Business Class, Melbourne to Kigali, Rwanda for $1652 AUD return.
Lie flat the whole way. Includes layover in Bangkok.
Fly between December 2023 to May 2024. Plenty of availability over New Year and Easter.
Book at your own risk. Always a chance the airlines could cancel your ticket.
@WallybR: Its a game, sometimes you win sometimes you get cancelled. I won once with $800 MEL-LHR return with Emirates!
I paid 1800 odd for return on Qatar Economy in 2015 from Perth. This prices seems sneaky close to the regular economy fare. You would be very lucky if thats the price for business
Massive thanks OP!!
Booked Xmas & NYE in BKK flying business class for this price is insane
Hopefully honoured will wait a few days before booking flights to Melb/accom
Actual stay time below and managed to get a real quick 2hr stop over in nairobi too
9 days in Bangkok + 4 days in Kigali
Hope you have a fantastic trip!
Thanks friend
Happy holidays to you too
That's awesome.. Thai NYE sounds fun! Hope it works out for you. Even in economy its not a terrible price these days, and who doesnt want to yolo a trip to Rwanda, I would be in if it wasnt for my pesky kids….
my thoughts exactly YOLO! have heard great things about thai NY but tbh Im really looking forward to Rwanda!
Would be so happy if I could see those majestic gorillas, probably cry
From what i have heard - its like $1500 USD or something to get a permit to visit them + other costs, so probably good you are saving on flights as that isnt cheap.
@Meridianz: yah I couldnt believe it - its very expensive - I saw USD 4k for a solo traveller on tripadvisor
I will just pay it because its a bucket list item but this would be inaccessible to a lot of people even from Western nations
Is it possible to just go to Thailand and forgo the Rwanda trip? But still be able to fly home from Thailand?
called skip lagging - was discussed in earlier comments
conclusion was possible breach of contract and your return legs could all be forfeit
not worth it imo
Was everything smooth with your tickets/check in?
This would make an awesome skiplagging trip if anyone dares!
Anyone remembers the Azerbaijan deal (virgin/ Etihad price error) a couple of years ago where many ozbargainers jumped in? Not sure how many ended up actually taking advantage of the extremely cheap booking (amongst cancellations and COVID-19 circumstances). After many cancellations and numerous changes I ended up using it.. YES😊 Persistency is the key. Chances of this being honoured is high as long as you keep hanging in there like I did.. If I didn't have other travel plans already sorted, I would have jumped into this deal like no tomorrow..
can I ask what sort of changes you had to persist through?
I have jumped on this btw and my flight leaves in 10 days :)
I managed to get that deal Azerbaijan error fare but due to COVID-19 they only offered to refund the flights rather than move to a different date so never got to take advantage of it. Good luck with your booking.
First of all I got the booking taken over by Etihad (which was a bit difficult but I was persistent and continued my push to say that travel agent isn't accommodating - which was in fact the case). Once Etihad took control of my booking, all went smoothly. They insisted refund a couple of times but I kept insisting to keep the booking despite covid19 and other uncertainties surrounding flights at the time.. My patience paid off finally and I ended up going to Egypt instead (Etihad changed that at no extra cost). Had a fantastic time…!
Not only did I use it I got points for it and I changed my flight to the same region which was Europe and the outbound with virgin from Mel was cancelled so of course I went from Sydney with a family of 7. 15 - love
Has anyone gone through the fare rules to work out the cancellation fee if the buyer was to cancel it? I can see it says there is a cancellation charge, but doesnt state how much it is.
I would love to know the same thing. I read through them all and did some googling but wasn't sure.
Still sitting on the fence as I hate mising a potential bargain but unsure if I actually want to go to Rwanda for a quick trip considering all the additional costs…..it doesn't seem like a cheap place for accomodation or to actually do things besides sit in a hotel room.
However if it comes with free cancellation I think I'm buying one in case.
Its $305 AUD or $200 USD per pax.
This deal is so tempting. Africa has been on my bucket list for donkeys.
definitely too early for me, reading it as WAKANDA
almost clicked buy straight away
you are aware wakanda is not a real place?
why are you ruining it for him lol
he will be waiting his whole life
Sadly my travel plans are already booked for the next 6 months.
Never like a bargain to slip by.
great price + Rwanda seems like one of the best places on the continent to visit. I'd be pretty tempted if my leave wasn't already fully booked for 2024.
Anyone else get an email from Thai Airways saying: "Unable to retrieve Insurance Pricing information. (64209)" ?
No, but this whole flight is booked and managed by Kenya Airways as the primary flight provider in the flight network
Anyone been ticketed yet?
yeah ticketed right away
Did you book direct with airline or online travel agent?
Booked with Orbitz (US Site) they have a free 24 hour cancellation policy.
No chance this will be honoured.
