My brother-in-law and family had been collecting miles on Lufthansa Miles & More at my behest—or maybe coercion. The miles expire 36 months after the date you earn them, and some miles in two of their accounts were close to expiry. I checked with them to see if they had any plans to use them, but they didn’t, so they asked me to use them if I wanted.
Looking at the number of miles close to expiry, I zeroed in on a redemption to Zanzibar. We had the choice to book separate round-trip tickets for each of us from each account or book two one-way tickets for us together from each account. Considering that it would be better to be on the same PNR if there was any disruption, we decided on the latter approach.
For the outbound journey, we would fly Ethiopian Airlines from Mumbai to Addis Ababa and then connect to the Ethiopian Airlines flight via Kilimanjaro to Zanzibar.
| Date | Flight | From | At | To | At | Airline |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| THU 17 APR | ET 611 | MUMBAI, IN (BOM) | 04:05 | ADDIS ABABA, ET (ADD) | 07:00 | ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES |
| THU 17 APR | ET 815 | ADDIS ABABA, ET (ADD) | 10:35 | KILIMANJARO, TZ (JRO) | 12:55 | ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES |
| THU 17 APR | ET 815 | KILIMANJARO, TZ (JRO) | 14:05 | ZANZIBAR, TZ (ZNZ) | 15:15 | ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES |
For the return journey, we would fly from Zanzibar to Addis Ababa and then onwards to Mumbai.
| Date | Flight | From | At | To | At | Airline |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SUN 20 APR | ET 800 | ZANZIBAR, TZ (ZNZ) | 12:15 | ADDIS ABABA, ET (ADD) | 14:40 | ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES |
| SUN 20 APR | ET 640 | ADDIS ABABA, ET (ADD) | 18:20 | MUMBAI, IN (BOM) | 02:05 (+1) | ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES |
With that, we were all set for our first trip to Zanzibar 🔗, thanks to Lufthansa Miles & More and, of course, my brother-in-law and his family.
70,000 miles redeemed | 1 country