I'm looking to get a redeption to join friends in NBO at the end of June (short notice, I know). It would be J (pref) or F. Starting point (though not necessarily for the redemption) is NCL.

Swiss have no availability on the dates I want outbound (but do thankfully have availability on the inbound - and only �60 tax if ITA is right).

The options appear to be SN, TK or MS.

I don't have much experience of these three, having only travelled shorthaul Y once each. TK would be on a 737 , and MS is... well, it's MS. I'm guessing SN is the best of a bad bunch? It would be an A330, and stops in Burundi.

It looks like I would end up with BCN*-BRU-BJM-NBO for 22,500 + �110 in gouges. (NCL-BRU-BJM-NBO would be 30,000 + �205.)

Anything I'm missing? I don't think I can go via the middle east or JNB.

My other options are to delve into the BA (or even Flying Blue) pots, but availability's not great there and I would rather wind down my DC balance.

Thanks in advance. Particularly interested in reassuring promises that SN J on the A330 is proper business class!

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*Or somewhere else I can get to from NCL.

This is where the old StarAlliance downloadable timetable would come in useful. Unfortunately the current version doesn't allow a destination list to be shown.

However, the PDF timetables do, and they do at least confirm that the options you've already found appear to be the only ones.
The only StarAlliance destinations served from NBO are:

NBO BRU SB
NBO CAI MS 29.41
NBO IST TK 50.92
NBO JNB SA 51.54
NBO ZRH LX 69.73

I note though that the SB flight from BRU isn't listed as having a stop.

Have you tried seaching for Swiss availability to MBA instead - just to see if it's a quirk of the system? I think this is the same flight that stops in NBO in case it somehow opens up availability when speaking to the ICC (a long shot though).

Also, LH have flights from NCL to DUS, though I'm not sure if you are looking to start your redemption from that zone or just because it's Newcastle?

Thread moved to the Star Alliance forum for a wider airing!

Thanks jbfield. It appears the SN flight only stops on the outbound; it's a triangular route, and operates BRU-XXX-NBO-BRU, with XXX changing by day.

The only reason I'm not starting from NCL is to avoid �90 worth of APD and benefit from reduced Z2-Z5 mileage. That said, the costs involved in getting to a starting point and staying overnight might eat that up anyway.

GC - I was rather hoping to tap the Diamond Club knowledgebase. Not sure how much the *A forum can assist in the intricacies of DC. (I look forward to being proved wrong though. )

Now this is interesting. Instead of looking in the StarAlliance timetable (1st May - 18th July 2010), I've done a quick search on ITA instead:
NCL-BRU
BRU-NCL
for a random date in June.

Seems there are direct bmi regional flights!

I note these are given in the drop down destination list on flybmi.com but searching doesn't give any results. You can get fares from brusselsairlines.com though.
Prices seem to be about �175 return, so more than the APD.

Have you looked for flights from NCL to CPH, ARN, OSL or MXP or maybe somewhere in Spain?

Yes - they're now operated by bmi for SN. A wetlease, I think. Not sure what the onboard service is (if any) but it beats the Avros they used to send. ^

I gave up on starting in Zone 2. Despite the vast saving (�90ish in taxes and 7,500 miles) I couldn't make it work. The cheapest flights out of NCL I could find were �65ish in EZ to BCN. Add in a night in a hotel somewhere (because the BRU-NBO is a dayflight), and you've easily wiped out any cash saving, just a few measly miles. And with all the ash about, there is the potential for significant stress with separate itineraries.

Various options of EDI-CPH, NCL-CPH, LHR-MXP, MAN-HEL might have worked, but didn't. I ended up biting the bullet and taking a straight NCL-BRU-NBO redemption.

Thanks for your help, anyway.

I think that is the best choice at the end of the day. ^
Congrats on the succesful redemption.