And yet even so, I rolled the dice on it 😀
Can't believe prices haven't been fixed yet - very unusual
SecretFlying page now stating this is an Error Fare
It was error fare from the get go. Does not make it not valid to fly though.
I'm 90% going to book this and travel there solo, is there anything else that's convenient I should do while in the vicinity? I note Tanzania and Zanzibar are close by so could do a side trip there and fly return from Kigali. Anyone else want to come along
Love to lay eyes on Kilimanjaro
I did a Tanzania and Rwanda trip about 7 or 8 years ago and it was the best holiday of my life.
Booked for Jan-Feb through gotogate. Also tried Aunt Betty but crashed when attempted to process payment. Seems to be issuing correctly on the Kenyan and Thai end with a valid PNR and ET#. Was able to put through meal and seating preferences. Again per above, no guarantees ticket will be honoured closer to the date as fare difference is quite significant, but worth a gamble if you don't have significant plans during that period.
Finally receive my PNR and ticket through Aunty Betty. If you booked through them message them for it, they are pretty responsive.
Would this be worth not taking the full leg and just getting off at BKK since it is self transfer?
Just booked through Kenya Airways' official website. Not much more expensive than booking from a third party website. It seems to be a business super flex fare, hence, should be able to cancel for free at any time.
I don't think you could book the Multi city via Kenya Airways' official website though, return yes, however it means you can't book a longer stopover in BKK etc.
Exactly.
Ended up booking via Orbitz (US), and included a one week layover in Bangkok on the return leg.
Circa $1770 aud.
I went down this path also, seems a bit better than a third party?
Who booked for travel this month? Would be interested to hear back to see if this is actually honoured?
Honoured. The tickets are issued.
That doesn't mean its honoured right? As in, it may get cancelled afterwards if Airline deems its a mistake and they don't want to cop the loss?
Surely they would have fixed it by now!!!!
@Score: Cancellations typically come a few days / weeks later? Wonder what other's experiences are like on previous mistake fares.
It means the deal is honoured by the airline as they have issued the ticket numbers. In contrary, if the agent issued an invoice but the ticket numbers are NOT provided by the airline, then that means the deal is not honoured. This usually result in a refund by the agent as they cannot get the tickets.
Previously I've got a price error ticket with Singapore Airlines and had a really good trip with all that saved money. :) Very similar scenario to here.
However, I agree there is still a chance of cancellation.
I booked for xmas eve take off - tickets were issued right away and cancellations so far
Yep, ours were issued straight away too. But my understanding is there's still a (slim) possibility they may turn around and cancel the flights due to it being a pricing error.
are you travelling this month too?
@ChatCPT: Nope, booked over Easter Holidays, but keen to know if people are actually successfully getting on the plane as scared to make further plans other than fully refundable, until we get some concrete proof that this is being honoured :-)
@joeiwu: Yeah I am going to do it very close to departure. Thailand is cheap anyway but Rwanda not so much.
Also have to book my flights to melbourne haha
Kenya Airlines announced that there will be flight disruptions over this Xmas holiday season due to a lack of spare parts. If peoples flights are cancelled hopefully you aren't given credits and get refunded as Kenya Airlines is the main carrier.
Kenya Airways warns of disruptions in holiday season due to spare parts shortages
NAIROBI, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Kenya Airways (KQNA.NR) has told its customers to be prepared for potential disruptions to its flights schedule during the busy Christmas holiday season due to shortages of spare parts.
The carrier, one of the biggest in Africa, said the lack of parts, which is affecting the global supply chain, would disrupt flights for about two weeks.
"These challenges are leading to extended ground time of our aircraft for maintenance," it said in a statement seen by Reuters on Monday. "This may also lead to grounding of one or more of our aircraft."
Can you keep us updated on whether you get cancelled or manage to fly?
certainly
**continues nervous waiting*
Booked for departure on 30 Dec direct with Kenya Airlines. Not sure if I should book anything else until closer to departure just in case…
I booked this but in May/June (weather is better) 1 week in Bangkok, 1 week in Naiorbi and 1 week in Kigali - $1795
Thanks to @movieman for suggesting google flights to play with times/dates to make it better in terms of lengths of time in different places.
Let's see if I'm actually on a plane come May next year.
Happy to help.
How did you get the week in Nairobi? Whatever I entered, ended up costing significantly more…
Honestly, spent quite a while just flicking around with dates, probably half an hour just trying different combos and with occasional screenshots so I could come back to a starting point again where it was ~1700
I could not ever find a way to break up the return leg from Kigali to Melbourne though, which would have been the preference (say 3 days BKK, 1 week Nairobi, 1 week Kigali, 4 days BKK).
