I'm interested in hearing how you have been successful in using air miles to travel to Africa, I have been informed it is difficult to use air miles if your trip is longer than ten days. Mine will be closer to 30 days including hunting and touring. I will be going to Namibia and Zambia and I have loads of Alaska Air miles.

How did you do it? Alone, with Gracy, with Kathy. Other….

I used my Northwest miles in October to fly to Johannesburg. We were at the will of the airlines and had to extend our trip by 3 days. That was OK, I could spend a few extra days in Africa. That being said, we had several stops and layovers. Our trip home took 42 hours. Jberg to Paris to Detroit to Minneapolis and finally into Sioux City, Iowa. Next time I will pay the price fly as direct a route as possible, and try to upgrade to business class with the miles.

I used mine last summer to fly business class with no problem

Do it early, I usually try and book 10 months or more if possible. I have never had a problem getting first/biz class tickets using Alaska Miles with British Airways. I would recomend using a travel agent to make the arrangements. Gracy is my choice and have served me well.

I have used them to upgrade, Gracy handled it, they, (I'm sure Kathi as well), know when seats first become available under these programs and get you in line first, assuming you start soon enough. I think upgrading is easier than miles only, but don't truly know all the ins and outs.

For my information could someone tell me if their mileage plan is working differntly than mine on extended trip of 21-30 days during high season?

With the Alaska Air program that Jim was referring to in the past you could book your outgoing BA mileage seats as soon as they became available, hold those seats until the return seats became available and then book the whole thing. At present you can't book any mileage seats until both the outgoing and return seats are available which basically means that on a long trip the outgoing seats are taken by folks on short trips before the return mileage seats even become available for a long trip.

If another program offering service to Africa is easier to use I would very much like to be able to pass that on to my clients.

THX

Mark

Kathi handled a trip for me on miles. Plan as far ahead as possible, 11 months or so.

Kathi arranged my Fall of '09 trip from WY to J'Burg using Delta Frequent Flyer miles.

In 2006, I flew from WY to Zambia also using Delta FF miles.

If you use someone competant and plan far enough in advance (like 335 days), it does not seem to be a problem.

quote:

Originally posted by SBT:
If you use someone competant and plan far enough in advance (like 335 days), it does not seem to be a problem.

That's the key, I used Gracy travel but didn't book until 4 months prior to leaving so I didn't have any luck using miles. I still have enough miles for next year's trip though so it's all good.

If you are going to Zambia check out that thread I posted in the African Hunting forum about taking cold medicines into the country. We took Benadryl with us and I had no idea it was illegal.

I just booked a couple of weeks ago on Delta using miles and had no problems. Gracy was able to do it with no problem.

I HAVE ALL MY MILES IN THE UNITED AIRLINES PROGRAM. GRACY CANT SEEM TO HELP WITH THOSE UNFORTUNATELY AS IVE TRIED. I HAVE A GREAT LOCAL AGENT THOUGH THAT HAS BOOKED 6 TRIPS TO AFRICA USING THESE MILES. USUALLY IT INCLUDES LEGS ON LUFTHANSA GOING THROUGH FRANKFURT. IF YOU WANT BUSINESS OR FIRST CLASS THEY NEED TO BE ON THE BALL EXACTLY 11 MONTHS PRIOR TO YOUR RETURN DATE (NOT DEPARTURE DATE) THEY THEN TRY AND GET YOU YOUR DEPARTURE AS WELL. SOMETIMES IT TAKES THEM MANY DAYS OF TRYING TO GET IT ALL FIRMED UP.THE US-FRANKFURT LEG IS THE HARD ONE,AND THE FRANKFURT TO JO-BURG,HARARI,ETC IS MUCH EASIER.COACH SHOULD BE NO PROBLEM.BUSINESS IS USUALLY PRETTY EASY TOO.THE LAST COUPLE TRIPS WE WENT FIRST AND IT TAKES SOME FLEXIBILITY ON YOUR AND YOUR OUTFITTERS PART AS THEY ONLY USUALLY OPEN TWO PER FLIGHT FOR MILES.(UNLESS ITS THE LAST MINUTE) AND YOU MAY HAVE TO TWEAK YOUR ITINERARY A BIT. WELL WORTH IT THOUGH IF YOU CAN. WORK WITH AN AGENT YOU KNOW AND TRUST AND IF HE OR SHE DOES THEIR JOB YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO MAKE IT HAPPEN,BUT,PLAN WAY AHEAD!!

I will echo Charles_Helm's comment, that is, plan as far ahead as possible. I've used Northwest miles twice going to RSA, once to upgrade two paid coach tickets to business class and once to get two business class seats outright for miles. Both times Kathi Klimes handled the transaction but did it on the first day that seats came available (I want to say it was 300 to 360 days in advance). You may have to adjust your itinerary a bit, but it shouldn't become a 3 or 4 leg deal.

In 2005 I used Delta miles for 2 tickets from Anchorage to Windhoek via Delta and SAA. I booked everything myself and didn't have a bit of a problem. The flights were booked in April and we went in September.

booked 8 trips to Africa myself- 1 with Am Airlines partners and 6 with Delta/partners. never paid a dime, never booked more than 9 months in advance and all were business or first class. the key to success is travel date flexibility and being willing to accept 10-12 hour layovers here and there.. same situation on a first class ticket on Quantas to New Caledonia. did i mind a 36 hour layover in Sydney? NOT AT ALL!!

Chuck,

I'm surprised to hear that Gracy couldn't help you book with United miles. In 2007 I used my United miles to book a coach seat to and from Namibia. Gracy handled the transaction for a fee. Did they tell you where the problem arose?

Do to a change in Alaska Airlines mileage redemption policy Sadie, both my clients and your truly will be going to Mozambique/Botswana business class in Sept '09. Yes-s-s-s-s!

Mark

sdirks; I talked to them at the SCI show and they said they could do more than my local agent has done and did not have any special arrangements that could help on United.

I've had problems using the United Miles as well as there was never anything available. I scrapped the idea and have been using the miles on the domestic side for my hunts.

I'm taking my family of four to SA this summer, all flying on airline miles. I booked it direct with American Airlines, and it was pretty effortless.

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
Do to a change in Alaska Airlines mileage redemption policy Sadie, both my clients and your truly will be going to Mozambique/Botswana business class in Sept '09. Yes-s-s-s-s!

Mark

Mark, What are your dates and what airline?

I'm doing BA from PHX-London-joberg on Sept 10th on Alaska Miles.... First Class!