helen63

TC, actually it worked for me multiple times with the Citibank. Seems they are more flexible in this regard (giving miles to not so new customers).
In the past, I onwed a Master Card from them, and then opened Amex with miles bonus offer, and had no problems receiving my miles.
On other occasion, I actually already owned a Master Card, and then opened another one identical Master Card, and still received my bonus miles.
My friends opened a business card with them, while previously owning a personal account, and had no problems receiving bonus miles on the business account.
On the other hand, the same strategy did not work for Chase cards (United miles). I had a card with them, and then had it cancelled for a couple of years or so, and then opened a new one with the miles bonus offer. And I did not get anything! I called them many times, called their customer retention line, and still nothing happened.
So, that's my experience.

christabir

There are SO many ways to accumulate AA ff miles. I do as many as I can:

http://www.aa.com/i18n/AAdvantage/partners/main.jsp

Just move your brokerage accounts (or open one with your vacation money).

TC

Excellent. They do sound much more generous. Enjoy your trip.

helen63

I was just on the phone with AA trying to book my mileage tickets (with mileage purchase) - ORD-CPT and JNB-ORD.

The estimated my taxes and booking fees, and campe up with $447 per ticket! Is this correct? Really that high?
I never paid such high taxes on mileage tickets before.

They said that British imposes such high taxes.

christabir

Yup - new agreement with BA. Glad I got our flights booked before it went into effect.

http://www.fodors.com/community/air-...n-roll-out.cfm

The fees are at least double what they used to be. Would it be better to pay the fare and use the miles for other flights? The flights to JNB are actually low $/miles flown. Maybe save them for a flight to Australia or S America? And join the Star Alliance for next time.

nycjv

Helen,

I'm currently planning my trip to South Africa (just went to Kenya in August and was bitten by the Africa bug) departing New York on July 23 and returning home to New York on August 6th.

I booked airfare on Orbitz (was approx. $1000 cheaper than SAA and all flights are actually on SAA) for the following routing
July 23rd depart JFK on South African Airways to Victoria Falls
July 24th thru July 27th Victoria Falls and then fly to Cape Town
July 27th thru August 1st Cape Town then fly to Sabi Sands
August 1st thru 5th arrive Nespruit with road transfer to Sabi Sands
August 5th Sabi Sands - Fly from Nespruit/Johannesburg/New York
August 6th arrive back in New York
Total Airfare for all of the above flights $1796

For lodging, I can make my itinerary work for under the $4000 and I'm going single occupancy with the following hotels/lodges.

Victoria Falls
Currently Victoria Falls Hotel has special rate of $201 per night from the Leading Hotels of the World Website (look below the first listings as they are the higher priced options).

Cape Town
Many choices for 4 Star hotels in the range of $100-$200 per night, still deciding on specific location.

Sabi Sands
&Beyond has special rates for stay 4 pay 3 for 2011. I'm considering 4 nights at either Kirkman's Kamp or Exeter River Lodge or possibly a combination with 2 nights each. Kirkman's is in Southern Sabi Sands and a little closer to Nelspruit. You can book this from Southern Destinations or Go2Africa (or another agency) at a good rate and they are definite upgrades to Elephant Plains (at least from everything I've read). The total for my lodging, and I'm going solo so I'm not splitting Cape Town or Victoria Falls hotel costs between 2 people, and my total for accommodations is approx. $3600-$3800. There will be transfer costs which run from 500-675 zar per person each way (pending # of guests being picked up) in Sabi Sands to Nespruit, but the lodging I'm considering is 12 nights and upgraded lodging options than what Smartours offers for their hotel lodging.

Just thought I'd share my findings as you might like to be aware of other options. Good luck with your planning.

Gardyloo

They aren't taxes being imposed by BA, they're fuel surcharges. AA builds most of their fuel surcharges into their base fares while BA separates them. The bottom line for paid tickets ends up very close (i.e. BA's "base" fare is cheaper than AA's, but when you add back the fuel fines they equalize.) However for mileage redemption tickets, BA just says your miles are buying the base fare, not the "taxes and fees" (including this fuel surcharge.) IMO it's just plain sneaky - it all goes to BA's bank account anyway, but lets them advertise "cheap" fares while surprising you with the fuel surcharges on the last page. In some countries (e.g. Australia) this is illegal.

