My fiance and I are heading to Namibia next May for our honeymoon and are considering the flight through Frankfurt. The direct flights from DC or JFK are fine with me but she is nervous about the long flight. I thought the flight through Frankfurt would be easier on her and make the traveling more enjoyable.

However, I spoke with a representative from Gracy Travel who told me of some concerning issues with the flight through Frankfurt over the past 2 years. She told me that some of their clients arrived in Frankfurt and when they attempted to check-in for the second leg of the trip, the airline representative (Air Namibia) told them that their flight had been cancelled and they would have to catch the next flight tomorrow.

Anyone with any experience or further insight regarding Air Namibia in the past few years?

I flew that route a year ago with Lufthansa from the US to Frankfurt. It went very well. The only potential hitch was convincing Lufthansa to let us check through to Windhoek, but fortunately Steve Turner had prepared us with answers ahead of time and we were able to make it happen.

I much preferred Air Namibia to the domestic US carriers.

There have been a a few instances where Air Namibia have rescheduled flights due to maintenance schedules. I think this has happened twice in the last two years or so.

As 405wcf mentioned it is the fact you have two tickets and having to convince the airlines to through-check baggage/firearms. With two tickets (essentially two contracts) the airlines do not have to through-check baggage if they are not on the same ticket though they still do.

The other problem is cost - US to Frankfurt fares are very high and combining the two fares does make for a higher total fare than using the route through Johannesburg, which has been my experience this past year. But it does make a nice break on the long trek over!

Steve, Total Tavel Solutions, has me and my group going from the US through Frankfurt/ Windhoek in less than a month. We chose it just to break up the trip, that DC/Joberg leg is a beast...