moondoggie

We're trying to choose airlines for a 2007 trip from the midwest to Nairobi. Our goal is to get an overnight to either Amsterdam or London, get a dayroom, and then overnight from there to Nairobi. We are willing to look at alternative US/Europe cities if that makes more sense, as we have already visited Europe on vacation. Cost is a consideration, but safety/comfort is also important--we generally fly coach. We are two couples, and have FF miles that we can use for at least over the pond and back.

Any airlines we should seek out, or any to avoid like the plague? Thanks so much

milepig

A bit more info will help here.

1. The "midwest" is a pretty big chunk of change, could you be a bit more specific? ORD obviously has lots of options, but NW out of MSP or DET as well as other cities also offer choices. What is your preferred city?

2. Which airline(s) are the FF miles on?

Billman27

you could fly Emirates? Nice connection, but again like above, what are your miles on?

moondoggie

We are from STL and MCI, and have several FF miles options, including Cap 1 Miles, which can be used on any airline. We also can fly separately to take advantage of FF miles--we aren't joined at the hip. Getting to MDW or ORD or MPS or even DCA or IAD is easy for us to make the hop across the pond.

I guess I am looking for advice on airlines that we have never flown on--those originating in countries other than the US.

Thanks to all.

mcrt

Since you are interested in going through LHR or AMS that pretty much points to BA or NW/KLM. Both are very good airlines. I have flown on BA when I go down to NBO. Many of my friends have flown the NW/KLM combo. If you do that you might switch to Kenya Airways when you leave AMS. They have a very new fleet of Boeing planes and are one of the biggest African airlines.

As Billman27 mentioned Emirates constantly gets good reviews and Dubia is a more exotic place to change planes. I know people that have done that as well.

One last option that is often the cheapest is using Ethiopian Arline. They also have a nice Boeing fleet and will be the first African airline with 787s.

milepig

Here are the nonstops from europe that I found:

From LHR:

BA65 10:15 am to 8:50 pm - if you want to do it all in one swoop you could connect from the United flight from ORD that arrives at 5:55 a.m. and I think there is one from IAD as well. Also, American and BA are options. Or, come in the day before and have a nice day/night in London, I'd stay at an airport hotel to avoid an early morning trip to LHR.

KQ105 (air Kenya) 8:00 pm - 6:30am.

If you're willing to make a stop there are many more options from both LHR and LGW

From AMS:

KL565 10:15 am - 8:50 pm. (this flight is codeshared all over the place, including NWA) AMS is a 20 minute train ride from Central station so you could easily spend the night downtown and have an easy trip to Schiphol in the morning.

KQ116 9:05 pm - 6:30 am.

It doesn't really matter if you're on award tickets, but I've always found LHR to be much less expensive to get to from the states than AMS.

Although you didn't mention it, I also checked FRA:

LH8296 1:50 am - 10:35 am

If you check any search engine for US airports - NBO many options pop up, almost all of them involving multiple airlines. I thought that maybe someone flew to NBO from a US airport, but I couldn't quickly find any nonstop flights.

uncertaintraveler

Portions of the post that previously appeared in this space have been deleted. I would provide you with a reason why, but doing so would likely be against the TOS.

milepig

hmm - define "direct" and "published"

I've usually seen the following:

non-stop means just that - no stop
one-stop (or two, etc.) means that you change flights (different numbers)
direct means that you are on the same flight number but that there is a stop (doesn't mean you don't change aircraft, but that a topic for another thread)

Using these definitions, I can find lots of one-stop flights from US gateways, but no direct flight with a single flight number.

bcmatt

A list of airlines serving NBO can be found here.

Other options through Europe if you want to look beyond LHR and AMS are SN Brussels and Swiss. IME Swiss are often good value to Africa.

uncertaintraveler

Portions of the post that previously appeared in this space have been deleted. I would provide you with a reason why, but doing so would likely be against the TOS.

milepig

Hadn't thought of Brussels. UA serves it from IAD as does AA from ORD. Also CO from EWR and AA and DL from JFK.

Brussels would be a great place to spend a night enroute. Central station is easily accessible by train from the airport and puts you a five minute walk away from the main tourist area. Sit in a cafe and have a Belgian beer, buy some chocolates, grab some Moules Frites for dinner. The next moring back on the train to the airport. Le Meridien has a hotel right at Central Station and several other options are close by. I just had a night at Le Meridien Brussles on Starwood points and had a great experience.

RichardInSF

Is there really much difference in coach between the major airlines? I would think the only thing that might matter is seat pitch. If that differs, I'd choose on that basis.

cj001f

If food+ drink service and IFE are of no concern there is little difference

I'd avoid LHR do to potential security issues.

erik123

If you are going on Safari you may also wish to check flight to Arusha in Tanzania - KLM flies there (aiport is called kilimanjaro). It's a day flight from Amsterdam (or used to be at least). An open jaw would also be an option as Arusha is only about 3-4 hours by car from Nairobi.

milepig

If you have elite status and can get into Economy Plus (E+) UA has the leg up here.

I've done some poking around on SeatGuru and virtually every airline that flies across the Atlantic has 31-32 inch pitch in Economy. BA does have World Traveller Plus, which has 38 inches, but that is booked into a separate class at a higher cost.

Every plane has some seats with more legroom in certain seats due to bulkheads, exit rows, etc. Use SeatGuru and pick wisely.

The IFE will vary widely, sometimes depending on which version of the exact same plane model is used that particular day. The UA 747's still have the old pull down the screen at the front of the cabin IFE and we all get to watch the same things. Their 777's and 767's all have individual screens with multiple channels but you can't control the feed. Other airlines have systems where you can stop and start the movies when you want to. SeatGure also has information on most of this.