Ethiopian Airlines Kilimanjaro – Addis Ababa – Bangkok

Posted on May 25, 2015 by Tara

This was a United Airlines award and for this homeward bound leg we had Ethiopian Airlines from Kilimanjaro JRO to Addis Ababa ADD in economy (no business class available), then business class the rest of the way to Bangkok ending with Thai to Brisbane BNE.

Although the first leg was in economy, we did pay for a business class ticket with miles so I tried to get us into the lounge at JRO. No dice. The lady did try, she went and asked her supervisor if they could let us in and he said no. It wasn’t a fantastic lounge anyways but would have been better than the gate.

So off to the gate we went to mingle with the “hoi palloi” and show off my new braid.

Mt Kilimanjaro was shy and didn’t come out to say goodbye.

Same mediocre business section as before on the 737. The flight to Bangkok was on a 767 which was marginally better but no lie-flat seats. We were still tired enough to get some sleep.

Breakfast – they did bring eggs but I forgot to get a photo.

So Ethiopian Airlines left me less than impressed. I would have liked it much better if we had been in economy paying less for the award as my expectations would have been lower. Their economy is OK if that’s what you pay for. But I don’t recommend paying extra to fly business on this airline.

Coolest Airline Livery Ever – Features African Grey Parrot!

Posted on April 26, 2015 by Tara

Just for fun – check out the livery on this Tanzanian airline!

Unfortunately you can’t book them with miles but they have really good prices for intra-Africa flights. Has anyone flown Fastjet before?

Disappointing Experience With Ethiopian Airlines: Accra – Addis Ababa – Kilimanjaro

Posted on April 21, 2015 by Tara

I should have known something was up when I wasn’t able to do online check-in and got a message to handle it at the airport or something to that effect. We were booked on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner in business class so I was expecting a really comfortable experience like this.

So we were dropped at the airport and went to the business class check in, then went to the business class lounge to wait. It was attractively furnished and the Christmas tree was a nice touch and we grabbed some snacks while I went online.

When it was time to board THIS is what we saw. A 737! Where the hell was the Dreamliner I signed up for? None of the staff knew, they just said it was changed with no further explanation.

Instead of the posh business cabin above, THIS is what we got! Needless to say, I was not happy, this was not worth spending extra miles on. We could have split the redemption on United and used J for the outbound and Y on the return and saved 70k for us both. Anyway it was too late now so we shoved our backpacks into the overheads and settled into the meagre 737 seats.

The food was mediocre as well though the crew were very nice. We were given yellow amenity kits which I forgot to take photos of.

Yeah, finally something to make me forget where we were! The cabin was half empty so we each had a row of two seats to ourselves. I had already seen the movie on the overhead tv (yes, you heard me – an overhead tv in business class)!

I might as well throw in the next leg, Addis Ababa – Kilimanjaro. After our overnight layover, we passed through the usual formalities and headed to the Cloud Nine Lounge to wait.

We weren’t hungry since the hotel voucher included breakfast which is just as well since the food was mediocre. There was another security check between the lounge and the gate which was annoying.

You guessed it – another 737. Sigh! I decided not to take photos. The amenity was a yellow neck pouch which was actually nice for budget travelers, we use these a lot for docs and money. We put them inside our clothes in pickpocket zones.

At least this was a short flight and the wonders of Tanzania lay ahead!

Antananarivo Airport & Kenya Airways TNR-NBO-ACC

Posted on March 29, 2015 by Tara

Antananarivo’s Ivato Int’l Airport is probably not going to top anyone’s list of favourite airports but it gets the job done. There aren’t a lot of airlines serving this airport but I have already done a guide on how to get here using airline miles.

The biggest tip is to beware of security guards weighing carry-on bags. Even backpacks, which normally slide through at other airports if they look small. If you have more than 7kgs, they will send you back, ostensibly to check your bag. This is a case where Scottevest saved the day for us as we simply went out of sight, stuffed the heaviest items into our very deep pockets and returned to security. Backpacks were weighed and passed, jackets were ignored except for the usual x-rays and we were inside and awaiting our flight. We didn’t have any checked luggage so it wasn’t a money issue, it was more a concern with a tight connection and fear of the bags arriving at all.

We were in economy booked with Flying Blue miles so had no access to lounges. There are a few shops but otherwise not much to do except read. No wifi outside the lounge.

Kenya Airways was about half an hour late and I was getting nervous as we only had one hour to connect in NBO. Luckily, the same aircraft that brought us to NBO remained at the gate and also took us to ACC. The first flight wasn’t full and we had an empty middle seat to spread out in. We weren’t so lucky on the NBO-ACC segment, the plane was completely full.