I got an eticket today for both the seats I booked, so who knows, maybe it really will happen. If only I got QFF on the flights…
Thanks OP! Being weighing in pros and cons for the last 24hrs and decided to pull the trigger in the end. Booked tickets for June/July school holidays period with 9 days in Rwanda and 6 days in Thailand (3 of us going - wife and I and 10yo son). Ended up booking via Expedia (search via Expedia directly, those flights do pop up there as well) as I'm more comfortable with them rather than 3rd parties I don't recognize. Already have tickets, issued very promptly. Fingers crossed it all will go ahead as planned.
Figured I may never be able to visit Rwanda otherwise so with opportunity like this I felt I need to pull the trigger. Family is really excited to go!
Well done, same thought-process here, although only staying in Rwanda for very short time as we have limited time over Easter Break (due to leave constraints). Hopefully the issued tickets will be honoured!
From the research I've done looks like there is a fair chance for it to go ahead. Looks legit. Excited with this opportunity!
I pulled the trigger too… Feb-March, plus a week in Bangkok. booked with KissandFly. Now the waiting game …
E-tickets issued. Logged in on Thai's site and chose seats, including Kenyan flights.
So far seeming legit
do we need visa for kenya or china if flight passing through it. if just remain in airport to connect fligh
Based on my research so far, it looks like if you don't leave international transfer zone at Nairobi airport you don't need a visa to Kenya.
Don’t need a visa for any country if in transit of airport, unless for some reason you have to exit to get baggage
You generally don't need visa unless you clear customs and you generally don't clear customs for flight transfers unless required to go to an external terminal, but DYOR
Yep. But I'm just not sure if that needs to be done at Nairobi airport. Based on the research so far looks like we should be good without a visa for Kenya.
with this tickets do we need to collect baggae and check in again…or all in one go
Not sure about BKK to Nairobi but BKK to KGL via Nairobi is checked through for you per itinerary received. Besides I only have a 2h stopover in Nairobi so better not be lining up picking up luggage
Do you think they'll honour the tickets? I was starting to think, maybe it's a promo to drive tourism to Africa?
3 days and they still haven’t fixed it
I’m hoping they’ll honour it
If it’s available for this long it may indeed be some kind of a promo.
OMG what a deal, I just jumped on and booked it, it was through kissandfly, when i check the booking at says "Paid. Pending issuance" I'm guessing that is not ticketed and confirmed?
update - just got an email saying this "Dear Customer,
Your ticket is currently in the process of being issued. In some cases, this may take up to 24 hours.
However, your booking is already guaranteed - the flight is confirmed and the seats are reserved for you.
The attached file contains information with data about your order.
After final ticketing, you will receive an email with an updated itinerary receipt and the indicated ticket numbers."
guess i have to wait for the tickets, fingers crossed, thanks OP
Update - All ticketed and confirmed, whoohooo!
I'm in the same boat. Hopefully will get confirmation soon. kissandfly's online reviews are the worst!
Looks like the prices just got updated to normal rates. Congrats to those who took it on and best of travels!
Party is over - kinda happy in a way as I was still in analysis paralysis over booking or not….would have just been FOMO more than a genuine desire to visit Rwanda/Kenya though I guess.
Good luck to those who bought a lotto ticket and hopefully it is honoured for you - it didn't exactly go viral or get shut down immediately so you might be in with a chance!
It’s a good way to visit Bangkok in style 😅
lotto odds are worse
While the price has increased its still reasonably attractive offer with the options appearing in the $2200 - $2700 range per person.
The flights in this thread are booked via Kenya airlines, not Thai and I've already selected seats and can confirm the seats are business class. 1 per row, staggered.
Seems your article is about something else
its Kenya airways and Thai airways (to BKK) but I have selected seats already and it was proper business class section of seat map
Yeh, you fly Thai airways but Kenya airways is like the parent owner of the flight path from Melbourne to Kigali and back, regardless of whether you use Thai airways or China Southern for certain parts, they are just helping Kenya Airways fulfill the route so Kenya will pay and arrange with them. For example, if you have a connecting flight at BKK and miss your flight due to Thai airways departing Melbourne late, I believe Kenya airways will be the one to arrange you a new flight free of charge. Could be wrong on that part though
@WallybR: Interesting. I was emailed a Thai airways booking number which linked me to Thai airways website. In their direct manage booking page (type 5 digit code and last name) and I could see my full itinerary there including Kenya flights so I thought Thai airways was managing
No email from Kenya airways
@ChatCPT: I can login to Thai Airways as well as Kenya Airways. I can't remember where I saw it but somewhere in booking or e-tickets it listed on each flight that it was managed by Kenya Airways. I'm flying China Southern on my way out of Melb and Thai on my return so maybe it's different for me
@WallybR: Good to know. More information the better in getting these mystical bargain business class tix
Do you have experience with these types of things being honoured or refunded?