AA formerly didn't play BA's game - if you redeemed miles for flights on BA you didn't pay the fuel surcharge separately, it was "all-inclusive" (although valid government fees and taxes were always extra.) As part of the new joint business venture between AA, BA and Iberia, everybody agreed to BA's rules on redemption flights. One can only hope it's a short-lived thing, and that BA will join the rest of the alliance and just build the fuel surcharges into their base fares.

Are you connecting through London or stopping over? If just connecting through (i.e. less than 24 hrs in the UK) be sure AA isn't adding the UK Air Passenger Duty tax into your "taxes and fees." You're exempt if just transiting, but sometimes the computers bang it into the fare construction and the AAgents don't catch it.

helen63

So, this is true then! I was hoping it is some kind of mistake I did not read about it before. And only came into effect on Oct, 1! My luck!

Yes, with this, the milegae purchase does not make much sense in my situation, because I need to purchase miles too. It becomes very expensive. Gardyloo, I was planning on connecting in London, so no airport fee there.

I do not know what to do at this point. Paying around $1500 for a ticket is way to expensive for my current situation.

Nycjv, thank you for sharing! I will take a look what I can do. It is cheaper from NY than from Chicago. Will think about. I do not want to give up the SA vacations!

Did you book Nespruit on Orbits also? I thought this was a local flight, so should be booked somewhere else, on the local site

nycjv

Helen,
I booked all flights including Nespruit with Orbitz. I alwasys start with the Kayak.com website and select multi-city search and put in as follows:
7/23 JFK 11:15am flight to Victoria Falls (Non-stop to Johannesburg and change planes) you arrive in Victoria Falls at 12:35pm on 7/24
7/27 Victoria Falls to Cape Town (stopover in Johannesburg you arrive in Capetown at 7:10pm
8/1 Capetown to Nespruit non-stop arrive at 12:35pm (only one Non-stop that leaves Cape Town at around 10:15am-10:30am
8/5 Nespruit to JFK with change in Johannesburg and then Dakar stopover (do not change planes)
Note: The least expensive flight was my taking the 4:40pm from Nespruit and it is the last flight of the day, so the only challenge will be if there is a delay, however it is all booked through SAA.
8/6 arrive back in New York.

Kayak shows various results and prices pending flight times for each of the above, but Orbitz had by far the lowest for the EXACT itinerary on South African Air, not certain why it was so much less expensive, but was happy that when I went to book the ticket it didn't show a surprise increase. Good Luck.
Judy

christabir

nycjv - I much prefer staying longer at one camp than moving around. I've done both. I now stay for at least three nights. Most of the posters here prefer the same.

Helen - I do exactly what nycjv does. Start with kayak, then go to the airline websites to check their prices, then orbitz and travelocity. I'm surprised how much price difference there is sometimes. This year there was a promotion to go Sept - May on SAA for under $1000 pp r/t JFK - JNB. You just might get lucky with another fare sale. I would not book the flights this early for travel next year if you aren't using your miles.

helen63

Thank you, Judy and Christa! Yes, I use Kayak too, just did not realize I can use it this way (to include local flights). I will work on it.

I am also thinking calling AA, and see if they have any mileage ticket via Madrid to see if this makes any difference in fee amount.

christabir

Can't hurt to ask. This agreement adds some perks, but I think this increase in fees is a huge minus. We all need to call AA and tell them how much we hate it and are switching to other mileage programs.

helen63

I started working with a girl from Capetown (the travel agent, and a friend of the friend) to help me put together my trip to SA. As an alternarnative to Elphant Plains, she suggested this lodge Umkumbe Lodge. I found only three review on TA on this one. Did anyone hear about this lodge. She says it is small and personable.

nycjv

Hi Helen,

Hope your research is going well. Just thought I'd update you as I have all reservations in place and for a solo traveler for late July early August and I'm in at $4,000 total for lodging as follows:

3 Nights at Victoria Falls Hotel (special stay 3 pay 2)
5 Nights in Cape Town at Mount Nelson (special internt rate for standard courtyard room, and it is one of the top hotels in Cape Town)
4 Nights Sabi Sands - Exeter River Lodge (special stay 4 pay 3)

I booked both the Victoria Falls Hotel and Mount Nelson hotel via the internet and there were NO deposits required and payment will be made during my stay. The only upfront monies were for the Exeter River Lodge that I booked from Southern Destinations (at even better rate for the pay 4 stay 3) and as this is a &Beyond lodge and the rate is a "signature" special you must pay 50% deposit which is non-refundable. Your total would be less per person as you'll be splitting cost for the hotels in Cape Town and Victoria Falls.

