Lufthansa has a convenient air link and other Zambia Transportation Tips

'Mode': TO
Category: Airplane
Getting TO/AROUND: Getting through to Zambia by air from Europe is quite convenient.
Lufthansa flies Frankfurt-Johannesburg with a good connection (2 hrs transit) to Zambia by South African Airways.
The slight bother is on the return when the flight arrives Frankfurt at an ungodly time in the morning (5ish am). It is also dependent on SAA's successful arrivals and departures in Lusaka. That may not be so easy with an unruly staff, arrogant top management and incometetnt ground handling at Lusaka. The situation evolved into a strike and turmoil when I was there. If you want a better departure deal than having to use SAA's airlink via Jo'burg, fly British Airways, Ethiopian Airways or Kenya Airways.

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Website: www.lufthansa.com

'Mode': TO
Category: Airplane
Getting TO/AROUND: Before you can enter the check-in area and security of Lusaka Airport on departure you have to pay a USD 20 airport tax. Dollars, not Kwacha. Payable at the counter on the left of the security check entrance. Get your receipt stapled to your ticket - you have to show it as you enter security as well as before they let you into the waiting hall area after check-in.

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'Mode': TO
Category: Airplane
Getting TO/AROUND: I found the British Airways link to London Heathrow Terminal 4 the best and most convenient of all global links to Zambia. The morning departure 8:45 from Lusaka in a 767 flies direct to London and arrives there about 9 hours later, in time for good connections both back to West Africa, North Africa, the evening flights to the Americas and to Europe and the night flights to Asia. Competent and hassle-free departure from Lusaka, in stark contrast to SAA handling...

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Website: www.britishairways.com

'Mode': AROUND
Category: Bus
Getting TO/AROUND: There is no bus service to Lusaka airport from town. You are boud to take a taxi. Walking is no option, the airport is 20 km out of town.
However, all the hotels of a decent standard offer complimentary van or minibus transfer to the airport in concjunction with major flights. Use these - very convenient.

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'Mode': TO,AROUND
Category: Airplane
Getting TO/AROUND: Getting out of Lusaka on a full plane isn't a good situation. I worked with colleagues on such a situation, and we found these solutions:
Getting to Livingstone by plane when all is full: Go via Ndola on scheduled airlines or charter a small one - with 4-6 persons it works out.
Getting to Johannesburg: Fly to Livingstone on a local airline, change planes in Livingstone for Johannesburg. Regional Air and national Air flies here (check names of airlines and availability).
Getting to Windhoek, Namibia, without going through Johannesburg:
Fly to Livingstone or by small plane even closer to the border, taxi or hitchike over the border and take a local plane from Katima Mulilo to Windhoek.
Planes from Lausaka to livingstone may be full. Then you first fly straight north to Ndola (USD 75) and catch a rarely-full plane from there to said border towns. From Ndola there are alos the occasional flight to Johannesburg.
To Europe or East Africa: Both Blantyre and Lilongwe in Malawi have flight connections without having to go by Air Zimbabwe (chronically short of fuel and cash). In fact, the Air malawi to Lilongwe option is a good one for Connecting to both Emirates and Qatar Airways flights to Dubai, Doha and what not, for return connections to Asmara, Seycelles, Mauritius and further away in the Middle East, Asia and Europe.
To other places in Africa both Ethiopian Airlines and Kenya Airways offer good options. Ethiopian is less frequent in Lusaka than Kenya Airways is. Kenya Airways is well represented at Lusaka Airport.

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'Mode': TO
Category: Airplane
Getting TO/AROUND: My flight into Lusaka was with SAA - South African Airways. Then they went on indefinite strike. Let this be a warning:
SAA ground staff apparently did not have any capacity, knowledge or authority to reroute passengers onto other airlines, or via other destiinations, nor to handle stranded passengers in any decent way. While SAA seems flashy and modern on the outside, but it's ground handling including passengers was abysmal. First reaction to the crowds by SAA was to close the office and withdraw personnel. Later, at the airport after long waits in long lines outside the SAA hole-in-the-wall office at Lusaka airport people were told to go to the city office at Hotel Intercontinental. At the SAA office in the Intercontinental passengers were told that only if you had a confirmed booking for upcoming flights you would be considered there for a waitlisting or ok'ing, so please go back to the airport. So if you were stranded, you were thoroughly stranded with nowhere to go and no info. I checked into my hotel 4 times anew while in Lusaka, being told to come to the airport to no avail. At one point police closed the gates into security and check-in to keep furious passengers out - people had been stranded for up to 5 days.
There was no priority system apart from brute individual force and private interventions from airport staff freinds and diplomatic staff to get their own friends and connections up on the waiting lists and out of the country on the reduced flights that actually departed. Nepotism and cronyism. With a full-fare business ticket and gold card holder I was consistently falling off the wait listing for a rock bottom economy seat, and ended up buying a new ticket on BA out of the country instead of having to bribe SAA staff and airport officials. Never again SAA.

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