Carol and I just got final confirmation on our plane tickets for ROAR 2. We used AMEX Platnium IAP and are using LH and are going LAX-FRA-JNB-CPT arriving CPT on 9/12/08. Will recouperate from travel for two days. Return is 9/28/08 JNB-FRA-LAX.

If any are still haveing trouble with flights this was a good alternate from the SO Calif area.

Still hard to wait until 9/08 but I guess the anticipation is part of the fun.

It is always a releif to get those air reservation firmed up. Glad you got yours. We are leaving Vegas the 8th in the afternoon and will overnight in Atlanta. Fly out on the 9th and get to Joburg on the 10th. Will overnight there and go onto Cape Town. What an ordeal to get there! Can't wait until Sept.

Bert and I are all set, as well. We used our FF miles-what a hassle. We had to book a round trip fare so we are returning from JNB to CPT at the completion of the trip before returning home. We are flying through Amsterdam, but they would not let us break up the trip and overnight there unless we used even more miles-Grrr.

Mitch, we always stop and overnight and have never been charged extra miles for it on f.f. tickets. I wonder if you got a "dummy" and should try calling back to someone else OR maybe this is a new change ???

I'm finally set, too. Going Delta BWI/ATL/JNB, and have to hope and pray that there's a SAA flight to get us to CPT same night. Upgraded a paid fare with only 25K each way, not a bad deal. We'll arrive on 9/13.

Mitch, I would call back, too. I can't imagine them not allowing an open-jaw trip, at the very least, to allow you to fly into CPT and out of JNB.

Mitch - it took us three tries to get a very knowledgeable agent for FF mile tix. Did you want to stop in Amsterdam on the way home, or simply do an inbound to CPT and a return from JNB?

Cheers, Anne

PS - hope your boards are over and went well. XOXOX to you & Bert

It may not have been that would not allow Mitch a flight into Cape Town and out of Johannesburg but an availability issue.

I want to fly into and out of Johannesburg, cant do it. Must do Cape Town first as the flight to Johannesburg was not available. I think that is probably the most likely explanation.

However, not being able to stop over in Amsterdam without more miles does REALLY sound strange.

Mitch, you can only have one open jaw or one stop over; not both. People have been getting caught having to pay extra miles if the connection time is greater than four hours; the definition of a stop over.

How did the exams go?

I guess since I never want to stop over (always in a hurry) I did not know that the rules were one open jaw or one stopover. So great we have people like Marc and Peter who are all wise.

Unless it's changed, when we use AA f.f. miles we can do both stopover and open jaw. Guess each airline is different.

Booked Delta with an overnight in Atlanta. Don't leave Atlanta until 4:00 p.m. the next day. It is a 5 hour flight from the West Coast and the R & R will hopefully make us refreshed for the long 18 hr flight to Joburg. Overnighting there at an airport hotel just to get some sleep. Then on to Cape Town the following day. No extra $$ or miles. I hate being confined even in BIZ for such a long time. Judy

Judy, last year we did that because the SAA trip was scheduled for 10:30 am. The Renaissance that's right there at the airport is a great hotel for an overnight.

Judy, did Delta book your onward flight to CPT? I'm hoping to make it all the way there in one day, since we arrive in JNB at 4:30, and my group is staying at the Radisson that night.

No, Delta did not book us from Joburg to Cape Town. We booked our own in South African Airways.It was $151 each. They leave every hour for Cape Town.

Here are some of the flights SAA runs from JNB to CPT. I'm arriving to JNB on Delta at 4:25 p.m. so I'm thinking the 6:30 p.m. might be tight. I'll probably book the 7p.m.

Nationwide Air and a few other airlines also offer the service but I feel more comfortable with SAA.

Andrea

SA 365 leaving JNB at 6:30 p.m., arriving CPT at 8:40 p.m.

SA367 leaving JNB at 7:00 p.m., arriving CPT at 9:10 p.m.

SA 369 leaving JNB at 8:00 p.m., arriving CPT at 10:10 p.m.

SA 375 leaving JNB at 9:00 p.m., arriving CPT at 11:10 p.m.

When I checked, the prices were $153 pp for economy and $346 for business.

Nationwide is a nice airline too so if that is cheaper or timing works better on the half hour I would not hesitate to use Nationwide. I have flown them many times.

We took Nationwide on ROAR. It was a fine flight.

Cheers, Anne

The Nationwide flights don't work for us time-wise, but this info may help someone else:

Nationwide flt 746 departs JNB at 4:25 p.m., arriving CPT 6:35 p.m.

Nationwide flt 740 departs JNB at 6:20 p.m., arriving CPT 8:30 p.m.

Nationwide flt 806 departs JNB at 6:50 p.m., arriving CPT 9:00 p.m.

Economy was $105 per person one-way and business was $291.

Cheers!

Andrea

Marc-
My exams are O-V-E-R!! Thanks for remembering. Now I am finally getting to my PANDA pictures and I feel like I have my life back. I won't get results until sometime after the first of the year as they do detailed statistical analysis on the results from each question before deciding what the passing grade should be. Maybe that's why they charged $1600 for the pleasure of taking them. Sorry to rant, but it was an interesting experience watching an entire group of physicians taking a 10 hour computer based exam on sleep requiring picture ID's, a second form of ID, fingerprints each time you stepped out to take a bathroom break. I feel better now-how was that for you? ;)

No cheating in that exam!!! I am sure you are very relieved to have that behind you.

Finally got the tickets switched to business for both of us last night. Whew!

Cheers, Anne

That's great, Anne! It's amazing how much time it takes to get these plans settled!

Andrea