Deal Alert: New York-Africa Flights for Under $500
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.
Update as of 9:45am EST Saturday - Availability is getting harder to come by, but there are still discount fares to be had! See below and book ASAP!
Update as of 6:20pm EST - These fares are still available, even as low as $392 per person, through February 2016. See below for booking details and book on Orbitz ASAP - you can always cancel before tomorrow night at 10pm CST if you need to.
Our friends at Stealth Trips tipped us off to this great deal for those looking to head to Africa later this year and early in 2016: flights on sale from New York to Nairobi for under $500 round-trip, which is a sizzling deal.
Here are some sample deals we found:
February 2016 - New York-Nairobi for $392.11 round-trip
New York-Nairobi for $405.80 round-trip
New York-Nairobi (NBO)
Dates: Decent availability in October, November, and early December; Select 2016 dates
Mileage: 17,974 Miles on Etihad, ticketed via Jet Airways. See below for mileage earning.
New York-Johannesburg for $597.40 round-trip
New York-Johannesburg (JNB)
Dates: Decent availability in October and November
Mileage: 21,522 Miles on Etihad, ticketed via Jet Airways. See below for mileage earning.
Chicago-Nairobi for $785 round-trip
Chicago-Nairobi (NBO)
Dates: Available for the first three weeks of November
Mileage: Depending on routing miles will vary, but around 16,500 PQMs if booked on Swiss and crediting to United.
About Nairobi
Nairobi is a perfect jumping off point for East African tourism and safaris. You're only a short drive from amazing safari destinations like Tasvo East/West, the Ngorongoro Crater, Serengeti/Masai Mara National Parks, and many more.
Nairobi is a regional hub (and is the home base for SkyTeam partner Kenya Airways) and is a short direct flight to popular tourist destinations in Tanzania (Dar Es Salaam, Arusha / Mount Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar), Ethiopia (Addis Ababa), South Africa (Capetown, Johannesburg, and others) and many more.
Earning Points and Miles
Because these tickets are bookable on Jet Aiways ticket stock for Etihad flights, the earning structure can be a bit complicated. Most of the cheap NYC-Nairobi fares are booking into Jet Airways O Class, which earns ZERO redeemable or elite qualifying miles on American. For Etihad Guest members, you'll earn 50% of the flown miles for these tickets.
Reminder: You can bank extra credit card points by using a card that maximizes airfare purchases, like 3x on airfare with the American Express Premier Rewards Gold or 2x on the Chase Sapphire Preferred. Check out this post for more on maximizing airfare purchases.
You should be able to book most of these fares through Orbitz.
Please report back if you're able to score any of these deals!
TPG featured card
Rewards
| 2X miles | 2 miles per dollar on every purchase |
| 5X miles | 5 miles per dollar on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Business Travel |
| 10X miles | 10 miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Business Travel |
Intro offer
Annual Fee
Recommended Credit
Why We Chose It
The Capital One Venture X Business Card has all the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card has to offer and more. It offers an incredible welcome bonus and requires an equally impressive spend to qualify. In addition, the card comes with premium travel perks like annual travel credit. (Partner offer)Pros
- The Capital One Venture X business card has a very lucrative welcome offer.
- In addition, the card comes with many premium travel perks such as an annual $300 credit for bookings through Capital One Business Travel.
- Business owners are also able to add employee cards for free.
Cons
- The card requires significant spending to earn the welcome offer.
- Another drawback is that the annual travel credit can only be used on bookings made through Capital One Business Travel.
- LIMITED-TIME OFFER: Earn up to 400K bonus miles: 200K miles when you spend $30K in the first 3 months, and an additional 200k miles when you spend $150k in the first 6 months
- Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, everywhere—with no limits or category restrictions
- Earn 10X miles on hotels and rental cars and 5X miles on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Business Travel
- With no preset spending limit, enjoy big purchasing power that adapts so you can spend more and earn more rewards
- Empower your teams to make business purchases while earning rewards on their transactions, with free employee and virtual cards. Plus, automatically sync your transaction data with your accounting software and pay your vendors with ease
- Redeem your miles on flights, hotels and more. Plus, transfer your miles to any of the 15+ travel loyalty programs
- Every year, you'll get 10,000 bonus miles after your account anniversary date. Plus, receive an annual $300 credit for bookings made through Capital One Business Travel
- Receive up to a $120 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®. Enjoy access to 1,300+ airport lounges worldwide, including Capital One Lounge locations and Priority Pass™ lounges, after enrollment
- Enjoy a $100 experience credit and other premium benefits with every hotel and vacation rental booked from the Premier Collection
- This is a pay-in-full card, so your balance is due in full every month
- Top rated mobile app
Rewards Rate
| 2X miles | 2 miles per dollar on every purchase |
| 5X miles | 5 miles per dollar on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Business Travel |
| 10X miles | 10 miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Business Travel |
Intro Offer
Earn 200K miles when you spend $30K in the first 3 months, and an additional 200K miles when you spend $150K in the first 6 monthsLIMITED-TIME OFFER: Earn up to 400K bonus milesAnnual Fee
$395Recommended Credit
Credit ranges are a variation of FICO® Score 8, one of many types of credit scores lenders may use when considering your credit card application.740-850Excellent
Why We Chose It
The Capital One Venture X Business Card has all the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card has to offer and more. It offers an incredible welcome bonus and requires an equally impressive spend to qualify. In addition, the card comes with premium travel perks like annual travel credit. (Partner offer)Pros
- The Capital One Venture X business card has a very lucrative welcome offer.
- In addition, the card comes with many premium travel perks such as an annual $300 credit for bookings through Capital One Business Travel.
- Business owners are also able to add employee cards for free.
Cons
- The card requires significant spending to earn the welcome offer.
- Another drawback is that the annual travel credit can only be used on bookings made through Capital One Business Travel.
- LIMITED-TIME OFFER: Earn up to 400K bonus miles: 200K miles when you spend $30K in the first 3 months, and an additional 200k miles when you spend $150k in the first 6 months
- Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, everywhere—with no limits or category restrictions
- Earn 10X miles on hotels and rental cars and 5X miles on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Business Travel
- With no preset spending limit, enjoy big purchasing power that adapts so you can spend more and earn more rewards
- Empower your teams to make business purchases while earning rewards on their transactions, with free employee and virtual cards. Plus, automatically sync your transaction data with your accounting software and pay your vendors with ease
- Redeem your miles on flights, hotels and more. Plus, transfer your miles to any of the 15+ travel loyalty programs
- Every year, you'll get 10,000 bonus miles after your account anniversary date. Plus, receive an annual $300 credit for bookings made through Capital One Business Travel
- Receive up to a $120 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®. Enjoy access to 1,300+ airport lounges worldwide, including Capital One Lounge locations and Priority Pass™ lounges, after enrollment
- Enjoy a $100 experience credit and other premium benefits with every hotel and vacation rental booked from the Premier Collection
- This is a pay-in-full card, so your balance is due in full every month
- Top rated mobile app