Antananarivo

[DDDriver]

Hi!

Planning a journey as pax to Madagascar. Wondering if anyone has any sneaky hints or things to look out for? Planning to fly to Ivato (TNR) from MAN with AF or Turkish.

Thanks!

[S.o.S.]

Welcome to the cabin DDDriver. That's a destination I've not seen asked about before!

[skerry]

Hi DDDriver, I flew into and out of TNR last year, and I don't remember it as being too traumatic. I mean, it is a small African airport, and meets your (or at least, my) expectations. Immigration is mildly chaotic, baggage reclaim reasonably efficient, there is a slow currency exchange office just outside the baggage hall where you can change major currencies into great wads of Ariary - you will need small denominations, and a little goes a very long way, so don't change too much. If the plague epidemic is still ongoing you will be given a little warning leaflet on the subject, which is a nice touch. Don't let that put you off by the way, chances of a westerner (ie someone with money) catching plague are extremely low, and it is eminently treatable. The airport toilets are moderately horrible -worse than Manch but better than Addis - use the one on the plane if you can. Traffic in Tana is horrendous, so be prepared for a long transfer even if your destination is only a few miles from the airport.
Speaking of Addis, have Ethiopian started their flights to MAN? I would certainly recommend them, though ADD is not a nice airport to transfer.
I hope you have a wonderful time, whether on holiday or business. Madagascar is a spectacular country, with friendly people and amazing wildlife. Very memorable, just not the airport, even for a flying buff like me.

[DDDriver]

Thanks, that’s really interesting.
Its a bit of a working holiday, so good to have a bit of a preview. I have, I think, fairly reasonable expectations regarding toilets and facilities. I’ve been pleasantly surprised regarding some of the flight times and connections, especially with AF and Turkish. Will keep my eye on other options.
Wonder if anyone has experience of Air Madagascar? They have some reasonable direct flights CDG-TNR, and separate MAN-CDG transfers are easy enough.

[Ancient Observer]

Have you had a look around Flyertalk? They have more expertise in this area.
AO

[DDDriver]

Have you had a look around Flyertalk? They have more expertise in this area.
AO

Ah, thanks for that. Will do!

[olympus]

Haven't been to Antananarivo for over thirty years when British Aerospace sent me to flog them a 125 so my info is out-of-date but my recollection is that very little English is spoken there so brush up your French. I concluded my business there fairly quickly but had to wait a good few days for a flight out (back to NBO IIRC) and so ran out of reading material. The only English language book I could find in the whole of Tan was a s/h copy of the (auto) biography of the founder of IBM, Thomas J Watson. Again IIRC, not very interesting (to me at least) but the memory of it has stayed with me!

Another faint recollection is that I had to spend a few days in Paris (it was tough working for BAe in those days) waiting for the Malgache embassy to issue me with a visa although that requirement has probably changed.

[DDDriver]

Thanks, sounds interesting!

French isn’t an issue, we’re almost fluent.

I’m told by our hosts that the visas are bought on arrival at the airport for c.€30

We shall see!