All these advertised "Cheap tickets" websites and travel agencies are full of it.

I am going to Kenya in July, but would like to find some tickets that really are cheap. I know some of you here have traveled recently, so I am curious if online travel agencies are worth the time.

Bottom line: I would like some money left over when I get there so I can eat or something.

Any ideas?

My wife got a roundtrip flight from Buffalo, NY to Nairobi, Kenya on 1/10/04 for $1,299. Contact is airfareplanet.com. 1-888-204-8869. They are out of Oregon. Ask for "Jacob". He's Kenyan and knows the ins and outs of best time to travel for cheap flights to Kenya. They have kind of a weird billing system where you have to fax a photocopy of your credit card to them with a signed form. But you can communicated easily via e-mail. Got the paper tickets fedexed within 5 business days. They did not take the funds until after the tickets arrived.

green, July is peak time for Nairobi, certainly from London. Prices are at their highest from mid July to end August usually.

If you want cheap, you either need to travel in off peak seasons or be prepared to spend a lot of time hunting around for a cheap fare which may or may not materialise. If you want any flexibility in the fare or length of stay, forget cheap.

I am guessing that you are not in Europe.... however the best fares are generally from London. I know that British Airways have had an offer of £299 travelling mid-week, but I doubt very much its for July travel. Not sure if the offer is still there, you could check their website - they had it recently as a promotion in conjunction with their launch of extra flights to Nairobi.

Thank you for the comments.

Looks like I am going to pay through the nose. I must travel in July (getting married). So be it. Does not mean I have to like it, tho.

I will check out airfareplanet.com,... you never know.

Thanks again.

I'm going in December so I'm looking for tickets now. But I was looking for a flight connecting from Europe preferably to Germany (tentative).. then fly to Kenya. Threadr I'm going to contact the person you suggested.. Now I know people who have flown from here then bought tickets from London.....it did work out to be less..... that was US wasn't it Threadr?

KAT

December is the most expensive travel time to Kenya from Europe. But here is an example of a flight from Frankfurt.

Frankfurt (Frankfurt Int.) London (Heathrow) Nairob(JKIA) 02.12.2004

2 Person: Price p.P. 587 EUR + 85 Tax, Price incl. Tax 1344 EUR

Travel retreat insuarance. 23,- EUR per Person.

KAT,

Yes. The flight my wife took was $1,299 US. She got lucky though. From 1/10/04 to 10/01/04, with such a long stay, airlines assume that you are not a tourist traveler but a business traveler and usually jack the prices way up. (Businesses presumably can afford it; if they paid there workers better, then they could afford it too.) She flew American Airlines to Chicago and British Airlines to Heathrow and then to Nairobi; so not some obscure airline.

Threadr. that's about $1,700 + whatever the rate exchange might be which isn't all that out of touch to which I thought it would be..

I'll check him out nd there are a couple of places in Toronto as well. I had one that wanted me to fly Gulf Air now mind you I have flown to Oman from TZ but never used it from Long Distance.....So I'm not sure...

I recall one time flying with KLM getting bumped to Business Class sat with the exc. from KLM who was taking a posting in TZ and we happend to have problems with the landing gear that particular flight . We were about to land the jet suddenly veered and we had to fly to Arusha where once we arrived the Fire Brigade was waiting just in case......It was a harrowing experience since we were short on fuel.....

http://www.studentuniverse.com/

Naturally you have to be a university student or faculty member. They have British Airways tickets from Boston or NYC to Nairobi starting at $1,013. There was a Swiss Air ticket for like $930 the first time I checked, but it does't seem to be there any more for the dates I want to travel.
Good luck.

Did she have to go through some other city like NYC, or was this directly from Greater Buffalo Intl airport? I plan or going this May, but I've only found cheap flights from NYC and Boston.

Those are good rates for sure... only I haven't been a student for a long time. and not at Buffalo University....

-And welcome kiaraho another member from just over there across the Peace Bridge.. threadr is from your neck of the woods. I'm just 45 minutes in Niagara...CDN side..

Asante boss!

My wife flew directly from Buffalo, via Chicago, via London Heathrow to Nairobi. Try that airfareplanet website, or call the number directly; it's toll-free in the U.S. and probably Canada.

Guys: if you want the cheapest fare, this is often one way to do it. Hunt down the cheapest NYC-LON fare (and these can be quite cheap) and search online for the best LON-NBO fare. I doubt many US agents have access to the range of fares out of LON (which is still the world's international travel hub as far as I'm concerned). Bottom line - you could be on different airlines, and its possible there could be a lengthy changeover in LON but you could save money. To get an idea of cheap LON-NBO fares, try these UK sites:

http://www.ebookers.co.uk
http://www.opodo.co.uk
http://www.expedia.co.uk
http://www.airline-network.co.uk/
http://www.trailfinders.co.uk
http://www.bridgetheworld.com/

Thanks for the suggestions.

They are all ~ the same, except, Kenyan Airways may be a tad cheaper with direct flights without going through Joburg.

However, they are running about 600 GPB. Bad time of year to travel.





This makes me want to

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Try SN Brussels Airlines. Website is www.flysn.com . The carrier is based in Amsterdam. However one can fly from most European cities to it's hub and onto either Nairobi or Mombasa in Kenya. They have 6 flights each week to Nairobi, except Thursday and one to Mombasa every Sunday.

Fare will be less than most larger carriers. From the UK, Monarch airlines used to fly charter flights into Momasa during the summer period. However, they suspended flights to Kenya after the missile incident at Mombasa airport. 2 months ago I flew their scheduled route to Gibraltar, and whilst talking to one of their cabin crew during the flight, I asked if they were to fly this summer to Kenya. Although no confirmation was forthcoming but there was a hint that the flights may resume. It is worth checking with this carrier. When they operated on the London-Mombasa & Manchester-Mombasa route, the return fare was usually only £199 to £299, lowest during May and highest between June - July

- Great information. Thanks for your post. This might be able to solve the problem for Green who is getting married this July..

I'm looking into various plans too as I will be going in December....

KAT ! I forgot to mention in my last post that SN Brussels Airlines connects most major North American & European cities as well to it's Amsterdam hub, through it's own schedule flights. Hence one can, depending on the total cost for the single ticket, fly out from one's own departure airport via Amsterdam onto Nairobi or Mombasa.

Alternatively if a local budget carrier offers a better deal for the flight to Amsterdam, and the onward being on SN Brussels; this too may work out a competitive fare.

Monarch Airlines, the charter operator to Kenya can be reached at their website www.flymonarch.com

I hope Green & yourself manage to get out to Kenya in July & December as planned. I too am thinking of going there sometimes later in the year. A fantastic place despite the few local problems. Anyways ! good luck