MEL to ACC to KGL to MEL

Booking flights around, to, or even near Africa, from Australia, is hard. It’s not that you can’t book the flights online, it’s that the familiar online tools such as Expedia and Kayak just don’t have the ability to plan complicated route itineraries that don’t involve flying through a hub city like New York.

To show you the joy, I’ve selected three travel dates that roughly coincide with what I’ve booked. To keep it simple, I’ve selected mult-city bookings at all sites, flying Melbourne to Accra (the capital of Ghana), Accra to Kigali (Capital of Rwanda) and finally Kigali to Melbourne.

First up, Expedia.com.au: It suggests flying KLM the entire way, connecting via Kuala Lumpur, and Amsterdam. Even fly from Accra to Kigali, it suggests connecting via Amsterdam. And the return flight is a leisurely 51 hours. Not great.

Secondly, I tried expedia.com. The US based site usually has better deals, and a greater selection of flights. It suggested flying to Accra via Bangkok and Addis Ababa on Thai and Ethiopian Air. This is actually the route the travel agent recommended. However, coming back, it’s gotten a little bit too creative for its own good recommending Addis Ababa, Bangkok, Guangzhou to Melbourne.

Finally a tried Kayak, which decided it was all too complicated and went home.

So what have I ended up doing? I booked QANTAS and South African Air via South Africa, but I had to book the tickets on two different sites, and I have an overnight stay in Johannesburg.

Only 6 weeks to go.