Ryu2

Hi all -- I am trying to look for a business class award on *A metal SFO-Tanzania. Round trip, 8-10 days in late July or early August.

I've been having great difficulty finding availability; is space really this hard to get (I know it's prime safari season) or am I just searching in the wrong places?

Besides trying JRO and DAR in the country, have also tried searching SFO-*A hubs like ZRH, IST, ADD that have service to Tanzania. No luck.

I've been using UA, NH, and Expertflyer. Should I give up or is there some other place/method I should be searching with?

Yoshi212

You're looking for a business class award seat in high demand & low frequency destination 30-60 days in advance. Most people that got those seats started 6+ months ago at least.

You might be able to get to another African gateway city such as NBO, ADD, ACC or even JNB and then find a cheap revenue ticket. Look at the airport wiki of where you eventually want to end up and look at the costs of flights to nearby destinations that service your final destination and then search for award availability to the gateways.

zeer0

Look at what availability looks like last minute right now. It should similar to what will be open a week out. I can personally assure you there will be SFO-ZRH space on LX, and most likely SFO-FRA/MUC on LH open about a week before. Try to see what availability is like from these cities to your African cities. Most likely there will also be availability opening up about a week before departure for those segments too. You could even add a short segments from there to IST, as Turkish has a ton of flights to Africa. For ADD, you could try LAX-DUB-ADD. That route seems to have a lot of space open AHEAD of time.

sbm12

That is a HUGE gamble across seasonality and such.

Unterwegs

It is true that seats often open up a few days before the flight. If you can plan for a stopover at the european hub for a few days you should most likely be able to find something for the outbound. But at that time you will most likely not find seats for the return. If you can get the outbound (with a stopover possibly) first and then when you are there look for a return (and don't mind beeing stuck for a few days) then you can take the gamble.

This is the main tourist season in europe both for the US and also for parts of Africa.

For my taste this would be too risky unless you are willing to buy last minute tickets if the gamble does not work.

zeer0

Not for the specific routes I mentioned. LX has 2 daily flights out of SFO-ZRH which I always see last minute availability for. Same thing from the SFO-FRA flight on LH. It's United that's a gamble even last minute. LAX-VIE also looks like a good route right now up to late July.

Ryu2

Thanks all!

How about SFO-IST on TK? Does anyone know whether that flight historically have space open up before departure? That would also be a good option as they have a direct flight to JRO. Right now I don't see any availability though.

dvs7310

I'd look at booking ET for now LAX-(DUB)-ADD-xxx and then change it later if something more desirable opens up. You're Plat so free changes. I'd be surprised if you can't find any dates when ET has availability, they tend to be fairly generous.

zeer0

Unfortunately not consistently, even last minute. If you want TK space, it's easier from the East coast. Even ahead of time there's a good chance you'll find space out of JFK/EWR/MIA/YYZ...etc. I've seen very little space out of SFO/LAX.

susiesan

Problem with looking for award space on ET is that since May 9 it disappeared from the UA award calendar and has never come back. People are saying it IS available but you have to call to book it. Others say it is no longer offered to be booked with UA miles. There doesn't seem to be anyway to check yourself what is there. I am going to Tanzania next year, to JRO, for a safari and am researching best way to get there on *A carries in J. Right now TK seems to have the most availability.

If you do find space on ET please report back even if you don't book it.

zeer0

Ahh I was wondering where it went when I checked yesterday. I've heard ANA also has a good *A partner award search tool, though I haven't used it personally.

MrAOK

When I went on a trip several years ago, on Star Alliance it was one heck of a lot easier to fly to Nairobi and then do something separate from Nairobi to Tanzania.

Something translates into, either paying for a flight between Nairobi and Tanzania, or taking one of the little tourist buses that pick up at a Nairobi hotel and do the 3 or 4 hour trip to Arusha.

At the time the best flight that actually flew to Tanzania was the KLM from Amsterdam (to Kilimanjaro), but that wasn't Star Alliance.

I ended up flying to Nairobi staying overnight and taking the tourist bus the next day and also came back through Nairobi. At the time the short flights between Tanzania and Kenya were pretty expensive.

RockyMntFlyer

Well, its not ideal, but close. I saw this business class availability on ANA's site. You could call United and feed the agent the specific flights and dates to see if they can book it.

You would only need to purchase a short ticket from LAX to SFO on the return.

Itinerary

Flight1
Jul 17 (Mon)
19:00 San Francisco
14:55 +1day Frankfurt
UA926 Flights operated by Star Alliance Member Airlines
744
Operated by United Airlines
Business OK

Flight2
Jul 18 (Tue)
22:05 Frankfurt
05:55 +1day Addis Ababa
ET707 Flights operated by Star Alliance Member Airlines
77L
Operated by Ethiopian Airlines
Business OK

Flight3
Jul 19 (Wed)
10:30 Addis Ababa
13:20 Dar Es Salaam
ET805 Flights operated by Star Alliance Member Airlines
738
Operated by Ethiopian Airlines
Business OK

Flight4
Jul 27 (Thu)
16:45 Dar Es Salaam
19:25 Addis Ababa
ET804 Flights operated by Star Alliance Member Airlines
763
Operated by Ethiopian Airlines
Business OK

Flight5
Jul 27 (Thu)
23:10 Addis Ababa
08:40 +1day Los Angeles
One-stop flight
ET504 Flights operated by Star Alliance Member Airlines
788
Operated by Ethiopian Airlines
Business OK

susiesan

People are reporting the bus between Nairobi and Arusha takes more like 5-6 hours including going through immigration at the TZ border.This would require getting a visa for Kenya in addition to Tanzania. The cost of the flight is $300 each way.