available the entire month of September 2014 in either direction.
Seems odd. Have you tried calling? Sometimes the websites do not tell the whole story. Be prepared to quote the exact flights you need to the agent. And make sure all the other flights OSL-FRA-JNB (or wherever you are connecting through) have availability. From my ANA search it looked like their is availability in September for OSL-FRA or MUC or CAI-JNB.
Unfortunately, on *A I'm not aware of any other way to get to MRU.
Good luck.
Seems odd. Have you tried calling? Sometimes the websites do not tell the whole story. Be prepared to quote the exact flights you need to the agent. And make sure all the other flights OSL-FRA-JNB (or wherever you are connecting through) have availability. From my ANA search it looked like their is availability in September for OSL-FRA or MUC or CAI-JNB.
Unfortunately, on *A I'm not aware of any other way to get to MRU.
Good luck.
I personally did not have any issues redeeming in business for JNB-MRU and return. IT's the getting to JNB from Europe or the Americas that's the problem.
I think that this is the easiest African island to get to- Seychelles and Maldives are much harder on Star Alliance.
I think you just need to be flexible and plan your trip accordingly when there are seats available.
In my experience, they only released 2 business reward seats per flight (despite having 20 seats in the business cabin)
My two thousand-th post!
I think that this is the easiest African island to get to- Seychelles and Maldives are much harder on Star Alliance.
I think you just need to be flexible and plan your trip accordingly when there are seats available.
In my experience, they only released 2 business reward seats per flight (despite having 20 seats in the business cabin)
My two thousand-th post!
Dec 21, 2013, 12:11 pm
#4
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: DEN
Programs: UA *G, Accor/Sofitel Gold, InterContinental Platinum
Posts: 462
One more thing you may want to try (not ideal, but if you have no other options)...
Looks like there is decent award availability in September 2014 to SEZ (Seychelles). It all goes through ADD on Ethiopian. Looks like you could do: SVG-ARN-ADD-SEZ. Then buy a ticket on Air Seychelles for around $550 USD (check their website) to go round trip SEZ-MRU. The return could be (depending on your dates) SEZ-ADD-LHR-SVG.
You would need to play with the dates to get the best connections. Also Air Seychelles does not do SEZ-MRU every day (three days a week, I think, depending on the time of year).
Last resort if you cannot get JNB-MRU.
Good luck.
Looks like there is decent award availability in September 2014 to SEZ (Seychelles). It all goes through ADD on Ethiopian. Looks like you could do: SVG-ARN-ADD-SEZ. Then buy a ticket on Air Seychelles for around $550 USD (check their website) to go round trip SEZ-MRU. The return could be (depending on your dates) SEZ-ADD-LHR-SVG.
You would need to play with the dates to get the best connections. Also Air Seychelles does not do SEZ-MRU every day (three days a week, I think, depending on the time of year).
Last resort if you cannot get JNB-MRU.
Good luck.
