Have any of you booked your own flights to Africa?

[dory]

Jeez !!
I had enough delemmas just sorting my shit out !!!
Guns , cameras , clothes right weigt bags etc .
For the small price let someone else sort out your AV gas hours .

 

[Biddleman]

kayak.com is your friend

 

[TRAVEL EXPRESS]

Hi All ~ as in most all instances there are pros/cons. Our intention is to provide a good service at a fair price to our clients. We have a lot of knowledge from personal experience on many trips to Africa, traveling with firearms. We are happy to pass on any information we have or answer any questions for you before, during and after you have booked your flights with us. There are certain airlines even in the U.S. that you should be aware of when traveling with firearms to Africa. We are able to book Delta connections to the South African Air gateways which I don't believe you can get on the SAA's website. It's important to get your whole itinerary on one ticket if possible or it not, then at least have it all in the same reservation which any travel agency can easily do. We handle all the headaches of schedule changes and misconnects that occur on your booking. We don't guarantee to be available 24/7 but we are very in touch with emails and phone messages during waking hours of every day and promptly deal with emergency cases. We've made arrangements for many safari goers on this site and look forward to working with many more.........

 

[Royal27]

We don't guarantee to be available 24/7 but we are very in touch with emails and phone messages during waking hours of every day and promptly deal with emergency cases.

I'll vouch for this too. During the booking I recently completed Lori e-mailed me back while she was out of the office and in Milwaukee (and by the way, I told her the information could wait until she got back in town, but she did it anyway). I didn't even know Milwaukee had internet available....

 

[Divernhunter]

We used Lori in 2013 and she was a huge help. Especially when they did not have us on the rescheduled flight out of San Francisco which was the start of our whole trip. A call at 8PM on a Sunday and she went to the office and got it fixed in time for the trip to get off the ground and no other problems. EXCEPT I did not hire a gun service and ended up paying them larger bribes to get thru the airport in Joberg so we would not miss our flight to Cape Town. Next trip will hire a gun service and avoid the lines and hassle!

 

[dobber]

I always check pricing online, when i find the best price i print off that sheet and take it to my travel agent and ask them to match it or beat it. In most cases they have beat it by a little

 

[caddman]

I have a rare day off from work today. And I was trying to figure out how much flights were in the end of August 2016. The travel agent I usually use came up with $2074, which to me was pretty steep. I looked up individual airlines with obvious delays between flights to allow for errors and I came up with less than $1550.

My questions for the people of AH, have you ever booked your own flights? To me that is a lot of money. Maybe I'm more conscious about my money, but I'm thinking of just booking the flights myself.

Booked my own on the first African Tour and all went well. Used an agent for the 2nd one, it is fine, it just cost more. Things can get complicated especially with firearms and stop overs in various countries. Always try to get your luggage/firearms booked through to your final destination. as opposed to individual legs. I would suggest doing your own arrangements if you are detail oriented and don't mind doing some planning & internet work. If not, you may want to pay someone else. In saying that keep in mind that all agents are not experts when travelling with firearms! Remember that when stuff hits the fan, you are still ultimately responsible for your own travel arrangements regardless of how/where you purchased your ticket.

 

[Desert Dog]

I book all of my own flights worldwide, often from my cell phone on the go. IMO, travel agents became an endangered species once sites like Expedia became prominent. They just make it so easy, and internet forums like this are a wealth of information on any airline going to your destination.

For those of us old enough to remember the days before the net, when everyone used travel agents, many were crooks and good ones were very hard to find. Expedia, Kayak, etc really changed the game for the traveler and made us our own travel agents. As an example, I am traveling to Africa next week. My booking agent for the outfitter put me in contact with a travel agent that is very respected on this site. I was able to get my airfare for 20% less than the price she quoted by doing it myself, this included choosing my own seats and upgrading my meals. Took about an hour of my time, including research on the airline and calling them to verify their firearms and ammo policy.

So basically, If you are a seasoned traveler and versed in internet use, save money and skip the travel agent. If you are not tech savvy or have the extra money to pay someone else to book your flight and save you the hassle, hire a reputable travel agent. Both ways will get you there.

 

[NickyMaz]

I didn't know travel agents still existed!

 

[enysse]

Thanks everyone for the replies!

 

[wapiti]

I wish I had found this site before we booked our airline tickets. We used the travel agency that our booking agent suggested. (not Lori on here). So far they haven't notified us of a flight time change or the fact that our seats were moved and we weren't sitting together. Luckily I am a frequent flier on Delta and was able to get into our reservation. I now follow it closely. They travel agent also charged us $230 per ticket to book it for a total of $460. I wouldn't have used a travel agent but I was afraid of problems on the return flight.

