Convulated African Trip with Flight Centre

[ricee007]

Howdy,

Have a complex African Honeymoon planned for December.

Flight Centre have quoted me:
$3.5k per person for:
ADL to HK to Joburg to Maun on 8 Dec (arriving 9 Dec)
Vic Falls to Joburg to Nairobi to Kilimanjaro on 15 Dec (arriving 16 Dec)
Zanzibar to Nairobi to Doha to Hong Kong to Adelaide on 22 Dec (arriving 24 Dec). (Kenya to Cathay Pacific (operated by Qatar) to Cathay Pacfic to Cathay Pacific) - > Travel agents plan Total: 22.5 hours flight and over 19 hour stopover. Leave 22nd, come back 24th.

Now, I'm relatively happy with that. But, it is not perfect.

I'd prefer to go over via Singapore, but its not muccccchhhhh better for us. Let's put that to one side.

HOWEVER, the big HOWEVER, is, I'd rather leave Zanzibar at the same time, but arrive back in at 20:50 on the 23rd* via QF (Etihad metal) as opposed to 6:50 on the 24th - > My preferred flights: Total: 18.5 hours flight and under 13.5 hours of stopover. Leave 22nd, come back 23rd, in 9.5 hours quicker.

Now, the problem is, travel agent says it'll cost $5.5k+ per person to change those last flights from to my preffered flights. Now, this is clearly not worth the extra $4k+ it would cost all up.
I understand it could cost more, but I didn't expect it to cost $4k more!

My problem:
I cannot find a price close to what he has got us already via Cathay Pacific (ie: I can find about $5k) but I can find a price close to $11k via Emirates (QF).... I've tried webjet and skyscanner and QF website and Cathay Pacific, and Qatar and South Africa and Emirates and even Kenya Airways.

So, how on earth can he get all the flights for $3.5k? If I can find that price, then maybbbbbbe, just mayybbbe I can find an alternative via Dubai that is similar in price. Is there some magic website that I'm missing, or is it because Flight Centre can get cheaper flights through a wholesaler?

Do I have any chance of coming back from Zanzibar via Dubai for a similar price to Hong Kong?

Cheers,

*Or, potentially, leave on the 23rd and come back on the 24th still.

 

[BoyZeus]

The airfare is probably a combo issued by a consolidator with special conditions attached. The airline itself probably doesn't even have a fare sheet to replicate it.

Good luck!

 

[burmans]

The airfare is probably a combo issued by a consolidator with special conditions attached. The airline itself probably doesn't even have a fare sheet to replicate it.

Good luck!

That's the thing, to get the cheap fares you need to be flexible, you probably won't get flexibility and that cheap!

 

[ricee007]

annnnnd I have next to zero flexibility (see, eg, flying back 24 December!)

Okay, time to give up on this idea I think!

Cheers

 

[vetrade]

Convoluted...........?????

 

[ricee007]

Convoluted...........?????

Convoluted:
1.
(especially of an argument, story, or sentence) extremely complex and difficult to follow.

ADL to HK
Hk to JNB
JNB to Maun
Private Charter to Morami
Private Charter to VFA
VFA to JNB
JNB to NBO
NBO to JRO
Private charter JRO to ZNZ
ZNZ to NBO
NBO to DOH
DOH to HKG
HKG to ADL



Eh, to me that is reasonably difficult to follow / complex. Maybe I don't fly as much as you though.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

The fare you've been quoted seems quite reasonable given all the sectors in & around Africa so I'd be inclined to just book it as per the routing quoted.

One alternatove would be to always book the return sectors of this ticket a few months later provided you planned to go over that way again & just buy a ticket to position to DOH or HKG in other words your ticket would be "nested".

Then just check out the following sites for a cheap one way airfare to get back to Aust on your desired routing/stopover point.

www.skyscanner.net
or http:/matrix.itasoftware.com/search.htm

 

[Beta4Me]

I had a crack with google.com/flights and it seems you can get close to what you want (I'm assuming everything was in Y):

Flight 1: Adelaide – Maun
Mon, Dec 8

8:10 pm – 9:20 pm
Adelaide – Perth · ADL–PER
South African 7251 · Economy · Boeing 737
(Operated by Virgin Australia)
3h 40m

Layover in Perth (PER): 2h 25m

11:45 pm – 5:05 am+1
Perth – Johannesburg · PER–JNB
South African 281 · Economy · Airbus A340
11h 20m (Overnight flight)

Layover in Johannesburg (JNB): 6h 40m

11:45 am+1 – 1:15 pm+1
Johannesburg – Maun · JNB–MUB
South African 8300 · Economy · Avro RJ85
(Operated by SA Airlink)
1h 30m


Flight 2: Victoria Falls – Mount Kilimanjaro
Mon, Dec 15
(This flight departs from a different airport.)

