slbintx

Hi there,

Kind of desperate here, our sweet nanny went home to Ethiopia (via Nairobi) for 3 months and decided to come home early. She is our main helper for our daughter with special needs and we are desperate for her to come home!

She is in Ethiopia, but she has to leave from Nairobi (visa issues, long story). My problem is that I can't find a way to buy a ticket for her here or online & get it to her. If she buys it there, they are asking about $4000 and the flight is in two weeks. Online from here, I can get it for much, much less and in 2-3 days. She can't pay for a $4k ticket to start out with, even if I offered to help her with part of it.

She said you can't purchase tickets from the airport (maybe this is just a visa issue and not an actual impossibility), but have to purchase them from an agency, but then she said for me to go ahead and purchase the ticket, but I wouldn't know how to go about getting it to her.

Do they accept US printed tickets if I wanted to try to overnight something to her? This whole thing is a tar baby, but we're exhausted and can't wait for her to come home, especially as she really wants to do so.

thanks,

NoFlyZone

FedEx / UPS / DHL

slbintx

But would she fit in the box?

just teasing, so, I guess my question was really... is their a US travel agency that has an office over there or connections?

JanGoss

slbintx:

I'm sure the problem you are running into is due to the extremely heavy tourist season in Kenya. NWA is giving a 4,200 one way fare for July, and yet it drops to 1,100 in the beginning of September.

Don't know whether Fedex or DHL would be able to deliver. I know they would deliver to Nairobi, but they won't deliver to many out of the way areas. Would definitely NOT TRUST THE MAILS.
Daphne Sheldrick tells me that many checks meant for donation to the elephant orphan organization have been intercepted in the post office.

Does she have any friends in Nairobi that we could deliver a ticket to for her? I will be going the end of July and could take one for you if someone you trust could pick it up.

Jan

Gardyloo

I can't imagine why you can't book and pay for the ticket online with her name on it, send her the confirmation number, then arrange any reimbursements etc. when she arrives.

I can see NBO-LHR on July 4, for instance, at $695 one way on British Airways; you ought to be able to get her the rest of the way (either a round trip or one way - look at Aer Lingus for cheap fares) across the Atlantic, depending on where you are.

Less than a week advance purchase, the prices are quite a lot higher.

tashak

Why not call/email one of the Nairobi-based travel agents that people on this board have used...buy and have them issue the ticket, then tell her to pick it up in their office in Nairobi before her departure? I've done this in South Africa, though never in Nairobi. Not sure about the cost differential, but a good travel agent should be able to tap into some reasonable inventory if these prices are still available online.

Other option is to find a US-based tour operator...call their air desk, and ask if they have an agency in Nairobi who will issue the ticket for them and hold it for her. You may have to sweet-talk them into doing you a favor, because many don't like doing tickets not attached to tour business. (I've done this for flights in SA & Kenya). The US agent rates may in fact be better than the Kenya agents can get...I've found this dealing with Kenya Airways,but in those cases they were mailing the ticket to me in the US).
Good luck-- I know getting airline tickets in Kenya can be a great big hassle.

Patty

Couldn't you purchase it for her online and choose to have an electronic ticket issued? That's what the woman who fraudulently used my Amex number to buy herself a ticket from Nairobi to Mexico City did. In the few days it took Travelocity to investigate, she was able to make it to her final destination!