From everything I've read the Exeter River Lodge would be a very nice upgrade from Elephant Plains or Arathusa Safari Lodge and although you can definitely get a better rate at Elephant Plains, the rate for Arathusa ended up being very close to the special rate at Exeter River Lodge.

In regards to your actual question aboout the Umkumbe Lodge, I researched lodging fairly extensively for Sabi Sand and did not see or have anyone make recommendations for this lodge. I did find a review on this forum from Wildwings and from what I read I wouldn't book this lodging for a few reasons but mainly as it appears it has "small traversing area" and they didn't see any "Cats", which are my favorites. They only did a few game drives and did see other wildlife, but I think that if the area in which you're driving is this limited it may take away your opportunities for great game viewing. Just type in Umkumbe into the search area and read his review so you can decide for yourself.

In reading TA lodging reviews I don't take them at face value as everyone has a differnet perception of what is considered "great" based on their own travel experiences and their budget. I believe people are more inclined to write the good (and bad) and less often the mediocre reviews, so I appreciate reading a trip report such as Wildwings that are reviewing a variety of lodges and have vast experience in Africa.

Good Luck!
Judy

helen63

Judy, thank you for sharing all this information with me! I have a very similar plan. I decided to include Vic Falls into my plan in cotrary to all suggestions. The problem is that, we have never been to safari, so I am not 100% positive this is something I want to do for over a week. If I fall in love with it (like most of the people do), then I will come back for safari only. This time I would like to try different things. So, the plan is Cape Town, Sabi Sand, The Falls, and maybe 2 night is Chobe. I would prefer to use this route - ORD - CPT - MQP - LIV - ORD. However, I tried your plan too - ORD - LIV - CPT - MQP - JNB ORD. I played a lot with it, but it still come out to about $2,500 - $2,600. So, I did not book anything yet. As for Land (lodging + car) we are well under $3000 per person - this includes 4 nights in Elephant Plains (luxury room) and Zambezi Sun in Vic Falls. I am considering something more budget at Vic Falls to cut the cost. I will take a look at your accomodations, and see if I can borrow something... Thank you, again!

nycjv

Hi Helen,

That's great news about your accommodations and great to hear that you're able to come in way under you original budget. In regards to the Zambezi Sun, I've heard it is very nice although it was much more expensive during my dates so I'm at the Victoria Falls Hotel as they have a stay 3 pay 2 rate and I believe Ilala lodge which is also close to the falls also may have a similar deal and they have favorable reviews. By staying in Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, I've read that not only are the views of the falls better (depending on the time of year) your road transfers to Chobe may be easier as you don't have to wait at the border as you don't have to cross the river into or out of Zambia, but as I've not actually been there, I'm not certain how this actually works when going into Chobe only reporting what I read in one of the forums.

If I had 2 extra nights I too would have liked to stay in Chobe for a few nights but my vacation time is limited to only 2 weeks and I like to have at least 1 day off before returning to work, so for now I'm planning a day trip only to Chobe from Victoria Falls.

For my flights it was a little more expensive if I flew into LIV, so I tried it with VFA and the price came down about four hundred dollars, although right now for my dates it is a few hundred dollars less to fly into LIV, so who knows as you can never truly understand how the airlines price as it fluctuates greatly day to day. You may also want to check prices from New York alone and see if that changes it much and then maybe you can find a less expensive flight to New York from ORD. I think I was very lucky to have found the low rates for my specific dates, and I hope you too enjoy the same luck, and you're doing really well with your other arrangements so I'm certain it will all come together nicely, and I know you're going to have a great time.

helen63

Judy, I was on busines trip, so did not reply right away.

Do you think it is pretty safe to stay at Zimbabwean side? All guides (icluding Fodors) suggest to stay at Zambian side due to instability and safety reasons. Yes, I know the vews are much better in Zimbabwe, so I plan to go there too. Actually, suppsedly in September, the Falls will be dry on Zambian side. Seems like the lodging is chapper on that side too. I checked the price a flight price, it is about the same - to Vic Falls or LVI.

