Checking Travelocity/Expedia for US to Windhoek, all flights seem to go through Johannesburg. Are there any flights that avoid SA?

Delta flys to London and Frankfurt Germany. Air Namibia has nonstops from both locations to Windhoek.

I just flew Lufthansa from Denver via Frankfurt via Air Namibia to Windhoek last month. Great service, all flights on time. British Airways also flys to England then Air Namibia to Windhoek, Amsterdam is another with this connection along with Delta. These are the only ways to reach Namibia in my opinion. In the last six months there have been over 3,500, yes 3,500 bags gone missing in the JoBurg airport. I will never go through there again unless it's the only way to reach a destination where I am headed.

Larry Sellers
SCI Life Member

+1
Windhoek on Air Namibia via Frankfurt or London. We did Frankfurt last June using Delta out of Atlanta and everything went without a hitch. Whatever airline you use from the U.S., be sure that they have a baggage agreement with Air Namibia so that your bags can be checked all the way through to WDH.

Some folks seem to have some reservations about using London as a hub, but the reports I've seen don't seem to indicate any real problems.

Not only is JNB a problem insofar as potential baggage piferage, but the last flight of the day for Windhoek typically departs before the earliest flight from the U.S. arrives, forcing you to have an expensive overnight stay in Johannesburg.

Jim,

I would highly recommend using Gracy Travel or one of the other travel agents receommended here as they are very familiar with flights to Namibia.

Don

+1
Especially baggage handling agreement. United, Lufthansa and Air Namibia have a baggage agreement, Delta? Don't know, but last trip a fellow I was traveling with used air miles on NW to get to Frankfurt and he spent 4 hours in lines getting his stuff on to the Air Namibia flight. This type of song and dance will exponetially increase the likelyhood of your baggage showing up several days after you do.

A friend's kid who worked as a baggage handler at LAX and told me that they were told that transit bags routed to "other" carriers (those airlines without baggage agreements were "low priority" The usual proceedure was to put all the bags going to airline "X" without a handling agreement, on the same cart and that cart only got moved when it was full. No consideration what so ever was given to whether this was 20 minutes or 20 hours. He recalled that one night he left work and when he arrived the next morning the same bags were on the same cart shoved off to the side of the loading area.

Delta does have a baggage agreement with Air Namibia.

I'm flying this fall thru Frankfurt from LAX via Lufthansa/Air Namibia. I just didn't have the stomach for another 22-24hr straight flight thru Joberg. A 10hr layover w/ a nap & shower sounds a whole lot better.

fredj338,

We used the Crowne Room in Frankfurt and it worked great. Hot showers, internet access, snacks and free drinks. They also were able to issue our boarding passes right at the desk on the way back which was nice.

Don

quote:

Originally posted by DC Roxby:
Jim,

I would highly recommend using Gracy Travel or one of the other travel agents receommended here as they are very familiar with flights to Namibia.

Don

Thanks Don. I have always used Gracy in the past, I was just trying to get some insight on the cost of getting to Namibia

Checking with Travelocity the prices were $2700+ with all going through JNB. I checked with United from LAX to WDH via Frankfurt and the prices were in the $8500 range How bad do I want to avoid JNB

quote:

Originally posted by DC Roxby:
fredj338,

We used the Crowne Room in Frankfurt and it worked great. Hot showers, internet access, snacks and free drinks. They also were able to issue our boarding passes right at the desk on the way back which was nice.

Don

Thanks Don. Did you just walk up & ask for a day room or make reserv. ahead?
The cost from LAX to Namibia vi Frankfurt was about $200 more than going direct through Joberg. On the way back, we;ll lay over three days to site see abit in Germany. I'm working w/ Frankfurt customs right now trying to sort out the guns thing, but I think it will work out.

My flight (Aug 14th, Whoopee!) goes from LAX to Atlanta to London (Gatwick) on Delta then I pick up Air Namibia straight to Windhoek.

Delta has a luggage agreement with Air Nam so I check my luggage at LAX and don't have to touch it again until Windhoek.

I'm going through Frankfurt to Namibia the end of this month. I'v heard of the long line at the Air Namibia counter. Do you have to get in this line to get your boarding pass for Air Namibia, or is there a better way to get the boarding pass?

If you stay at the Frankfurt airport for the layover, do you go through Customs or stay in the in-transit area? Any other information anyone can provide about the Frankfurt airport will be helpful. Thank you.

quote:

Originally posted by MCM300:
I'm going through Frankfurt to Namibia the end of this month. I'v heard of the long line at the Air Namibia counter. Do you have to get in this line to get your boarding pass for Air Namibia, or is there a better way to get the boarding pass?

If you stay at the Frankfurt airport for the layover, do you go through Customs or stay in the in-transit area? Any other information anyone can provide about the Frankfurt airport will be helpful. Thank you.

