After reading jj_miller's disheartening post, what is the best route flying to Namibia? I am booked w/ Vaughan Fulton in 08 & I am starting planning my flight route. I hated SAA last time I flew to RSA. You can stuff the Airbus! I am flying out of SoCal.
I was thinking of flying to Munich, lay over a day or two & fly to Windhoek. I avoid JNB & break the flight up into roughly two 12hr trips?
thanks

Fred,

Take a look at Air Namibia from Germany to Namibia, and whomever they are usinig from Southern California to Europe.

jim

In just a little over a week, I and my wife will be flying to Namibia via Delta from Atlanta to Frankfurt and then Air Namibia to Windhoek. Our arrangements were made through Shawn Brigance of Gracy Travel.

I flew twice (and will fly again later this year) from Frankfurt to Windhoek with Air Namibia. Good service

We are also booked with Vaughan for 08. We will be flying Delta to Frankfurt and Air Namibia on to Windhoek.

Lufthansa is another choice to get to Frankfurt.

Oh please - no little boy pouting or complaining on the forum. You're going on a trip of a lifetime, so tough up for 2 days and get over it. This time we flew from the US to Frankfurt, and on to Windhoek, and it was good. Next trip might suck big time, who knows for sure? Enjoy the opportunity to go on the trip! If space is critical to your enjoyment, buy business or first class.

My first trip (2004) thru JNB to WDH was on a small turboprop, a 737, an AirBus 340-600, and another 737. All of them roomier than my tree stand I spend hours in. Never even noticed my tired butt, once I got to the hunting area.

This year's trip was on a 50 passenger CRJ, an AirBus 340-600, an AirBus 340-300, a 757, a 777, and another little regional jet. They all had something to like, and something to hate.

You're trying to plan for a trip a year in the future (2008), and who knows what planes and routes will be like then. Even if it is bad, just curl up, go to sleep, and wake up in the promised land.

I have done the trip on British Airways (747) through London and JNB couple of times and had no troubles.

I've also done the Frankfurt route. I too like to break up the travel into 2 segments. Its nice to get some ground time, stretch and do some sightseeing enroute.

Thanks for the input guys. Especially you Blank. It's not about pouting & it's not the trip of a lifetime. I see no reason to be crammed into cattle car in a fricking Airbusted for 23hrs, been there done that & can sell you the T-shirt. While I can & have done it, the wife isn't too keen on the idea. As far as planning a trip a year in advance, when do you "plan", the week before? Yes I know routes & airlines can change but fail to plan, plan to fail, works for me.
Thanks AK, but I've heard far too many bad stories from guys travleling through London, but the 747 is definetly the way to go. I think the Frankfurt route may be the way to go.

The Air Namibia flight from FRA to WDH is a breeze. Excellent seat pitch, good service. The counter service in FRA sucks, one agent for all those people. Due to a computer glitch(they said) I could not score my boarding pass from Lufthansa like some have done.

Lufthansa was not as good as Air Namibia!!

Dulcinea

Everybody has his likes and dislikes, the 747 from DC to Frankfurt was worse than the SAA flight from JFK to JNB. The Airbus back was nice!!
D

Our party took Delta through Atlanta to Frankfurt, connecting with Air Namibia to Windhoek. Everything went relatively well (considering the generally sorry state of airline service these days). Since Delta has a baggage agreement Air Namibia we didn't have to mess with our baggage and guns until we stepped off of the plane in Windhoek (where all arrived on time, complete, and in tact). By checking our carry-ons temporarily with the airport storage service, this allowed us total freedom in Frankfurt during the 12 hour layover.

My advice is DO NOT get a day room in Frankfurt as some travelers do. Spending the day sleeping in Frankfurt will only make it harder to adjust to the time difference. Instead, do whatever is necessary to sleep as much as possible on the U.S.-Frankfurt leg, then go out and about in Frankfurt and enjoy the scenery. We took the train downtown and ate sausages, drank the famous German beer, and shopped a little. We took the trian back to the airport in time to eat dinner then stand in the Air Namibia check-in line for the requisit amount of time.

Unfortunately, the Air Namibia in-flight service schedule is TOTALLY screwed. Just as we were getting to sleep at 11:30 PM the flight crew turned on the bright lights in order to pedal drinks and "duty free" crap (and every frggin' German and Italian on the plane bought two cartons of cigarettes). Then they served, for God Knows what reason, one of those army surplus MRE's that airlines are famous for at 1 AM in the morning. Had it not been for the "wonderful" in-flight service, we could have slept for six or eight hours solid. As it was, sleep was sporadic and fitful. Nonetheless, when we arrived in Windhoek at 7:30 AM it felt like 7:30 AM, and we were pumped and ready to go (especially after spotting eland from the airplane window on our approach to the Windhoek airport).

Had we taken the alternate route through JNB, my understanding is that we would have had to overnight there as the last plane for WDH leaves too close the the arrival from the U.S. to make the connection. I can't tell you about the expense of hotels and whatever red tape may be involved with your guns in transiting through S.Africa, but thankfully we avoided all of that and only had to deal with the reasonably friendly and simple procedure of the Namibian Police in checking our guns in and out of the country.