 

[enysse]

After some thoughts and considerations, I decided to book the flights myself. I booked the fastest flight there and back, because I'm short on vacation. I put plenty of time between flight. And I booked an over night hotel at Afton House. I got 6:25 am flight to Port Elizabeth because again, time is money. I don't sleep that much and when I'm there, I just want to hunt. Overall I paid $1780.00, I would have saved $200-$300 if I had many stops, at this point in my life, I just don't have time. And I have learned the more stops you make with guns, the more problems you have, I like less problems.

 

[Code4]

I buy more own tickets, arrange my own insurance and do my own import paperwork. It's not rocket science.

 

[enysse]

I deal with a lot of regulation stuff too, I thought I was missing out on the "inside" deals but I guess not. This in not my first rodeo and I have learned from past trips what can go wrong. I didn't buy the cancellation insurance for the trip, because frankly, hell or high water this trip needs to happen.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

Sometimes, a good travel agent can save you a bunch of money. If you have a relatively straightforward trip, Point A to Point B and back, book it yourself. If you are doing some side trips, etc, then a good travel agent that really knows Africa can help. For most hunts, I agree that booking it yourself is the way to go. If you want to add a trip to Vic Falls or Cape Town and tour the wine country, would go with a travel agent.

I've live in Nigeria for about 4 years and work with a lot of expats from all over the world. While living and working in Africa, most folks take advantage of travelling all over the continent and seeing the sights. So there's a pretty good network here of where to go and what time of year (avoid the rainy season), etc and what travel agent to use.

Two travel agents that I've used here are:

Go2Africa.com: http://www.go2africa.com/?gclid=COnS0O3J78sCFaoy0wodZRcLLA

andBeyond: http://www.andbeyond.com/about-us.htm

In 2014, I booked a "once in a lifetime" trip for my family and used Go2Africa. I was originally planning this trip for August and got a price quote. It was a lot of money and I told the travel agent I was going to have to think about it, maybe reduce it a day here or there. The travel agent asked me if there was something special about the timing being in August. I told her I wanted it during the cool months and a good water level at Vic Falls (not too much or too little). The travel agent told me "high season" started on July 1, so if I took the trip in late June I could save 25-30%. We went in late June.

I flew my 4 adult kids from the US, plus my sister-in-law and neice joined us, also from the US. Everyone met in Joburg and overnighted at the travel agent recommended African Rock Hotel (incredible place, food and service). We continued on to Zambia for a few days at Vic Falls. Did the dinner train trip and elephant rides while in Livingstone. Then traveled to Chobe Botswana for 3 days of photo safari, then back to Joburg. Everyone flew back to the US and we flew back to Lagos. All the arrangements were perfect, except one and that was a delayed Delta flight in the US. All our hotel arrangements, ground transportation, river crossings, clearing customs and immigration, side trips, everything were perfect.

 

[jeff]

After some thoughts and considerations, I decided to book the flights myself. I booked the fastest flight there and back, because I'm short on vacation. I put plenty of time between flight. And I booked an over night hotel at Afton House. I got 6:25 am flight to Port Elizabeth because again, time is money. I don't sleep that much and when I'm there, I just want to hunt. Overall I paid $1780.00, I would have saved $200-$300 if I had many stops, at this point in my life, I just don't have time. And I have learned the more stops you make with guns, the more problems you have, I like less problems.

Not only problems with guns , but every stop and plane change you run the risk of having your luggage missed placed or sent to the wrong place.

 

[enysse]

The last time I went to Africa, my brand new gun case go drove over at the airport and I did minimal flight changes.

I got a new gun case but definitely don't want to deal with that again. Delta did reimburse me.

 

[JimP]

The last time I went to Africa, my brand new gun case go drove over at the airport and I did minimal flight changes.

I got a new gun case but definitely don't want to deal with that again. Delta did reimburse me.

Somehow last year either Delta or SSA managed to bend a piece of aluminum where the rod locks down on my aluminum rifle case. All I could figure is that someone hit it with a hammer. When I got to the SAP's office in Joberg I went to open the case and couldn't get the rod out it was bent so much. I asked the inspectors if any of them had a screwdriver and they looked at me like I was speaking a completely foreign language. Then I remembered that I had a leatherman in my other bag that was sitting right there and even with that tool I had a hard time bending that tab back to where I could get that rod out to open the case.