tvisser

I have been searching United's site as well as the star alliance to find the best route to Kilimanjaro using miles in business class. I have called United 5 times and I get different answers each time I call regarding routes and if I can fly into Kilimanjaro. Can anyone help me with this or point me to where I can go to get the REAL information?

Thanks,

-t

star_world

I did this trip a couple of years ago. The best options I know of are to fly to NBO or DAR on one of several airlines (LH, TK, MS, EK) and take a separate local airline from there. I flew on Precision Air up to NBO from Kilimanjaro (took a bus down to Kilimanjaro - didn't want to repeat that experience!) and was very impressed. http://www.precisionairtz.com/

dsquared37

You would really be better off flying to an airport nearby and avoiding the mountain altogether while in the plane.

Pegasus23

Agreed!!!!! Especially if raining [s].

I drove from Mombasa 45 years ago in a VW. Jambo!

I think DL [KLM]flies the closest, JRO AP from AMS. Check with them & then look for the closest transfer to DL from *A. [probably AMS] JRO is 45 min drive to Moshi, the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

ASEFlyer

I don't think any *A fly direct to Kili. LH has a codeshare on Ethiopian, but I doubt that you will be able to book that with miles. Try searching for flights on continental.com, you can then do the mileage transfer to Onepass when you find a flight you like...but you will probably only be able to get to NBO, DAR, or Mombasa on a *A carrier. When I was looking last year, UA was giving me options through Cairo (not sure if this is an option at the moment) and through JNB (waaaaay out of the way, but within the acceptable mileage limits). Good luck!

gardener

You can fly to DAR on Star. LX goes there from ZRH. I flew Precision from DAR to JRO and took the bus back. Both very unpleasant. Would fly on Skyteam into JRO if did it again. KLM has nonstops from AMS.

choster

I'm sure he is referring to JRO, Kilimanjaro International Airport.

What is your actual destination? Arusha? Moshi? If Arusha, I would say your best bet is to fly to DAR and take Precision Air to ARK, which is far more convenient to the city than JRO. You can get to DAR on Swiss, EgyptAir, Turkish, or South African. Ethiopian, while not a Star member yet, has partnerships with a number of Star carriers. I think Qatar Airways is also an option.

There are no Star Alliance carriers into JRO either, but you may have additional options into NBO. Brussels Air flies to Kigali, from where you can connect to Rwandair.

westcoastbmx

I was there a couple of weeks ago. Swiss Air and Emirates fly into Dar. You earn EQM on Swiss though. We stayed in Dar for a couple of days then headed to Kil on Precision Air. The flight was very good. The airport is quite small and very convenient.

tvisser

All,

I appreciate your input so far. My route is from Denver and ultimately to Arusha for the first night stay. Then route back is the same. We are looking at leaving Denver on February 7th or 8th depending upon when they land into DAR. Then our safari starts on February 10th. We then fly back out on February 18th. A few questions are:

1. What time does the flight get into DAR
2. What time does the flight get into NBO
3. Looks like Pecision does not have all of the flights listed for my time frame so I will have to call them or am I reading it wrong

thanks

-t

tods27

These questions (1 & 2) are best answered by downloading the Star Alliance TravelDesk software from the Star Alliance website (http://www.staralliance.com/en/servi...and-downloads/). The flights don't go every day, so it will be a question of when you want to leave as to what flight you take (and which flight has NC availability)

kevinsac

We flew a combination of LH and SAA to NBO .... and then one of the small puddle-jumpers to Arusha.

kq747

Hi,
Native of Nairobi here so on behalf of the East Africans, Hamjambo! I would suggest flying to NBO or DAR then getting a flight to JRO.

There are a couple strictly star alliance options and MP partners options: Qatar would be my first choice via IAD/DOH (two daily flights to NBO with good connections on either Precision Airways or Fly540), Swiss has six flights a week so via ORD/ZRH would be my number two. The main issue you will have is that most flights arrive in the late afternoon/evening. Lastly, Ethiopian via IAD and ADD.
If you want to fly to JFK then theres also TK, EK (great choice but connections wont be ideal), LH (also from DEN actually...), and MS. The LX and TK flights are via NBO btw. I wouldnt recommend SA just because of the distance.
Hope this helps!

malloryweiss

Did this trip a couple of months ago, using a combination of CO, UA, TK, MS, and VS with an open jaw, stopover, and several layovers (see this post for my redemption experience). Used CO miles, so was able to redeem for VS upper class on the NBO-LHR and LHR-BOS segments. Now that you can transfer miles between UA and CO this is an option.

I also took the bus between Nairobi and Arusha/Moshi, and flew Precision Air JRO-NBO. It's easier to see Precision flights on the Kenya Airways website (as codeshare) then the Precision website.

flip927

When I found out 6 weeks ago my wife was going to JRO from SFO, I tried every which way on *A and there was no seats available either coach or business. The itin. for any *A flights if there was availability is horrific and you have to pay for the last flight on Precision Air. I ended up buying her a Delta(KLM) ticket from SFO as they fly into JRO from AMS.

tvisser

Thanks for your help everyone. I was able to get our flights in first class or business class depending upon the number of cabins. We are flying United to Frankfort and South African to JNB and then into Dar es Salaam. Basically the same route back as well. The desk top reservation tools from both Star Alliance and South African came in really handy to help. The only issue with booking miles and wanting to go first class is the number of seats that the airlines open up. They are really cutting back and trying to get the paying customer to pay for the high price seats. I appreciate everyone helping me with this and now we have a long wait until we go.

Vis