Tanzania

[sedge]

My wife and I were planning a trip Ireland in sept. and now have the option of including a side trip to Tanzania. can anyone suggest whether it is better [cost] to book a round trip incorporating Tanzania or a return Dublin and a separate ticket to africa from Europe. We only have 240.000QF points so do not think they would be of any use
.Any suggestions would be appreciated

 

[docjames]

My parents are in Tanzania (and Kenya) as we speak. They looked at various options and tried to stay with QF/OW but EK couldnt be beaten. At one stage they were going to be in UK so looked at MEL-LHR-MEL on QF and separate LHR-Kenya-LHR ticket. In the end, their UK trip is later and they ended up with side trip to Muscat so they went MEL-DXB-Muscat-DXB-NBO-DXB-MEL with EK. Even taking out the Muscat part, it was way cheaper than QF via JNB.

I wonder if you're better off buying Aus-DUB-Aus with EK and another return fare DXB-NBO-DXB as it'll be cheaper than through QF.

So you'd end up with Aus-DXB-DUB-DXB-NBO-DXB-Aus.

THe alternative would be QF to LHR/DUB and separate ticket LHR-NBO-LHR (BA) if you wanted to keep it OW.

Another option would be a RTW ticket and head to DUB via the US, then down into Africa, down to JNB then home on QF.

eg. Aus-LAX-LHR-DUB-LHR-NBO-JNB-SYD.

 

[MrHyde]

I think docjames is right about the best way to go about it. You could also check Etihad or Qatar Airways if they fly to Tanzania.

When we did our trip, we used the OneWorld Award of 140,000 pts per person in Y and were able to route that through LHR and NBO. If you had a few more points, that could have been an option for two people.

 

[casanovawa]

Not difficult to get the extra 40,000 QFF points for 2 x 140k OW awards, just whether you would get them in time to make the bookings...

 

[docjames]

I think docjames is right about the best way to go about it. You could also check Etihad or Qatar Airways if they fly to Tanzania.

When we did our trip, we used the OneWorld Award of 140,000 pts per person in Y and were able to route that through LHR and NBO. If you had a few more points, that could have been an option for two people.

DOH-NBO is on an A320 and is ~ 6hrs, whereas EK is A330. In J there's a huge difference (the QR A320 J is similar to BA's EU product), and in Y there's still a decent difference (long haul-type vs short-haul type)........

I think it's significantly easier to fly directly in NBO then "hop" in and out of Tanzania as part of a package / in line with planne activites (at least that's what my parents found / are doing).

I believe there are also specific Visa-in-advance requirements (ie. cant purcahse on arrival) although dont quote me on that.

 

[The Rok]

With so much to see and do in Eire why go to Africa? ;-)

 

[Mollycram]

We went to Tanzania about 12 months ago and are planning another visit in October. I would have loved to have gone Qantas but as we were trying to get to Kilimanjaro the cost of going with QF or it's one world partners was exhorbitant and had way too many stops for our liking. We ended up going with Emirates and apart from the horrific 5 hour connection in Dubai, they were fine. Another in our group flew with Qatar via Nairobi and she said they were great!

 

[MrHyde]

DOH-NBO is on an A320 and is ~ 6hrs, whereas EK is A330. In J there's a huge difference (the QR A320 J is similar to BA's EU product), and in Y there's still a decent difference (long haul-type vs short-haul type)........

I think it's significantly easier to fly directly in NBO then "hop" in and out of Tanzania as part of a package / in line with planne activites (at least that's what my parents found / are doing).

I believe there are also specific Visa-in-advance requirements (ie. cant purcahse on arrival) although dont quote me on that.

We had NBO as a base and drove to Tanzania (Serengeti). We were able to get visa on arrival at both Nairobi airport and the Tanzania border crossing. We also didn't need to purchase extra visas for re-entry back into Kenya. The worst part of the whole trip was the road trip between Nairobi and Arusha. We used local transport and the road was terrible .... very long trip in uncomfortable buses. Next time, I would definately fly between Arusha and Nairobi.