I've never tried a travel question here so I'm not sure if it will
work but here goes...

I'm looking to find a flight from Minneapolis, MN (MSP) to Nairobi,
Kenya (NOB).  I need to depart on December 25th or early on the 26th
and depart for return to the U.S. late on January 4th or January 5th. 
Northwest/KLM is probably the only airline that goes out of Minneapois
to Kenya and all of their flights for those dates are $4,000 or more. 
I need to find something pretty close to $2,000.  If anyone has any
suggestions, please feel free to let me know.

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Request for Question Clarification by rainbow-ga on 01 Nov 2002 11:25 PST

Hi jpbischke,
I found a few flights that are lower than $2000. I'm expecting an
email back from them within 24 hours for availabilty. I will let you
know when I get a response. Meanwhile I'll keep searching for more
flights for you.
Regards,
rainbow

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Clarification of Question by jpbischke-ga on 02 Nov 2002 10:07 PST

I appreciate it.  I'm willing to go on alternate routings to some
extent but if it's too derived it problem won't work.  For instance I
did find something in the $3,000 range but on the way back it was
Nairobi to another city to Cairo to Istanbul to Amsterdam to Newark to
Minneapolis.  Too much for me!

I'll look forward to hearing from you.

---

Request for Question Clarification by rainbow-ga on 08 Nov 2002 07:23 PST

Hi jpbischke,
I've received replies, but unfortunately there is no availability on
the flights I inquired about. I will keep searching for you and will
let you know of any updates.
Regards,
rainbow

---

Clarification of Question by jpbischke-ga on 08 Nov 2002 08:43 PST

Sounds good.  I know there was a response on here before but it got
deleted.  Not sure why...  Anyway, I'm going to pursue a couple of
leads that I got this morning and see where they take me.

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Request for Question Clarification by morningstar2000-ga on 08 Nov 2002 09:40 PST

Dear jp - 
    I have been working on your request as well and wanted to know a
little more about you for discount tickets.  Are you a student under
the age of 26?  Are you a senior over the age of 65?   I have not
found any other discount items but either one of those might be
helpful in fullfilling your request.

Thank you
Morningstar

---

Clarification of Question by jpbischke-ga on 08 Nov 2002 15:50 PST

Unfortunately the answer is no to both of those questions.

Hi,
I do know that for those dates airlines bump up the fares dramatically
to cash in on the holiday period, I will have a look into this and see
if I can find anything cheaper.
Ali

I've looked into this and found nothing cheaper AND available for
those dates.  The cheapest fare I've found is $4401 + Tax at
http://www.avacation.com/air.html (and this involved a few changes).
The cheapest fare that WAS available for these dates was $1539 + Taxes
(at the same site), however (and I know from experience) the airlines
only allocate a certain number of seats to this price and then when
they are sold, the price increases.  The cheapest fares tend to book
up a few months before and at this stage you are unlikely to find a
bargain fare I'm afraid as there is limited availability.
Good luck.
Ali

You can try Priceline.com
There, you can put in a fare that you would like, and they will either
get it for you (and buy it for you), or they can't get it for you, and
they will offer you the best price they can find.

pba

Hi, jpbischke-ga, 

When you're looking for fares to an airport outside the usual,
much-traveled routes, it's a good idea to check out the airlines at
your destination airport.
For example, in Nairobi, as well as some American airlines, you have
European airlines like Air France (which have an airfare sale at the
moment -- www.airfrance.com) and "third-world" airlines like Air India
which fly from Chicago to London three times a week (for around $450,
return, including all charges) and a Middle-East airline, Emirates
which came up on a search engine as flying from Minneapolis to Nairobi
-- the tickets listed on this website (I found it when I did a search
for Africa on www.travelzoo.com) were under $2,000 -- but not
available.

However, as I know from getting an Air India ticket for a friend,
sometimes you get a better deal from a travel agent! For Air India,
you have to phone them for a recommended travel agents in your area or
ask your local agent for a quote. I  know that a good agent will do
this for you ... for example, Nordic Travel in Baraboo, WI did it
(even though they'd never done it for Air India before). An agent may
charge you a fee on top of the airfare ... good to check that in
advance.

So, to summarize, I'm suggesting, in no particular order

1. Have a look at the airlines at Nairobi airport (keywords Jomo
Kenyatta
nairobi airport) ... and also airlines at the airports you're willing
to consider flying from (Chicago is www.chicagoairports.com) ... and
see if there's a match. If you can get a list with American 800 phone
numbers for the airlines at Nairobi, that would be desirable! Getting
the website is good, too, but sometimes the airline software is not
sophisticated enough to check on fares ... they just give general
information and may even refer you to a travel agent to buy the
ticket.

