Starting my search for August 2024. Home airport is Charlotte, NC. I can fly to Dulles and then cross to Franfurt and then Windhoek with Lufthansa. Other option is Direct from CLT to Munich but then connect to Frankfurt and Windhoek. Part of me thinks I prefer checking the guns through with Lufthansa right from home vs. counting on them making the connection at Dulles. Anyone done the connecting flight between the German airports?

Hi Kevin,

Have you tried contacting one of the travel agents in the US that specialise in travelling with guns?

Maybe contact a company like Gracey Travel. Here is the link https://www.gracytravel.com/ They can advise you on which are the best routes.

Thank you very much for booking your hunt through me. You and the family are going to have a great time hunting and sightseeing.

Frakfurt to Windhoek with Lufthansa is actually operated by Eurowings. It is OK but it is a budget airline. Good arrival and departure times in Windhoek. Consider using a camp rifle.

No camp rifles for this trip.

Germany to Southern Africa is a long way to travel on a budget airline (tight seating, etc).

Done this trip a number of times - last in July this year.

Eurowings is OK but no more than that - lash out for business if you can - in July I was paying for the entire family so no, that didn't happen that time.

Travel with Guns will not help you in Frankfurt (or Munich) - you need to pay (from memory) about €75 per weapon in transit fee - and you can't (at least couldn't) pay that up front. Make absolutely certain you have a minimum of 2 1/2 hours between flights - more is better - I suspect they will offload the guns even if they're checked through (they did with me) but I never could get any clarity on this - it may have changed. They will unload the guns last.

Its probably better than the anxiety of routing through Johannesburg - but would be a whole lot easier if you used the camp rifles! I think I'm correct in saying Qatar are now flying direct into Windhoek but have never used that - doesn't really suit me so can't comment.

Can also fly into Capetown and on to Windhoek on Airlink as an option.

Qatar are doing direct flights to Windhoek from Doha at present. Departs Doha 2.15am.

Given you are in Charlotte, you could pop down to Atlanta and fly Delta to Jo'Burg or Cape Town and then Airlink to Windhoek.

You would probably have to overnight in Jo'Burg or Cape Town and would have to do the rifle thing with SAPS before flying to Namibia.

As recommended use Gracy Travel. Shawn Kennedy will take care of everything for you.

Mark

I would fly through joburg, spend the night at City Lodge and take Airlink in the morning.....I fly through joburg three times a year on average and I haven't had any problems.....

Because you are not a european citizen, I heard you need a special permit to pass through Frankfurt with weapon so as mentionned above, contact a specialist.
I travel twice a year to Namibia and I take the plane directly to Frankfurt using Eurowing. I prefer to have a direct flight so here is why I choose them but I really regret Air Namibia who was very weapon friendly. It was not necessary to report my rifles when I bought my plane tickets on their website like it is needed with Eurowings now.
Eurowings is pretty expensive in comparison, food is very bad and they charge quite a lot to carry rifles. So far, it costed me 150 € to go to Namibia and 250 € for my way back.
With Air Namibia, it was free up to 2013 and after it was 80 € per flight and at the end $120.
More and more people from my country prefer to use Ethiopian Airline to join Namibia now because there is a bigger lugguage allowance and they are cheaper.

I did the Atlanta to Doha to Windhoek flight in July with two rifles and had zero issues. Qatar airlines was very accommodating to me and my rifles with prior authorization. I've done the Atlanta to Frankfurt thing before, and greatly prefer Qatar airlines. My ticket included a room at the airport hotel in Doha, and that really helped mitigate any jet lag.

It was just announced that Lufthansa will begin direct service to Frankfurt beginning next Summer from Raleigh Durham Airport (RDU). Another option at least as it prevents having to change cities in Germany, Munich to Frankfurt.

I have flown to WDH six times since 2012. The first two times were on Luftansa to Frankfort and Air Namibia to WDH. When Air Namibia went bankrupt I switched to Saeed’s favorite airline, British Airways through Heathrow to JoBerg to WDH. Since I use camp rifle and carryon a single Red Oxx bag, I don’t worry about the JoBerg baggage theft nightmare. In 2022 I made the fatal mistake of booking Ethiopian Airways to Addis Ababa to WDH. Long story short, it became a 3 DAY NIGHTMARE to arrive at WDH. The only saving grace were the cute stewardesses who all looked like Halle Berry’s kid sister. Addis Ababa is a shithole with rude employees who define the word “incompetent “.

As a European I can only relate my experiences traveling to Namibia.
Dublin-LHR-Jo,burg-Windhoek. Ok, won’t do that again.
Ethiopian via Madrid-Addis Ababa-Windhoek. Delayed in Madrid by French ATC. Mad panic in Addis Ababa but they got us on our connecting flight.
Thereafter several flights with Ethiopian. All were relatively painless apart from the faffing about in the bowels of baggage handling with copies of passport etc, both ways.
This year we did Dublin-Frankfurt-Windhoek with Lufthansa/Eurowings. Painless and everything arrived. I would use either Lufthansa or Ethiopian depending on price.
I have learnt to travel light to hunt in Namibia. My rifle travels with my minimal luggage in a Peli 3100. Ethiopian allows 2x23kgs. Lufthansa 1x23kgs. Both plus a carryon.

US to Doha to Windhoek on Qatar.

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:
US to Doha to Windhoek on Qatar.

Is that what you did this trip? Looking forward to hearing about your trip.

We flew via Joberg but the couple we hunted with went SFO- Doha-WDH. I’ve been too lazy to write a hunt report but we had a great time. The only problem with the Doha-WDH route is it doesn’t fly daily. 5 days/week IIRC.

I was looking at Qatar flights just tonight for flying into Windhoek because I will be hunting there next August. I am not seeing any flights going directly into Windhoek through Doha for next summer at all. They all go through Joberg first. I was surprised to see that because I've seen it mentioned numerous times that there is a flight into there.

quote:

Originally posted by Mike B.:
I was looking at Qatar flights just tonight for flying into Windhoek because I will be hunting there next August. I am not seeing any flights going directly into Windhoek through Doha for next summer at all. They all go through Joberg first. I was surprised to see that because I've seen it mentioned numerous times that there is a flight into there.

From what I can tell, they seem to have suspended the flight from Doha to Windhoek. I guess they could bring it back during the high season next year.

FWIW, I just did the Qatar Airlines (business class) from Dallas to Doha and onto Windhoek. A bit pricey but first rate. I booked via Shawn at Gracey. Per Shawn Qatar Coach is currently the cheapest way to get to Windhoek (around $1750). If you can handle Coach (my 71 year old bones, arthritis, and 3 replaced joints can't) then go that route.

I've done the flights to Frankfort and onto Windhoek a couple times. Also the BA flights Miami to Jo'Berg and they lost a suitcase. Also the flights into Capetown.

I think Qatar Airlines is the way to go.