Best Routes to SA?

Brennan

Brennan

Level 2 Member
Looking at a trip to SA (Durban specifically) in early Dec. My trouble is there are a crazy amount of valid routings and plenty of space and I'm super flexible with dates/stopover locations/home airport.

What are your favorite routes from the US? Best stopovers on the way? Best 1st or Biz to SA?

Would prefer to book with AA or AS miles. Leaning toward Cathay's JFK-HKG-JNB for 70k Alaska at the moment, would love some input on other great routes. Thanks!
 
T

TheBOSman

Moderator
Staff member
I did JNB-HKG-JFK, if you have the time I can highly recommend it. Admittedly, I flew JNB-HKG when CX was still flying F on it, it is only J now. The other advantage to AS is stopping over in HKG on that routing.

You could book BA to SA using either set of miles, but I would not recommend this for SA as BA's notoriously high fuel surcharges are most outrageous on the LHR-SA flights.

You can also book QR USA-SA via DOH. I haven't flown QR but the option is there.

As well, if you have some cash and don't mind flying back to SA at some point in the nearish future, QR has some great fares ex-SA in J right now, $1700 or so round trip to the USA.
 
Last edited:
smittytabb

smittytabb

Moderator
Staff member
I was leaving from Europe, but I flew Lufthansa FRA-JNB in business in an A380 upperdeck 2-2-2 configuration and it was a really great experience.
 
A

AIM

Level 2 Member
Don't forget EK with your AS miles, though it'll run 100K rather than the 70K on CX. It might be easier to get EK availability at this point though (J at least).
 
Brennan

Brennan

Level 2 Member
AIM said:
Don't forget EK with your AS miles, though it'll run 100K rather than the 70K on CX. It might be easier to get EK availability at this point though (J at least).
Click to expand...
Yes, I've been eyeing EK on the new MCO-DXB, then DXB-DUR. I need to eventually get to DUR, so 1 stop is awesome! Last time I did SRQ-JFK-AUH-JNB-DUR-LOL!

I'm not seeing premium space on any EK routes to SA, though. As convenient as it is, I don't want to pay 47.5K for economy. On the lookout for biz space to open up...
 
Brennan

Brennan

Level 2 Member
So I've been trying to figure the best way to add a Europe stopover on this SA trip. Hoping to use Alaska miles. Seems like my options are KLM or AF...how do I book these using Alaska miles? Find availability on Delta.com and call Alaska? Can't get the Alaska engine to pull up any flights to Africa using these airlines.
 
A

AIM

Level 2 Member
In my experience, availability on either KLM or AF is very tough to find. Even when searching on the KLM site the only options for the Europe to Africa leg were KQ (I was flying to NBO).
 
Brennan

Brennan

Level 2 Member
I actually found decent space on both AF and KLM (once I figured out how to use Alaska's multi city award search). Can anyone chime in on which would have a better biz class product? Pretty sure both are angle flat on the US to CDG/AMS and CDG/AMS to JNB routes I'm looking at.
 
MickiSue

MickiSue

Level 2 Member
Check out Drew's blog for today. He has tons of info on ways to maximize miles and experiences, traveling to Africa.
 
Brennan

Brennan

Level 2 Member
Booked AF JFK-CDG-JNB in J. Excited to try the new biz class on the JFK route and stopover for a few days in Paris. Still working on my return...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top