Business Class to Africa from West Coast
 

We have enough Alaska miles to do this trip - likely on their partner KLM but could also potentially use BA. We want to fly into Nairobi or Kilimanjaro ( either works ) and home from Zanzibar. With this route would we be able to include a stopover in AMS on the way over. Thanks - open to other suggestions as well

BA is better than KLM in business class. The seats turn into flat beds and the ground facilities at Heathrow are better than in AMS. KLM offers a better in-flight meal service, though. Add-on fees may be higher with BA.

Neither airline flies from Zanzibar, so you would probably be best served flying out of either Nairobi or Dar es Salaam and paying for a local flight or the ferry (to DAR). BA only flies to Nairobi and DAR, they do not fly to Kilimanjaro. KLM flies to all three cities.

thank you - I hadn't thought about the flat bed - that is definitely a plus. Guess it will come down to what is available. Do you know if you can include a stopover in Europe if you are flying into one country in Africa and out of another?

I did that in October the thing is you have to ask for the stop over when you book, I booked elcheapo tickets and that may have been a factor. I flew SFO-AMS 2 day layover-Cairo and came back out of Nairobi-AMS-1 day layover-SFO. There was no additional charge for the layovers because I asked for them at time of booking.

airlinequality.com

ba.com almost always better biz class

on this route for me

LHR usually layovers not extra.

Alaska's rules generally allow a stopover or an open-jaw, but not both on the same itinerary.

For those suggesting BA, note that Alaska charges a lot more miles - and breathtaking fuel surcharges (easily $1000+ for this itinerary) compared to awards on other airlines, like KLM.

Note however that you can't mix-and-match partner airlines using Alaska miles - if it's KLM that flies into Kilimanjaro, then you have to be on KLM metal the whole way, except for an Alaska feeder flight to some KLM gateway (usually SFO from the west coast.)

gardyloo:
thank you just what I wanted to know