Ok, cheap flights could be a stretch. This guide will help you find the most reasonable flights possible to a region that is shamefully underserved by global airlines. This is not Europe or Southeast Asia. Instead of hundreds of arrivals and departures, there are often only several. But, all is not lost if you follow the tips below.

Where to start?

The first thing you want to figure out is your departure date. If you have flexibility with the date, you will be able to find a cheaper ticket. In general, middle of the week flights are cheaper than weekend flights. Also, you will want to avoid fights around holiday times if possible. The Christmas-New Years stretch is a particularly busy time for West Africa flights and prices can be exorbitant. Other major Christian and Muslim holidays can also see higher prices, along with the summer holidays, particularly August.

The initial search

The best way to start your flight search is by looking at results on an aggregate site well in advance of your trip (several months at least). These sites will source multiple airlines and booking agents and they will give you a broad idea of what you can expect to pay and of what airlines fly to your destination.

While you may not end up booking your ticket through one of these sites, they can be very helpful in providing a starting point. Try the following sites:

Start with Google Flights, which gives you a lot of flexibility in your search and provides a good overall pricing picture. You can then check out some of these other aggregate sites and compare (keep in mind Google Flights might already be sourcing prices from some of them):

Kayak.com
SkyScanner.com
FareCompare.com

These sites, however, are rarely the end of your search for a cheap ticket. While you might end up finding the most affordable ticket on one of these sites, you may also find that it’s cheaper to book directly with an airline or to create a multi-flight itinerary with different carriers (we will talk about this later in the post).

Use the aggregate sites as a base. Set up email alerts with them to track price changes, but don’t end your search here.

Zero in on specific airline

After using the aggregate sites, you should have an idea of what airlines fly to your intended destination. Now you can approach these airlines directly. Searching for prices directly with the airline can sometimes yield cheaper results. Here is a list of airlines that fly to destinations in West Africa from North America and/or Europe.

Air Algerie
Air France (service to Francophone countries in W. Africa, often expensive)
Alitalia
British Airways (for Anglophone countries in W. Africa, often expensive)
Brussels Airlines
Cabo Verde Airlines
Egypt Air
Emirates
Ethiopian Airlines
Iberia
Kenya Airways
Royal Air Maroc
TAP Portugal
Tunis Air
Turkish Airlines

Create your own multi-flight itinerary

You may go through the aggregate sites and find nothing but astronomical prices. You may find more of the same when you check with individual airlines. Ok. Let’s get creative.

I often can’t afford a single airline flight to West Africa if I’m coming from the US, unless it is out of New York and with a company like Royal Air Maroc. Instead, I often buy one ticket to Europe and then a separate ticket from Europe to somewhere in West Africa. Here is an example of a flight itinerary I have done:

Washington, DC -> Madrid (US Airways) Madrid -> Dakar (Iberia)

This itinerary was hundreds of dollars cheaper than what they would have been if I had taken one airline to my destination. There is a risk here, however, and that is that you miss your connection and then you are out a full fare. To cover for this possibility, I try to allow myself a long layover (sometimes I will spend a day or two in the transit city if I can do it cheaply) and I take out travel insurance that covers for missed flight connections.

Kiwi.com is one site that is doing multi-flight itineraries with different airlines on the same itinerary. They supposedly have some kind of protection for missed connections, but we have not yet used them personally.

Add a third leg to your itinerary

There are certain airports in West Africa that act as hubs for the region. Dakar and Lagos see a lot of air traffic while Bamako and Niamey do not. Something that I have done on more than one occasion is to fly to a hub city in West Africa and then continue from there with a regional airline or a bus (ok, so it’s often the bus because my income is, well, small).

Here is a list of regional airlines that you can consider

Air Burkina
Air Cote d’Ivoire
Asky
Cabo Verde Airlines
Mauritanian Airlines
Senegal Airlines
Kenya Airways and Ethiopian Airways are not based in the region, but they offer flights between certain cities as part of their multi-leg itineraries that go to Addis and Nairobi.

For more on regional airlines, including info about specific companies, safety and popular routes, see our guide on getting around West Africa by plane.

Other options

Finding that flight combinations can’t meet your budget? Here are some other ideas:

– Get someone to do the work for you. This could be a traditional travel agency. Hey, it’s worth a shot.

– Take the bus. As I said, this is what I do most often. For example, you can fly into Dakar and take a bus to Bamako. The bus will take 24-40 hours (ok, a sacrifice, but an interesting journey nonetheless) and it will cost $50-60.

– Overland it from Morocco. Morocco is often one of the cheapest destinations to get to in Africa, because of its close proximity to Europe. From Morocco, it is possible to take public transportation down to West Africa (via Western Sahara).

Have any of your own tips for scoring a cheap flight to the region? Drop them in the comments below.