My understanding is your baggage is checked through to AirNamibia. I would ask your travel agent about early boarding passes, but if your flight is continuous, you should get all your boarding passes w/ your tickets.

quote:

Originally posted by MCM300:
I'm going through Frankfurt to Namibia the end of this month. I'v heard of the long line at the Air Namibia counter. Do you have to get in this line to get your boarding pass for Air Namibia, or is there a better way to get the boarding pass?

If you stay at the Frankfurt airport for the layover, do you go through Customs or stay in the in-transit area? Any other information anyone can provide about the Frankfurt airport will be helpful. Thank you.

The long line is for check in, and there's no way to avoid it that I know of.

In Frankfurt, customs is a breeze. We checked our carry-ons at a facility on the main floor not that far from the Air Namibia check in. Then we went downstairs and caught the train for downtown where we spent several hours eating lunch, drinking fine Geraman beer (moderately), shopping, and sightseeing. Around 6 PM we hopped the train back to the airport, ate dinner, retrieved our carry-ons, and took our place in the long check-in line.

quote:

Originally posted by fredj338:
Thanks Don. Did you just walk up & ask for a day room or make reserv. ahead?
The cost from LAX to Namibia vi Frankfurt was about $200 more than going direct through Joberg. On the way back, we;ll lay over three days to site see abit in Germany. I'm working w/ Frankfurt customs right now trying to sort out the guns thing, but I think it will work out.

We did just walk up. Cost was $30.00 for the day.

Here's a warning of you decide to leave the airport during your layover. You may not get back in without a boarding pass! We manged to talk our way in and back to the Crowne Room, but just barely. Problem is that you can't get a boarding pass until a couple of hours before your flight leaves. So you need to make sure you time things right.

We were not able to get boarding passes ahead of time. On the return flight we had passes issued by Delta at the Crowne Room which was really nice.

We took the train downtown and visited the Frankfurt Zoo, crossed the bridge over the Rhine and had lunch and a beer. Frankfurt is pleasant but not all that exciting.

We showed up for the Air Namibia check in about 2 hours early and the line was a mile long. Went pretty fast however as they had 5 desk working. Seemed like 99% of the passengers on our flight were German. Only saw about 6 guns when we reached Windhoek.

I just got off the phone with Rianna @ Frosch Travel and Melissa @ Gracy. They both said you can only book 9 months out on Air Namibia. They both said $2,200-$2,400 round trip from Houston IAH, via Frankfurt, to Windhoek.
That's about $200.00 more than in 2006, when I had to hurry up and book 4 months out for the same trip.
Robert

quote:

We showed up for the Air Namibia check in about 2 hours early and the line was a mile long. Went pretty fast however as they had 5 desk working. Seemed like 99% of the passengers on our flight were German. Only saw about 6 guns when we reached Windhoek.

Maybe June is a more popular time for hunters than whenever you traveled. There were at least two dozen hunters on our flight last year in mid-June, resulting in quite a crowd at the little gun room. While the preponderence of the passengers out of Frankfurt were German, we met Italians, French, and folks from various eastern European contries. Again, maybe the difference is in June and your travel date.

I used Kathi Klimes (member here) of Wild Travel to book my flights - honestly, you are much better off going through an agent than trying to do it yourself. You can also get Travel Insurance (highly recommended).

I flew from Orlando to Dulles, then to Frankfurt on United. When I got to Orlando everything went like a breeze (TSA, checkin, etc.) and I had 2 hours - grabbed a beer, relaxed, and then noticed on the screen that my flight to Dulles had been cancelled! I rushed to the counter, and the agents didn't even know it had been cancelled. But they got me on another flight 2 hours later - this gave me a 45 minute layover in DC instead of a 2:45 layover, and I was worried about my bags, but all went just fine - was in Frankfurt for 11 hours, but yes, you DO have to wait in "the line from hell" at Air Namibia - was in line for about 2 hours, but I met some fellow AR board members and had a good chat.

Definitely avoid SA if you can at all - it just isn't worth the hassle and potential baggage loss. Air Namibia was, honestly, very good to me and my fellow travelers.

Eric,

I'm not too concerned about all this "lost bag" hype on SAA. I've made 6 trips on SAA in the last 7 years, connected to Harare, Mpumalanga, Durban, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town and have never lost a bag [had one delayed by a few hours once though].

While there MAY be logistical reasons to fly through europe, and extend your travel time by 12 hours, [SAP proceedures, overnight in Joburg, though I'm not sure how much of an issue it is now] I doubt that baggage is one.

I do check with the agent at every stop/airplane change though to see if the bags connected. Just prudent.

If flying to RSA then SAA just makes sense. Even to Harare the connection to the last flight is fairly comfortable. [Though, if there is a next time, I might choose to stay in Joburg and fly early to Harare.]

Les