Just had Gracy book me Business Class from Dulles to Kasane via JNB on Turkish Air for this April / May.. 7k including their fees..

Qatar and Emirates were around 9k. Ethiopian was 1k less that Turkish but I did not want to do the goat rope in Addis with my guns...

I recently booked round trip flights from Auckland to Istanbul in December this year, on Emirates. It's high season so that needs to be factored but still more than 2 X the cost of the same flights previously done at the same time of year.

Agreed! I have two flights booked to Africa this year. Qatar from Houston to Zambia 9K. I had a credit with KLM so I used it up on a 9K flight from Houston to Tanzania. My wife and I are flying to Mexico's Puerto Vallarta coast tomorrow. That BC fare is normally about 2K now its 4K.

Orlando, Atlanta , Johannesburg was over $13,000.

Last October Kathi Klimes at Wild Travel set me up with United Airlines Business (Polaris) class tickets MSP-EWR-JNB round trip for a bit over 5K. Just for kicks I checked a couple of days ago on the United website and the same seats for the same dates are now over 11K. I would have preferred Delta (2 million miler and lifetime gold from business travel before retirement) but they were very significantly more expensive. Sure glad I listened to Kathi on the early purchase decision.

Perhaps not the correct place to comment however note that although I am listed as a new member with 3 posts my registration date is 2003 which is correct and I do have more than 3 posts. Probably not a huge deal but one does hope for accurate record keeping in the electronic age.

Phoenix to Perth, Brisbane to Auckland, Auckland to Christchurch, Christchurch to PHX was 13 or 14K and I am not even B class from Australia to NZ, and I am flying with Ms AZW from Perth to Brisbane on her miles!

Montana-RSA return $2,400 and change. Seems about normal on coach.

Mark

I was looking at fares earlier today from San Francisco to Dar es Salaam for an August Selous hunt and was pleasantly surprised to find a business class fare on Emirates for a bit over $6,000. Qatar was around $9,000. Fares are definitely higher than I’d prefer, but I expected Emirates to be higher. Other airlines weren’t much lower.

Emirates it is.

quote:

Originally posted by DLS:
I was looking at fares earlier today from San Francisco to Dar es Salaam for an August Selous hunt and was pleasantly surprised to find a business class fare on Emirates for a bit over $6,000. Qatar was around $9,000. Fares are definitely higher than I’d prefer, but I expected Emirates to be higher. Other airlines weren’t much lower.

Emirates it is.

Well, I got brought back down to earth today. It turns out that fare is basic business class, with restrictions and penalties for any changes. Full fare business is over $9,000; so back to the drawing board.

Yes most Business Class fares I have priced this year from Anchorage to London have doubled from last year. Flying to Mongolia in August but haven't priced airfare yet... don't know if buying it earlier or later will be substantially different.

Last year I booked 4 business tickets with QA to Joberg from ATL in March for a late August hunt. I periodically checked to see what price changes were occurring with QA. They remained essentially unchanged but in late June for about a week period, they dropped by $1500/ticket, a huge difference. Early vs late is indeed a crap shoot.

Just think of what this is going to do to the cost of shipping .

No worries. I don’t ship…..

That’s so weird. Some of my team and I fly to Guam business class round trip through Tokyo several times a year and this year our tickets have been about $1,000 cheaper per trip than last year.

What airline if you don't mind me asking? Wondering if I can use them to get to Ulan Bator...

United. Guam is a hub for them and they have flights to most of the islands out that way.

Thanks!

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:

Ain't going to be cheaper

Costs are going through the roof.

We just booked round trip business class tickets with Emirates from Boston to Harare (via Dubai and Lusaka) for later this year.

The cost per ticket was nearly $3,000 higher than the cost for the same tickets last year.

The cost would have been somewhat less if we had been willing to transit Johannesburg, but there is no way we will do that if we can avoid it.

And the Emirates ticket costs were $3,000 less per ticket than the cost of the same tickets we priced with Qatar. How Qatar can compete charging that much more remains to be seen but is hard to figure.

The amount of these increases is a huge delta from one year to the next and it doesn't seem to be getting anything but worse.

I thought I would add this for those on the fence.

Our more recent trip to Cameroon, which was business class all the way on Air France in February of this year, was also $3,000 less than the cost of our upcoming trip to Zimbabwe.

I would not wait, but would book now for any trip anyone is planning.

I'll second that.

quote:

I would not wait, but would book now for any trip anyone is planning.

Mike

For months I regularly checked on airfare on QA from DFW to JNB. It averaged about $5500-6000 for a business ticket. 3 weeks ago I checked and it had suddenly dropped to $4250. I grabbed 2 tickets and felt great. I checked tonight and it’s now $3500. Hells bells, what a crap shoot!

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:
For months I regularly checked on airfare on QA from DFW to JNB. It averaged about $5500-6000 for a business ticket. 3 weeks ago I checked and it had suddenly dropped to $4250. I grabbed 2 tickets and felt great. I checked tonight and it’s now $3500. Hells bells, what a crap shoot!

You made QA's profit with your purchase. They can now afford to discount the cost for everyone else. Doesn't that make you feel just great .....

The idea of keeping to check air fares and decide when to buy is a hit or miss game.

You can buy a cheap ticket before they go up.

Or you can see it nose diving after your purchase!

This used to be good in the past.

Not anymore, when seats on the same flight cost different!

Dynamic pricing, using AI to maximize revenue; I’m afraid it’s probably here to stay.

Just made inquiries.

Prices are already up by 10%.

Cheapest way to fly is having a travel agent who doesn't bill you until you are back!

So basically you travel for free!

That is what I do!

Just booked two family trips, First, and I know I will not pay until we are back!

A form of "free" travel!

Got the bill for shipping some horns and skins from Namibia to Auckland. US $1900. Return airfare US$1400. Offered the shipper a free flight to NZ if she brought the trophies as baggage. QATAR is the only airline willing to carry trophies on that route.
If you do repeated searches for the same flight on the same computer the price soon jumps. Especially with Expedia. Try a different computer and you get the original price!

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Cheapest way to fly is having a travel agent who doesn't bill you until you are back!

So basically you travel for free!

That is what I do!

Just booked two family trips, First, and I know I will not pay until we are back!

A form of "free" travel!

Saeed, my travel agent won't give me interest-free loans for air fares.

What am I doing wrong? what

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Robinson:

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Cheapest way to fly is having a travel agent who doesn't bill you until you are back!

So basically you travel for free!

That is what I do!

Just booked two family trips, First, and I know I will not pay until we are back!

A form of "free" travel!

Saeed, my travel agent won't give me interest-free loans for air fares.

What am I doing wrong? what

Very wise travel agent you have.

I wouldn't ANY loan to a lawyer!

I guess you can be sure of getting a safe model of airplane!

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Robinson:
I guess you can be sure of getting a safe model of airplane!

You mean like all the hordes of lawyers defending Boeing for their deathly screw ups in the Max?

It is certainly true that when one spends several thousand dollars for a plane ticket, he does so with the legitimate expectation that he will arrive at his destination in one piece.

Please, no 737 MAX for me or mine!

I saw the program on NETFLIX.

Very sad really.

Bad decisions by idiots which Boeing certainly did not deserve!

I love but hate computers - I hate the ones that purport to drive my airplane most of all.

What are you going to trust if you’re a pilot?

Your computer or your own eyes?