OW or *A to Zambia?

[DrA]

I’m going to need to travel from Perth to Lusaka, Zambia early next year for a work trip and am trying to figure out the best option flying either OW or *A. Our corporate travel agent will just find us the cheapest fare unless we specifically request otherwise.

Ideally I would like to fly OW and credit the points to my QF account, but I know that the OW presence into Africa isn’t great. I'd prefer this as I'm likely to be forced to fly economy, and my OWE status should at least get me lounge access.

Alternatively, I also have a slightly less active *A frequent flyer account with SQ. By January I will have already requalified for WP/OWE for another 12 months (highly unlikely to make P1), so I’m not entirely opposed to flying *A for the trip and crediting the miles to my Krisflyer account.

Thoughts on which airlines might be good to get to Lusaka on either OW or *A? Preference to airlines that are likely to be better at dealing with a vegan meal request!

Thanks in advance for any advice

 

[Mwenenzi]

Look the route maps on www.staralliance.com and oneworld.
From Perth your options are limited. Perth to South Africa to Zamibia is my guess. Emirates may be an option. Look at the Lusaka airport web site (if they have one) to check who flys in/out. I find working backwards from the destination better.

There are better ffp's than Krisflyer for in frequent economy Staralliance flyer's. I thougt Krisflyer miles expired after 3 years, or am I incorrect ?

 

[DrA]

Look the route maps on www.staralliance.com and oneworld.
From Perth your options are limited. Perth to South Africa to Zamibia is my guess. Emirates may be an option. Look at the Lusaka airport web site (if they have one) to check who flys in/out. I find working backwards from the destination better.

There are better ffp's than Krisflyer for in frequent economy Staralliance flyer's. I thougt Krisflyer miles expired after 3 years, or am I incorrect ?

You're correct about the Krisflyer miles. Although "infrequent" in my case is maybe 2-3 trips a year on SQ. So probably not "infrequent" by some people's standards.

I'd looked at SAA and EK flights, but the connections aren't great. Just wondering if there was another better option. Not looking promising, so will probably go SAA for convenience.

Thanks

 

[eastwest101]

I know its Star Alliance and this is a bit out of left field - but what about flying to SIN and then flying on Ethiopian Airlines from Singapore-Addis Ababa-Lusaka. Could possibly be booked by your travel agent all through SQ airlines? I know this would require a transit in Addis Ababa so may be painful as to whether its feasible/practical to transit in Ethiopa before flying to Lusaka.

Emirates via DXB seems to be the other obvious alternative but as you say - connection times may be a bit sucky....

As you are forced to fly economy class - I would go with a fairly direct routing either SAA or EK to minimize the pain. Perhaps you could invite whomever wrote the "economy class only" work policy to join you on whatever flights you choose? A good 12-15hr session in Y class might broaden their mind a little bit....

 

[DrA]

I know its Star Alliance and this is a bit out of left field - but what about flying to SIN and then flying on Ethiopian Airlines from Singapore-Addis Ababa-Lusaka. Could possibly be booked by your travel agent all through SQ airlines? I know this would require a transit in Addis Ababa so may be painful as to whether its feasible/practical to transit in Ethiopa before flying to Lusaka.

Emirates via DXB seems to be the other obvious alternative but as you say - connection times may be a bit sucky....

As you are forced to fly economy class - I would go with a fairly direct routing either SAA or EK to minimize the pain. Perhaps you could invite whomever wrote the "economy class only" work policy to join you on whatever flights you choose? A good 12-15hr session in Y class might broaden their mind a little bit....

It's a "goodwill" consulting job I'm doing there for an international aid program. I'm not being paid for it, they're just covering my bare minimum travel expenses. Under the circumstances I'm ok with flying Y, but at the same time I do want to try and make the trip as comfortable as I can.

Will check out the connections on Ethiopian Airlines. Though suspect it'd be more convenient to fly via JNB on South African if I was to go with *A.

 

[eastwest101]

It's a "goodwill" consulting job I'm doing there for an international aid program. I'm not being paid for it, they're just covering my bare minimum travel expenses. Under the circumstances I'm ok with flying Y, but at the same time I do want to try and make the trip as comfortable as I can.

Will check out the connections on Ethiopian Airlines. Though suspect it'd be more convenient to fly via JNB on South African if I was to go with *A.

I suspect you could be right about going via JNB. Understand about the fare/travel costs being for an international aid program. Its a pity that Kenya Airways isn't scheduled to fly to Perth until 2016/17 as that will bring a good option into play (if it happens)....

 

[drron]

Certainly the most direct route is via JNB so as a Perth resident SAA is the obvious choice.Should also be the cheapest.
However QF codeshare on that flight to JNB and again on the SAA flight to Lusaka.Know this as We had to fly Accra to JNB and there is a codeshare on that so looked up the QF site and Lusaka is...On the list.

 

[Isochronous]

Certainly the most direct route is via JNB so as a Perth resident SAA is the obvious choice.Should also be the cheapest.
However QF codeshare on that flight to JNB and again on the SAA flight to Lusaka.Know this as We had to fly Accra to JNB and there is a codeshare on that so looked up the QF site and Lusaka is...On the list.

How many SA flights do QF codeshare on?

 

[DrA]

How many SA flights do QF codeshare on?

To the best of my knowledge it's just QF303/304 PER-JNB that's the codeshare. Onwards you're just on a straight SA flight. At least that's been my experience in terms of accruing miles and sc's, as well as lounge access. Basically if I fly SA it means I won't have lounge access for the long layover in JNB on the way to Lusaka unless there's a paid lounge, only on the way home before the PER QF codeshare flight. I'll look into paid lounge access in JNB, because it's looking like a 14 hour layover on the date I need to fly.

 

[drron]

Checked on QF site and you can book with QF flight number to Lusaka-seems to be all SAAs African destinations ex JNB.

Addendum.went through to pricing and it is indeed the SAA flight number to Lusaka.

 

[infinity]

When you book on the SAA web site for your fares you can use your Krisflier or QF FF number to allocate your points earned on the flight