Our only travel hitch was that we failed to heed warnings NOT to put valuables in your checked baggage departing from WDH. One of our group had a video camera pilfered from his bag. Fortunately, he had removed the tape that had most of the hunting action on it and it was saved. In an ironic twist of luck, he had removed the battery from the camera as it was prone to getting switched on if left in place, so although the theives got the camera and battery charger, they failed to get the battery. Of course, the battery is a unique and difficult to obtain model, particularly in someplace like Namibia, so the camera is of essentially no value to them. But the incident just goes to show how insecure air transportation is. After all, if a baggage handler can spirit a video camera out of your baggage, he can just as readily place a bomb INTO your baggage. But I'm sure Al Qaeda would never think of this.

ON a related note: Hopefully some U.S.- based airline will soon figure out that they are flying the southern Africa route backward. Europeans have long recognized Namibia as an economical and high value vacationing spot, thus the steady traffic in direct flights from Europe to Windhoek. Americans are increasingly becoming aware of Namibia as a destination. Therefore it would make a lot of sense for an airline to fly from the U.S. East Coast to Windhoek FIRST, then on to JNB. This would make for a two hour shorter Transatlantic hop and largely do away with the uncertainty of having to divert to some hellhole like Dakar for a fuel stop. Carrying two hours less fuel would also allow the airline to fully load the plane, rather than purposfully leave baggage behind as SAA has recently been suspected of doing. And if your final destination is JNB, wouldn't you rather stop for fuel in Windhoek rather than any of the "iffier" alternatives? I think the route would be a winner -- maybe some airline exec will wake up and see the same thing.

Fred: Sorry, didn't mean to come off sounding condescending and trite. My bad! Result of too much overtime, being rushed and cranky when posting, and not re-reading before hitting "Post". I certainly plan very far ahead as you do, and am critical of all my arrangements, to eliminate problems with anything which I can control. That is half the fun of doing trips! We decided on the Frankfurt stop on the recommendations of our Namibian friends who do it all the time.

The Airbus is a very good plane, and quite efficient; quieter too. Much better than some of the aging 747 fleet, and you never know what equipment is working or not with them. We will be seeing more and more AB's going into service with other airlines, as the name of the air transportation game is profit, and fuel prices continue to rise. It is just that most of the seating pitch arrangement sucks because they're trying to get those extra 20 people on. As big as I am, I still found some of the arrangements on a couple flights comfortable.

Our trip over was on Lufthansa, and back was United. We lucked out and had good service and friendly staff both ways, but a friend came back recently and had poor service both ways with Lufthansa. The Air Namibia flights were both good, but their counter staff needs work. Calling some of them morons would be an up-grade.

I did like the break in Frankfurt, and got a day room for the wife to rest up, but the 10-11 hour break is too short for much touristy stuff. I think next time we will do a couple days sightseeing, as much as anything to really enjoy what Germany has to offer.

Hope your trip does work out to be the best.

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:...it would make a lot of sense for an airline to fly from the U.S. East Coast to Windhoek FIRST, then on to JNB. This would make for a two hour shorter Transatlantic hop and largely do away with the uncertainty of having to divert to some hellhole like Dakar for a fuel stop. Carrying two hours less fuel would also allow the airline to fully load the plane, rather than purposfully leave baggage behind...

BRILLIANT!

I'd be for that one!

does anyone know if Air Namibia is a frequent flyer partner with a U.S. airline?

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:
does anyone know if Air Namibia is a frequent flyer partner with a U.S. airline?

They are in the Star Alliance which includes United.

damn, wouldn't you know- all my miles are with American and Delta

We are having a running gun battle over the email lines with United Air Lines over frequent flyer miles right now. Seems they credited me with 4 out of 7 segments on my Namibia trip and my wife with only 3 of 7. They are insisting on Agent coupons, the complete itinerary, and all of the origninal boarding passes. Hello?????????
Who really keeps boarding passes after they arrive at their destination anyway? Got a total of 6000 miles for a round trip flight to Africa. Jeez, Delta in the past was much more generous and correct for actual mileage.

In the past Delta has asked me for the same items that United is asking you for. I always save our boarding pass stubs just for that reason.

Flying thru Frankfurt to WDH works really well for us. We normally fly Delta out of Atlanta and Air Namibia to WDH. The last time we flew that route the equipment was 747 out of FRA. By now they may fly the scarebus for both economic reasons and anti U.S. political sentiment. SAA is no longer dominated the German, Dutch and English influence in the Tech Operations and Flight Ops to the extent they once were. I really wish DAL would do their stopover in WDH as another poster indicated, either way I'm through with SAA and their scarebus.

quote:

Originally posted by Blank:
We are having a running gun battle over the email lines with United Air Lines over frequent flyer miles right now. Seems they credited me with 4 out of 7 segments on my Namibia trip and my wife with only 3 of 7. They are insisting on Agent coupons, the complete itinerary, and all of the origninal boarding passes. Hello?????????
Who really keeps boarding passes after they arrive at their destination anyway? Got a total of 6000 miles for a round trip flight to Africa. Jeez, Delta in the past was much more generous and correct for actual mileage.

i have run into this exact same problem before and learned long ago to keep stubs, itineries, ticket receipt, etc. until i get my next freg. flyer statement showing the proper credit. twice they tried to screw me and both times it didn't happen

Oh well, once burned - twice shy! In forty years of flying, this is the first time I have ever had a problem with freq flyer programs with any airline. Guess I'll learn from this, and start saving it all until credited correctly from now on.