2. Check out www.travelzoo.com -- it lists deals from about 200 travel
suppliers, some of whom have deals for Africa; and this is where I
found a cheap fare -- but not a seat available at the price, with
Emirates Airlines. (I've checked their website and they don't list
either Minneapolis or Nairobi when you're doing a faresearch. It's a
mystery!)

3. Find a good travel agent who may be willing to get you a ticket --
or arrange a consolidated ticket, for a route through Europe or on an
airline like Air India.

4. Good luck!

Hi, jpbischke-ga, 

This is an abbreviated list of the airlines ... from
http://www.africanet.com/africanet/country/kenya/getthere.htm

+ Scheduled airlines flying to Nairobi include: 
- Aeroflot (to/from Cairo, Larnaca, Moscow). 
- Air Botswana (to/from Gaborone). 
- Air Burundi (to/from Bujumbura). 
- Air France (to/from Dzaiudzi, Moroni, Paris, St Denis). 
- Air India (to/from Nairobi, Delhi). 
- Air Madagascar (to/from Antananarivo, Paris). 
- Air Malawi (to/from Lilongwe). 
- Air Mauritius (to/from Mauritius, Moroni). 
- Air Seychelles (to/from Madrid, Mahe). 
- Air Tanzania (to/from Dar es Salaam). 
- Air Zimbabwe (to/from Harare). 
- AlItalia (to/from Rome)). 
- Balkan Airways (to/from Sofia). 
- British Airways (to/from London). 
- Cameroon Airlines (to/from Bujumbura, Douala, Kigali, Kinshasa,
Lome).
- Egypt Air (to/from Cairo). 
- El Al (to/from Tel Aviv). 
- Gulf Air (to/from Abu Dhabi, Muscat). 
- Ethiopian Airlines (to/from Abidjan, Accra, Addis Ababa,
Brazzaville, Kinshasa, Lagos).
- Kenya Airways (to/from Addis Ababa, Bombay, Bujumbura, Cairo,
Copenhagen, Dar es Salaam, Dubai, Entebbe, Harare, Frankfurt, Jeddah,
Johannesburg, Karachi, Khartoum, Kigali, Lilongwe, London, Lusaka,
Mahe, Paris, Rome, Stockholm, Zanzibar, Zurich).
- KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (to/from Amsterdam). 
- Lufthansa (to/from Frankfurt). 
- Olympic Airways (to/from Athens, Johannesburg). 
- Pakistan International (to/from Dubai, Karachi). 
- Royal Swazi Airways (to/from Manzini, Maseru). 
- Sabena Belgian Airways (to/from Brussels). 
- Saudia Airways (to/from Jeddah). 
- South African Airways (to/from Johannesburg). 
- Sudan Airlines (to/from Khartoum). 
- Swiss Air (to/from Zurich). 
- Uganda Airlines (to/from Entebbe, Kiwayu). 



By the way, British Airways (www.britishairways.com) and Iberia
(www.iberia.com) also have a sale at the moment ... and fly to
Nairobi. So if you could get a sale fare to their hubs, London or
Madrid, and then get a regular, economy or discounted fare from there
to Africa, it could cut costs dramatically.

Here are some more airlines, from a longer list ... edited out the
local Nairobi address + phone number ...

 
  
AMERICAN AIRLINES 
 
AUSTRIAN AIRLINES 

EMIRATES 

IBERIA

JAPAN AIRLINES

KLM ROYAL DUTCH AIRLINES

OLYMPIC AIRWAYS

* the list is not up to date. I know for example that Swiss Air is no
longer operating ... but it may be useful as a pointer or guideline. *

Hi, without much trouble, I found two fares around the $2,000 mark;
one on www.travelocity.com -- about $2,300 and one on
www.lowestfare.com -- about $1,700

-1-   The travelocity fare was a question of trying two options: (1)
the specific dates, or (2) "my dates are flexible" -- this gives the
airlines a chance to show you the cheapest days upfront. Anyway, you
can play around with these options to get a really, really cheap fare
... or you can fly with Northwest Airlines and KLM (they have a
partnership).

-2-   This is the fare on www.lowestfare.com with Emirates: 

Outbound : Minneapolis St Paul(MSP)-Nairobi(NBO)     12/25/02
Inbound   : Nairobi(NBO)-Minneapolis St Paul(MSP)     01/4/03  
 
  
CHARGES 
                 QUANTITY CHARGE SUBTOTAL  
Adult Fares 1 $1597.44 $1597.44  
       Estimated Tax 1 $90.00 $90.00  
     Processing Fees   Normal Delivery -- $20  
  Express Delivery -- $30  
TOTAL $    
 
PASSENGER INFORMATION