About Chobe. I would like to stay 2 nights, but the transfer takes half of the day. So, what do I gain by staying there vs a day trip? It looks like, I may have one extra game drive, if I stay. So, I am not sure. I may do a day trip also.

For now, I continue playing with the tickets. So, far the price is stable, and does not seem like it is going to go down any time soon.

Gardyloo

In 2005 we flew into LVI and arranged a transfer to Chobe Safari Lodge. It was actually 2 separate transfers - one from the airport to the border/river, and another from the Botswana side to the lodge. After we got to the river and went through Zambian border control, we were warned off the ferry by the parents of some (Bots) locals who were traveling to meet their kids; they said the ferry is notoriously late and has sunk on couple of occasions in the past few years, with considerable loss of life. Ohhh kay... Instead they made room on their son-in-law's aluminum skiff and we crossed the Zambezi with them. The Chobe Safari Lodge people didn't know we were coming, so we had to wait on the river bank for an hour until they turned up. Fortunately our new friends' phones worked; ours didn't. On balance, I can't say the CSL people were on top of their game.

Leaving Chobe, we arranged a land transfer to Victoria Falls (Zim) town where we stayed at the Mercure Rainbow, a little ways from the falls. The land transfer was way, way easier than from LVI, and a lot faster, of course.

We were of mixed feelings about staying in Zimbabwe; on the one hand the politics are inescapable and the scene, at least when we were there, was pretty depressing. On the other hand, we haven't met nicer people, and in southern Africa that's saying a lot, plus we felt that to the extent our spending was staying anywhere close to the people helping us, it was money well spent. The Mercure was very comfortable, too, and considerably cheaper than the big places closer to the falls. We got the hotel to get us a guide/driver to visit the falls, and were very pleased with the service (and with the guide, who was a great guy who talked about life in Zim these days.)

We flew out of VFA instead of LVI and that, too, was easier.

nycjv

Helen, I can't really answer the security question as it is a personal matter as to what you're comfortable with, but from what I've read on various forums and when reading the reviews it seems to have improved a bit (especially since 2008) and it does sound like they have tourist police. Hopefully someone else can chime in on what they've recently experienced. For my own trip, I'm not worried and I'm a female traveling solo, I just take the general precautions I would no matter where I travel.

I do believe it will be easier to get to Chobe from Zimbabwe and it was less expensive on my specific dates for my flights. My hotel the Victoria Falls Hotel was also less expensive at only $201 per night. This is a "Leading Hotel of the World" although I've read it is by no means to US standards and may be a little run down, but the location and the price are right and it was very easy to book over the internet. There is also the Ilala Lodge which has good reviews and is also close to the Falls on the Zim side. Others mention the VF Safari Lodge, but you can't walk to the Falls and I'm not certain of their pricing.

In regards to visiting Chobe, I'd prefer to also stay 2 nights in Chobe, however I'm only in the area 3 total nights and that is when I first arrive in Southern Africa from the US, so I thought it might be too much to recover from jet lag, stay one night in Victoria Falls and then head to Chobe for 2 nights and back to the airport for my very early afternoon flight to Cape Town. Therefore I'm most likely going to take the Day trip to Chobe as someone on another board topic recently recommended the day trip and said it was really good but it is a long full day, and I agree that it will be easier from Zimbabwe then Zambia. You're also correct that the falls will be better from Zimbabwe in August. I think there is a lot to do around the Falls as there are many activities so for now I'm keeping all 3 nights in Zimbabwe with day trip to Chobe. Now if I had 4 total nights I'd probably try to stay in Chobe for 2 as I hear that August is a great time to visit although it is very busy.

Hopefully a "special" airfare will pop-up soon. I know some people think it is too early to purchase the airfare, but I did buy my airfare as I thought with Intl. airfare and all of the regional flights included in my price it was a very good value, but if it had been as high as it was suggesting on the SAA website, I'd probably be waiting awhile to buy.

Good Luck!
Judy

helen63

Thank you Gardyloo and Judy for sharing! I'll keep looking into my options... Maybe, Zimbabwean side is the way to go.