Booking International Flight to Kenya
 

Well, we wired our deposit for July/August 2007 safari to ESS on Friday. Very excited. I've been looking around (on Expedia, etc...) trying to get a feel for what airfare is going to be and I've noticed that when I plug in travel dates for this spring the fares are in the $1700pp range (Tampa or Orlando to Nairobi, flying coach) but when I plug in the actual dates of our trip they are around $2400pp. I asked a travel agent coordinating another trip for us about this and she simply said its because August is a busier season and that the price will only go up if we wait to book. I was hoping she'd divulge a little "inside scoop" but due to other inconsistencies in things she's told us, I'm a little skeptical of her response. Will I be more likely to get a better cost if I wait until about 4 months out to book the international flights or should I book them now. Anyone willing to share their strategy?

Maria2,

That's a hard call really....because airlines keep changing their rates ocassionally and their promotion deals etc etc., change with every season and is usually not known until they release it. But, you hv a point with August and high season.....have you called the airlines direct to chk their rates?

Hari

Well, this may be of little help, but, last Jul 2006 we booked flights from LAX to Johannesburg then return from Nairobi to LAX, cost was $1,700, airline Northwest and KLM. Flights were for Sep 2006. The European connection (KLM) was at Amsterdam.
reagrds - tom

Maria,

I purchased my flight tickets on September 20 for next July/August. I paid $2,284/pp. Here is my itinerary:
July 22 - Orange County, CA to Amsterdam, flying US Airways and Northwest, duration 13 hours 30 minutes
August 1 - Paris to Nairobi, flying Air France, duration 9 hours 25 minutes
August 13 - Nairobi to LAX, flying Kenya Airways and United, duration 24 hours.

I also tried Consolidator Webfares, their prices were pretty good, and Klaus was very helpful, but they can't book the ticket for me that fly into Amsterdam and fly out of Paris. You might give Klaus a call. I think they are in Florida.

Consolidator Webfares, Inc.
http://www.consolidatorwebfares.com
Ph 678 462 8737

Kayak.com is another option, they showed many flights from Orlando and Tampa to Nairobi for $1,920, long durations though.

Pat

Surprisingly, there are often better rates going into JNB.

But July/August is high-season, so those rates seem correct at $1700 from the east coast to NBO. That's what many paid this past year.

Check out the site Pat listed above. They are good resources for comparison.

Kayak isn't a booking agent, but will direct you to whom is offering the fare once you select one... it maybe the airline, a discounters/consolidator.

The consolidator link may not have their fares for next year listed, but they do have an 800# so you can speak to some direct and let them know what it is your are looking for.

Here's another recommendation for kayak.com In July, we flew from San Francisco to Nairobi, and I found the best deal through Kayak when I bought the tickets in early April. Total cost per ticket was around $1900 round-trip and we flew Delta to JFK and then Emirates from JFK to Dubai to Nairobi.

Ticket prices will vary a lot depending on day of week you fly and even the hour of the day. If you have some flexibility, it is worth putting in the hours on the website to try all possible combinations.

If you do use kayak.com get on their lowest fare contact list - they will email you the lowest fares.

Once you get a sense of who's offering the lowest fares, call the airline direct, as they will sometimes do better.

For some wierd reason, I would also do better when trying to get 2 tickets to plug in 1 passanger only. The online site would usually say that only 1 seat was available and that seat was less costly than for 2 passengers. I would then call the airline direct and always manage to find the 2nd seat at the lesser price.
Good luck!
Sherry