All airlines into our out of Africa will spray the insect thing, so don't make that a deciding factor.

Dublin has US preclearance, so does Ethiopian use it? It means you do immigration in Dublin, and arrive like a domestic flight to Dulles = much faster:
https://www.dublinairport.com/at-the-airport/passenger-information/us-preclearance-facility

Personally, I look at BIS (butt-in-seat) time and try to minimize that.

If you miss your Dubai layover on tjhe way back, they'll just put you on one of their flights to NYC and you'll transfer from there.

SAA doesn't stop in Cape Verde anymore? When I lived there I stopped in Cape Verde numerous times (but never stayed over, much to my regret now).

As an African who plies that route frequently, I prefer Ethiopian (business) and Emirates is usually a second choice. South African is terrible. I have had to stay in Accra twice in the past year due to mechanical issues an the airline staff was not sympathetic and forthcoming about the plan of action. It was frustrating to say the least.

I think that South African flight is awful. They stop in Accra and wake everyone up while they spray insecticide all over the plane. I'd much rather take the delta flight that goes direct from Atlanta to JHB and then connect with south african from JHB. I think the service on ethiopian is mediocre at best. And emirates is fantastic and usually the most comfortable ride/ best service if you can make the connections work.

We did the South African flight to Jo'burg via Accra. It was fine, but based on your additional info I think I'd go with the Emirates flight. The return trip sounds like a nightmare, though. Have you priced out doing this as two separate one-ways on different airlines? Sometimes it isn't that different.

I think go for Emirates. Haven't flown them myself b/c we have to fly US carriers for work, but I've heard great things about them. There used to be a DC-Amsterdam-Lusaka route, but I don't believe KLM does direct Amsterdam-Lusaka any more. You can do Delta, United, or South African to Joburg via many departure cities in the US, and then South African to Lusaka. I've done the Delta flight from Atlanta to Joburg (direct, ~15 hrs) several times. It's kind of ridiculous. A LOT of hunters.

I do NOT enjoy the flights that go to Joburg with a stop for refueling in West Africa. You have to fully wake up, buckle up for landing/take off, hang out for the refueling, hold your bags on your lap while people get off and on again, etc. Sometimes there's a weird spraying thing the flight attendants do. One time they couldn't take off again after refueling, but that happened to my boss, not me, so I'm not sure of the details other than they suddenly had to find lodging in Dakar.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I deliberately referred to Africa because I was hoping to elect feedback from others with experiences flying these airlines to Africa in general, not Zambia specifically.

I'm not the PP that mentioned it, but I agree with that pp. It might have been more helpful to at least put Zambia in parenthesis or something. I went to Morocco, which is in Africa, a few months ago. From your title, I wasn't sure if maybe I could be of any help, so I clicked to read your whole post...and found that my experience of flying to Africa would not apply to your question. Just kind of irritating because there was no reason for me to check--and you had plenty of space in the title to include more specific info.

I disagree. For many destinations in Africa those three airlines are the main choices. It was not Zambia specific.

1.5 hours is tight but doable in Dubai. The airline is well organized.

Visa/customs issues are not a big problem when transiting in Joburg. It is fine.

The Dublin stop is just to refuel. I don't think people get on. I pretty much slept it.

There is a hotel in the airport in Dubai if you don't want to leave. It is clean and functional. The emirates business class lounge in Dubai is very nice.

Personally I would do Ethiopian, business class if you can afford it, or emirates.

Anonymous wrote:I deliberately referred to Africa because I was hoping to elect feedback from others with experiences flying these airlines to Africa in general, not Zambia specifically.

I'm not the PP that mentioned it, but I agree with that pp. It might have been more helpful to at least put Zambia in parenthesis or something. I went to Morocco, which is in Africa, a few months ago. From your title, I wasn't sure if maybe I could be of any help, so I clicked to read your whole post...and found that my experience of flying to Africa would not apply to your question. Just kind of irritating because there was no reason for me to check--and you had plenty of space in the title to include more specific info.

I deliberately referred to Africa because I was hoping to elect feedback from others with experiences flying these airlines to Africa in general, not Zambia specifically.

Here's more information that may be useful:

Ethiopian is the cheapest at around 1500 a ticket, and the shortest flight duration, but the return leg requires flying through Ireland (Lusaka to Addis to Dublin for refueling then the US). There does also seem to be another route that goes from IAD to Addis to Harare (with less than 50 minutes layover - or this may be refuelling) then Lusaka, and return follows similar route except Dublin is thrown in.

South African is the most expensive at around 2,000 a ticket. IAD to Accra for refueling then Johannesburg, 2.5 hour layover then Lusaka. I've heard stories of lengthy immigration / passport control in Johannesburg but I am not sure if that would apply to passengers in transit. SA is slightly longer than Ethiopian going over, and slightly longer returning as well. Because of the refueling in Accra we would be on the plane for 17+ hours.

Emirates at 1,800 is the most straightforward. IAD to Dubai, then to Lusaka. Flying to Dubai would be a daytime flight, departing IAD at 11:00 AM to arrive in Dubai at 8 AM Dubai time (disembarking the plane just as our body clock is telling us to go to bed but the actual flight should be fine), however, there is only 1.5 hour layover in Dubai before a 7 hour flight to Lusaka. The total journey is comparable to the African airlines but I assume Emirates has the best economy experience. There are two concerns, however, and the first is the 1.5 hour layover is too short, in my view, as there is only one flight to Lusaka a day, and the second is that the return journey is a nightmare, depart Lusaka at 9:30 PM, overnight to arrive in Dubai in the morning, then a 20 hour layover in Dubai to depart Dubai at 2:20 AM for IAD.... This is a total travel journey of 40+ hours spanning two red eye flights.

However, it is possible we could add a night in Dubai at the onset, so instead of risking the 1.5 hour layover we'd spend the day and night in Dubai, help get over the jet lag, and fly to Zambia the next morning. Return journey we could add another night, or just book a hotel for the day and take long naps. We have been to Dubai before.

I have also thought that we could get business tickets on the return flight from Lusaka. It adds another 2k to the ticket price, which we could reasonably justify. If we did this, we'd keep the first night in Dubai and fly economy, and return in business and only have a day hotel room for naps and sightsee the rest of the time but not book a second night in Dubai.

Thoughts?

We recently took Ethiopian Air with a layover in Addis and spent a lot of money on transit visas. Make sure you research any visa costs.

Pet peeve, but couldn't you have asked "Best flights to Zambia"? "Africa" is a really, really big place, which makes your thread title meaningless.

What are the routes? Emirates if all else is equal, but the layover/cities you go through could change my opinion. Also, economy class or business/first? And how many people/ages? Prices the same?

Emirates, then South African, then Ethiopian. They are all fine though.

We are going to Zambia on safari next summer and I need to figure out the best flights there.

There seems to be three options, Emirates, Ethiopian and South African. All have pros and cons. All take around same amount of time going over to Africa but via different routes, and all have different return journeys. Which would you prefer?