On arrival at Accra, we had the usual temperature security to pass, then we ran over to the immigration “other nationals” line which went smoothly since we already had the necessary visa obtained from their consulate in Canberra. They do not give visas on arrival.

Our next birding adventure in Ghana was about to begin!

Getting To Madagascar With Airline Miles

Posted on February 17, 2015 by Tara

Madagascar is one of the most difficult places to get to using frequent flyer miles. The gateway airport, Antananarivo Ivato Airport is only served by a handful of airlines. You will most likely have to route through Paris or Nairobi if you want to use miles. Otherwise, Madagascar will be one destination you have to actually purchase a revenue ticket. All routes will have YQ fuel surcharges applied. At least the destination is well worth it!

STAR ALLIANCE

This airport is not served by any Star Alliance airlines. Some people may be confused because it can look like South African Airways flies there but this is not the case. They code-share with Airlink on this route and Airlink is not a member of Star Alliance.

ONEWORLD

This airport is not served by any OneWorld airlines.

SKYTEAM

This airport is served by 2 Skyteam members: Air France and Kenya Airways. It is also possible to use Flying Blue miles on Air Mauritius segments by calling in. Given Delta’s unreliability on their program, I used Flying Blue miles sourced from my USA based Amex PRG card to get us tickets on Kenya Airways TNR-NBO-ACC for our outbound flight.

Flying Blue generally charges 17,500 miles for inter-Africa flights (Madagascar is grouped with Africa) and they always add YQ so it depends on the route if it is worth it or not. On our route to Ghana, it was well worth it as the base fare would have been over $750 per person!

On the Mauritius – Antananarivo route, you are better off to just purchase a ticket as you get very poor value for your miles. The same 17,500 miles only saves you $179!

EXAMPLES OF OTHER FLYING BLUE REDEMPTIONS

LONDON – Beware the high APD on top of the YQ!

PARIS – Less APD but still high YQ

Routes from the USA (JFK & LAX shown below) can be good, especially if you are using Amex MR points from a credit card!

AUSTRALIA – Aussies are out of luck with high mileage requirements, no credit cards that credit to Flying Blue and very high taxes. If you are coming all the way from Australia, best to make Madagascar part of a larger African adventure such as I did. I used United miles to get to Africa, then just the inter-African award as above.

The example below from Sydney routes via Jakarta and Paris!

Review: Air Austral Mauritius – Antananarivo

Posted on February 16, 2015 by Tara

Normally I am the sort who wants the absolute cheapest flight from A to B and if I can’t use miles or earn miles then I don’t care which airline it is on. But this was one time where the punctuality was crucial to our plans and we couldn’t afford for an airline to be late or even worse – cancel. I had done my homework after reading of Air Madagascar’s reputation on Trip Advisor and tracking their on-time stats on Flightstats. The odds were heavily against this flight being remotely on time or even arriving on the same day! So I made a very unusual decision for me, I paid around $100 more per person to go with an airline that had 98% on-time performance on this route – Air Austral.

I should also point out that I had no flexibility on days. I had moved this trip forward from 2015 to 2014 and had to cut a few things back so it was essential that we fly on Monday and have a full week in Madagascar. We would have been happy to fly on Air Mauritius if they flew on Mondays but they didn’t. A flight delay could mean we would lose 2 out of our 7 days in Madagascar.

The flights themselves were spot on time although we had to change planes in Reunion. Since Reunion is part of France we also had the protection afforded anyone on an European airline.

We boarded right on time and I managed to get our carry-on backpacks on board as carry ons. They do have a weight restriction and my heavy camera gear put us over the limit but I didn’t want to check the expensive camera and lenses.

One last look at Mauritius. The flight time was around 1 hour on both segments.

This is Air Austral’s business class although I can’t see why anyone would pay the extra on such a short flight.

This is the departure lounge at Reunion. There are a couple shops and a cafe. We had less than an hour between flights and the Madagascar flight also was right on time.

I didn’t take photos of the 2nd flight as it was identical to the first one. There were snacks served on board and neither flight was full so we each had an empty seat next to us and were very comfortable. We arrived right on time at Antananarivo and were able to do our full itinerary in Madagascar and that was all that really mattered to us. Air Austral is a good airline overall and we were happy with the service.

