Best Routing to K&T from the US East Coast
For those of you who have done the K&T safari traveling from the US east coast. What was your air routing choice? I am looking at Turkish whose connects are OK, but don't have any experience with Turkish as an airline. Emirates and Qatar are other options but the connections out of Miami (my starting point) are pretty ugly. Are there any others that have been used successfully?
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See my post on Turkish Air so you understand what you’ll be dealing with. I’ve used both Qatar and Emirates to fly to Africa. out of Boston. Not the greatest connections but you can’t beat the service.
I was hoping my recent experience with Turkish Air would prove to be a more cost effective alternative for long haul flights to Africa and beyond. But after this one, I’m done with them.
I am traveling this summer on this safari. I spend some of the summer in the midwest so I chose to fly Delta/KLM DTW-AMS-JRO. Only want to change planes one time going over. Flying home I need to change twice - NBO-AMS-ATL-MIA. I always try to avoid JFK if I can. I wish Delta would fly nonstop from MIA to AMS. I looked at Qatar as well. Connections were not great and the cost was much higher in Business Class.
We prefer KLM. I get a kick out of the flight attendants. They always look like a female basketball team.
Miami (delta) - Amsterdam (klm)- Kilimanjaro.
Now that sounds really good.
Thanks, mil, that would have been perfect, but not currently being offerd by DELTA. They want to take me further up the east coast first.
rwilson15 - I always fly Delta and always have to go to Boston, Atlanta, JFK or Detroit to get an international flight, while working I traveled a lot and even though I live in Orlando did not want to drive to certain parts of the Panhandle of FL so I had to fly to Atlanta to then get a flight back into FL.
We are flying Miami/Doha /Kilimanjaro with Qatar Airways. Sep 13. 2023…..
Layover in Doha is about 8 hrs… We booked the Oryx Airport Hotel in the transit area.
Trixie, how was your flight on Qatar? We just booked with them for next August, same itinerary.
Qatar Air, in business class, is great. We flew them from Seattle to/from the Egypt: Jewel of the Nile tour. Nice QSuite, great food, great service. You’ll love it.
We loved Qatar and as Smiling Sam said business class was just great and the lounge was unbelievable.
We have been flying Qatar from Philly for a few years now. Unfortunately they are about to hand over that leg to American Airlines, so our flight to Doha next month has been switched to American and then in Doha, it goes on via Qatar. American will have to seriously up their game to be even half as good. I was so looking forward to being able to chose when I eat, wearing their pajamas and the great service and being addressed by name by the flight attendants. Of course I know I’m lucky whatever! Emirates does not fly out of Philly. Before Qatar, we flew on DELTA/KLM but there is a big risk of bags not making it from Amsterdam airport. That happened to us and has been a fairly frequent occurrence that others have mentioned.
We flew Atlanta to Amsterdam to Kilimanjaro airport in August. On return the reverse. Good service, food. Business class. Love the souvenir blue and white houses too.
Qatar and Emerites are nationally subsidized airlines.. They do not need to make a profit so you can benefit from service that airlines who need to make a profit cannot afford. Enjoy. In some cases the crews are poorly trained, but the airplanes are designed to be pretty much idiot proof. I could have saved over three hundred lives by just grabbing a spinning trim wheel. They don’t tell you about that on CNN.
We are booked in economy comfort, so get the benefit of larger seats. Hope the experience is just as good as you all describe.
I’ve had good experiences and bad experiences on almost every airline in the world. Sometimes you run into a crew that is having a bad day or just does not want to do their job, and it’s awful. At Qatar or Emirates, the crew involved might get fired. On U.S. airlines a flight attendant would have to kill a passenger to get fired. On a recent nine and a half hour flight, they served a meal in the first hour, and we never saw another flight attendant until about an hour before landing when they threw another meal at us. It was my airline, and I’ve never seen worse service.
Sealord - I think the type of service you described ( On a recent nine and a half hour flight, they served a meal in the first hour, and we never saw another flight attendant until about an hour before landing when they threw another meal at us. ) happens a lot on overnight flights. I believe the flight attendant thinking is that they want the cabin dark and don't want to be disturbing passengers trying to sleep by doing food service. As such they cram all of the service into the first and last hours of the flight.
Some airlines allow you to schedule the time of your meals.
Ditto
Yes had that experience too SeaLord and we have all our points with them
Qatar Air was great. Privacy and comfort in the Qsuites . The Oryx hotel @ Doha airport was a good idea for an 8 hour layover. Had dinner at the QA lounge. Had a wonderful safari again. Saw migration. Overdose on wildebeests. LOL
Trixie, is the Oryx hotel inside or outside of airport security? i.e. if I use it for the eight hour layover in Doha will I have to go through security again to catch my connecting flight?
We are staying at that hotel in ten days time. I’ll let you know, but you pretty much have to go through security at every point at Doha airport, we’ve been there quite a bit these past few years. It will be our first time in the hotel, I think our layover is 8 hours.
Has anyone traveled to Africa from the East coast thru Mombasa on to JRO? We can fly from MCO to FRA and have that option. Opinions please.
We have flown two ways to East AFRICA from Philly or NY. First and second time Delta Amsterdam ARUSHA. The last two times, Qatar, via Doha then Arusha….far superior
British--this isn't good news. I know American is Qatar's partner as I fly on American to Dallas where I pick up the Qatar flight to Doha. I would not like to fly on American to Doha. At that point I would choose another departure city--Boston.Chicago.Miami
We began a tour today. Yes, the Philly Qatar route was taken over by American after we booked. It started mid October. We were concerned , but it turned out to be very comfortable business class seats, I think the widest seat bed we have ever had including a quite thick cover for the seat and big pillows. My husband said it was the best sleep he has had. There is lots of storage around you. You cannot choose when to eat your meals, so that is something I missed. My dinner was almost inedible fish but breakfast was one of the most tasty ever. No provided pajamas. The AA flight attendants looked tattily dressed with unruly hair, but it’s been like that on American for a long time. The flight was full. It was a Qatar flight onwards to Windhoek, no Q suit and less comfortable business class seat than American. My husband’s seat was on the opposite side of the plane, I was offered pajamas, he was not. The service was of course superior and the attendants perfectly quaffed and addressing us by name. Dinner great, breakfast inedible, one of the worst I’ve had on business class.
All this of course entirely a first world problem to moan about.
British--that thick cover may be similar to the one used by Air New Zealand which also has a nice comfortable business class seat/bed. Now I may need to reconsider taking a page from your book and not packing PJs
Enjoy you tour.
We flew Air New Zealand but we could only afford Premium economy back then
We are going on the Kenya/ Tanzania tour in July 2024. We booked the following flights:
Newark to Amsterdam, with United. 3 hr layover. Amsterdam to JRO with KLM.
Nairobi to Brussels with Brussels Air. 41/2 layover . Brussels to Newark on United.
All Business Class flights. We’ve flown United Polaris Business many times. Has anyone flown with KLM or Brussels air Business class? If so, what did you think?
I flew Delta- Seattle ( I know- West Coast) to Amsterdam and KLM Amst- to Kilimanjaro- Excellent flight & service. You get into Kilimanjaro late at night. -
Coming back- Nairobi- Ams.-Seattle. great flight and service, I was able to connect without a problem to the next flight- Ams-Sea.