Best use of points for trip to Africa (Kenya)/Egypt

[OzziTravellers]

Hi team,

Sorry if this is the wrong thread, but as it is about multiple FF programs and a couple of c/cards I wasn't sure where to put it.

I have a bit of a dilemma that I hope some of the experts here can help me with. I would like to take my other half and the two little ones (well not so little anymore, 9 & 7) on safari to Africa (Kenya/Tanzania) (and possibly to a tour of Egypt as well) later this year for a month or so.

Due to flying different airlines for work I have a lot of scattered points about - 205000 QFF points, 35000 Krisflyer points, about 12000 Emirates Skywards Points, about 5000 velocity points, 62000 NAB Gold Rewards Points and thanks to the Amex promo about 330000 Membership Rewards points.

I see there is the Velocity promo for transferring the Amex points to give me 25% extra (and I think they partner with Emirates) or there is the 25% discount on Krisflyer online bookings up until September or I could bump them all into QFF and get lounge access during the trip (I'm a gold qantas club member as well).

I am just at a loss to figure out the best value for points (and money in the case of any extra fares/taxes needed) to get us at least to Africa, preferably Egypt as well (and if we had to even though it would tire the kids, I know Oneworld has the RTW fare we could use) - from Melbourne.

Is there anyone out there in AFF land that could offer some friendly tips as to which way to go (or to come up with an option I haven't thought of yet) and stop me pulling my hair out. Time is getting tighter by the day if I am to xfer to Qantas with the 31 March deadline looming.

Thanks in advance for any tips you can offer.

OzTravellers

 

[MrHyde]

Hi,

I have been planning a trip to Nairobi for myself, the Mrs and the little one (1.3 yrs old). I am only on QFF and the best way I have found for that is to use the OneWorld Award (140,000 per person). The flight requires 2 airlines other than Qantas, so they would be CX and BA. One way via HKG and the other via SIN or BKK or HKG. In order to travel a bit more, we've also decided to go via HEL on FinnAir. So our current trip is looking like MEL - SIN (via SYD) - LHR - NBO - HEL (via LHR) - BKK - MEL (via SYD). We are looking at flying via SYD to avoid JetStar or stopping in Perth. Hopefully, I will have my trip finalised and booked this weekend.

Since your points are spread out, you could also have a look at via JNB. You can fly SYD - JNB on Qantas (Y class could be very difficult to get) and then look at *A (SA Airways) for JNB - NBO. This would be a lot quicker that via LHR. The last time I looked, I could get SYD - JNB (in Y) and JNB - SYD (in F) for 188,000 per person. If looking at via MEL, the flights MEL - JNB are via PER (on SA Airways), so you may be able to split the points along those lines - MEL - PER on QFF and PER - NBO on *A.

I hope this helps.

Edit: The OneWorld Award is different from the OneWorld RTW as it does not require having to go in one direction, so can avoid the US crossing on the way back. The award requires 2 airlines other than QF, 16 sectors and max 5 stopovers. With our little one, we are planning 1-2 day stopovers in SIN, LHR, NBO, HEL and BKK. The breaks should help manage the long flying.

Cheers,
MrHyde

 

[medhead]

Note that your NAB gold rewards points are going to turn into about 40000 QFF points any day now. Unless you've spent up big on shopping vouchers