JNB Airport & Comair Flight To Mauritius

Posted on February 1, 2015 by Tara

I have already blogged a bit about the facilities available in the domestic terminal and we were in business class so had access to a lounge. In this case, we were simply in economy so no lounge access from the ticket. I had planned to use Priority Pass to get us into the lounge but by the time we got through the security line, there was no time. I changed what was left of the Rand to Mauritius Rupees, then wandered into a few shops to kill time.

High fashion in the airport!

It was Nov 8 but they already had Christmas decorations up. I gave into temptation and bought that pink cushion cover and another similar one in black because the had birds on them.

When we got to the gate, people were already in line so we let the line proceed and jumped in when it slowed down. We had decent seats and only carry-on backpacks so I wasn’t very worried.

Comair is a subsidiary of British Airways and has their livery. Space is easily searchable on either BA.com or AA.com.

I grabbed a quick shot of the “business class” cabin as we went to our seats. Identical to economy (Euro-business) with a blocked middle seat. Not worth wasting Avios on. The flight wasn’t full and we got an empty middle seat anyway! The 1908 mile flight falls into the 3rd band and costs 10,000 Avios economy and 20,000 business.

Airline Review: Comair (British Airways), South Africa

Posted on January 4, 2015 by Tara

Considering what a bargain these flights are with Avios, I was very pleasantly surprised at what a great airline South Africa’s Comair is!

Business class is basically Euro-business, a normal economy row with the middle seat blocked. You do get better food though. Since these flights are never more than a few hours, unless you really want to burn some Avios, I would stick with economy which is also very comfortable and has decent meal service.

In most cases, you will be boarding and dis-embarking via staircases so plan your carry-ons accordingly. We use backpacks so this was no problem.

Slow Lounge JNB Transit & Comair Flight: Johannesburg – Port Elizabeth

Posted on December 16, 2014 by Tara

One more flight would end the epic journey from Brisbane to Port Elizabeth in South Africa. Theoretically, I should have been able to tag a domestic JNB-PLZ segment onto our award ticket but there was no availability in either Y or J the day we needed it. Thankfully since I can easily get British Airways Avios via my Chase Ultimate Rewards, this wasn’t a huge problem.

Even with the Avios, we would have been fine in economy as it was only a short hop but this wasn’t available so we booked business. This entitled us to visit the Slow Lounge in the domestic terminal which was pretty nice and had a wide variety of food. Not that we were that hungry after the breakfast on South African Airways!

We left the lounge after a quick bite and checking my emails and wandered through the airport to the gate.

Unfortunately the seats were Euro-style business class – economy seats with a blocked middle seat but they did serve us a good lunch and it was less than 2 hours. Economy would have been fine for this segment if it had been available.

Finally Port Elizabeth came into view and our epic air journey was over! All we needed now was a 3 hour drive to King William’s Town and we could finally see the Cape Parrots!

I only snapped this pic because I liked the bird on the tail fin!

South African Airways: Beijing – Johannesburg, Business Class

Posted on December 15, 2014 by Tara

Since I have already written a guide on how to get to South Africa using frequent flyer miles, I will jump right into the review of the flight. Business class awards are becoming an endangered species and it can be pretty tricky trying to get one on South African Airways since they are one of the best airlines serving JNB, the major gateway airport to this amazing country. This trip was originally going to happen in 2015 but was brought forward to 2014 as I was getting worried about the availability of amazing awards like this and couldn’t afford another devaluation by United.

First look at the plane from the gate in PEK.

Comfortable seats that lie flat!

Seat controls

The seat backs were already loaded with magazines, headphones and a nice amenity kit.

I was REALLY glad we weren’t going to do a 14 hour flight in economy!

The flight attendant took our orders for both dinner and breakfast. It was late and all I really wanted to do was sleep so I asked for a nice liqueur. She recommended Amarula which was absolutely divine and became my addiction for the rest of the trip (when I didn’t have a rental car to worry about).

With seat in the bed position, I slept like a log and was astonished to be woken a couple hours out of JNB with breakfast. Maybe the two layover excursions in Taipei & Beijing helped as I was totally exhausted. Best sleep I ever had on a plane!

These fruit crepes were delicious!

We landed right on time at JNB. The camera showed the plane’s position, it was pretty cool.

Business class got our own bus to immigration which was a breeze. You don’t even have to fill in arrival cards! Why can’t all countries be this smart & efficient?

To say the least, I loved South African Airways! Great service, punctual, comfortable, what more could you want? We still weren’t at our final destination: King William’s Town. One more short flight on British Airways/Comair and we would be there!

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Category Archives: Air Travel