1:15 pm – 3:00 pm
Victoria Falls – Johannesburg · VFA–JNB
South African 41 · Economy · Airbus A319
1h 45m

Layover in Johannesburg (JNB): 18h 30m (Overnight)

9:30 am+1 – 2:00 pm+1
Johannesburg – Dar es Salaam · JNB–DAR
South African 186 · Economy · Airbus A320
3h 30m

Layover in Dar es Salaam (DAR): 2h 30m

4:30 pm+1 – 5:55 pm+1
Dar es Salaam – Mount Kilimanjaro · DAR–JRO
PrecisionAir 436 · Economy · ATR 42 Propeller plane
1h 25m


Flight 3: Zanzibar – Adelaide
Mon, Dec 22
(This flight departs from a different airport.)

12:15 pm – 12:45 pm
Zanzibar – Dar es Salaam · ZNZ–DAR
PrecisionAir 421 · Economy · ATR 72 Propeller plane
0h 30m

Layover in Dar es Salaam (DAR): 2h 00m

2:45 pm – 5:25 pm
Dar es Salaam – Johannesburg · DAR–JNB
South African 187 · Economy · Airbus A320
3h 40m

Layover in Johannesburg (JNB): 4h 10m

9:35 pm – 12:55 pm+1
Johannesburg – Perth · JNB–PER
South African 280 · Economy · Airbus A340
9h 20m (Overnight flight)

Layover in Perth (PER): 4h 00m

4:55 pm+1 – 10:20 pm+1
Perth – Adelaide · PER–ADL
South African 7252 · Economy · Embraer RJ-190
(Operated by Virgin Australia)
2h 55m


US$3,927 total, inc. taxes & fees for 1 adult

 

[casanovawa]

Pity you don't have USDMs, you might have been able to do quite a bit of that in Business for less then $4k....

 

[Archphoto]

When I had to do a crazy itinerary in Asia, I spoke with QF about any possible ways to get some bang for my buck, and they suggested the OW Continent Fares (which actually worked really well for all the flights I had to do). They have one for Africa, but not sure if it's of *any* use in your situation: ​Visit Africa - oneworld

 

[vetrade]

Convoluted: 1. (especially of an argument, story, or sentence) extremely complex and difficult to follow.

Der!
Is "convulated" in your dictionary too?

 

[Sprucegoose]

You don't get the flex out of the Big 5 as say out of the big noodle or sandpit.

 

[RooFlyer]

You don't get the flex out of the Big 5 as say out of the big noodle or sandpit.

'Big 5' = African lion, African elephant, Cape buffalo, African leopard, and White/Black rhinoceros when I went on safari

 

[RooFlyer]

<snip>

HOWEVER, the big HOWEVER, is, I'd rather leave Zanzibar at the same time, but arrive back in at 20:50 on the 23rd* via QF (Etihad metal) as opposed to 6:50 on the 24th - > My preferred flights: Total: 18.5 hours flight and under 13.5 hours of stopover. Leave 22nd, come back 23rd, in 9.5 hours quicker.

<snip>.

I'm not following your entire itinerary, but note that as far as Zanzibar is concerned, there are regular hops across the water to and from Dar es Salaam (20 mins from memory); this may help your flexibility (ie fly ex Dar es Salaam). Plus they stamp your passport for entering Zanzibar (or did when I went there 10+ years ago )

 

[ricee007]

I had a crack with google.com/flights and it seems you can get close to what you want (I'm assuming everything was in Y):

Flight 1: Adelaide – Maun
Mon, Dec 8

US$3,927 total, inc. taxes & fees for 1 adult

Thank you very much for the effort

The flight centre agent (or I to be fair) hadn't heard of Dar es Salaam*... he is now routing via Dar es Salaam to Adelaide, and has got the price down to AU$ 3,400 each, and leaving at about 5pm instead of before 6am on the last day. This is obviously much, much better for us since this is suppose to be the "relaxing" part of the trip.

Unfortunately, it's still via Doha.

I'll see if the flights you suggested will fit in with the tours / connecting charter flights / etc

Thanks again.

Casanovawa, yea, I really feel like I should have some but just have never got around to it yet

Thansk Archphoto, I'll check that out this afternoon

*and RooFlyer to

 

[Milboo]

I have recently booked an African trip with a number of flights within the continent. In the end I booked flights direct into JNB and return and then used an agency called Jacada Travel in the UK who are Africa travel specialists.

They organised all the rest of it including flights, accommodation, transfers, tours, activities etc that we wanted - a personalised tour.