Getting a flight
Airlines flying directly to Guinea from the US
- Royal Air Maroc via Casablanca. There is usually an extended layover of 12+ hours (arriving from the US in the early morning and leaving for Guinea in the late evening). If you know which desk to go to at the airport (exit security and walk to the front, upstairs of the airport to find the guest services office), they will provide you with vouchers for a hotel room and two meals, as well as bus transportation from the airport to the off-site hotel. It may also be possible to extend your layover into a week in this lovely country for free.
- Air France via Paris.
- SN Brussels Airlines via Brussels.
Royal Air Maroc: "New York to Casablanca, Morocco to Guinea. You may have to spend a night in Morocco, but if that's the case, they'll pay for the hotel. I just flew RAM from Guinea to NYC for $1052 US. that was a one way, but I believe their round trips are also very reasonable. The airline is professional and friendly. " Ticket from NYC to Guinea on RAM in December 2011 cost approximately $1500 round trip.
Air France: "We flew Air France and it was wonderful. Actually, we went from O'Hare to Paris and stayed three days. Then flew from Paris to Conakry, stayed nine days, then back to Paris and on to Lisbon for five days, back to Paris and home. The three loops on Air France were very efficient and the service was excellent."
Recent airfares
February 2013: approx $1500 via Paris on Air France from NYC (JFK).
December 2011: approx $1500 via Casablanca on Royal Air Maroc from NYC (JFK).
Other Airline options
If you are adventurous, there are more options, such as flying to Bamako or Senegal and purchasing separate tickets to continue on to Conakry, Labe or Kankan.
Senegal: $1000. Some travelers choose to fly via Senegal to ease into the culture, and airfares to Senegal are cheaper. In addition to Air France, Senegal is served with direct flights from the US with South African Airways. You would need to purchase a separate ticket on a different airline to fly into Guinea from Senegal.
Purchasing tickets
Look into buying two sets of tickets: one between the US and Europe (either Paris or Brussels) and one between Europe and Conakry. I'm not sure why, but this is sometimes cheaper than flying all the way from the US to Guinea.
You might also try Spector Travel of Boston. They specialize in African travel. Their e-mail address is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and their phone # is 617-338-0111.
Buying tickets in Conakry
You can buy air tickets in Conakry at travel agents or direct from the airline offices. Prices can be quite reasonable or even cheap, but it depends on what deals might be around at the time. Plan plenty in advance, and having a local connection with a current PCV would help tremendously.
If the prices on tickets purchased in Guinea are bad, you may want to buy the ticket in the U.S. and send it via courier. (You can find Guinea visitors on the Guinea list.) Not all places in Guinea accept credit cards, although some now do, so travelers there must have enough traveler's cheques or cash to cover their ticket.
One parent said, in July 2001, "We just brought our son home for a summer break and found it was much cheaper to get round-trip tickets from Bamako, Mali to Memphis than from Conakry (we saved about $1000). What was neat, it turned out the AirFrance flight he was catching in Bamako actually originated in Conakry and for less than $200 he was able to buy tickets in Conakry and fly straight through."
One parent said: We were advised by our local travel agent to purchase the ticket through Air France and pay an extra $100 US to hold it at the Air France office in Conakry. We bought the ticket a couple of months ago and it came to $1,950 round trip. (2002)
Wow! Flying to Guinea is expensive!
In case you're wondering why the airfares to Guinea are so high, there was an article in the Guinean weekly, L'Indépendant, that spoke of all the different expenses and taxes required by the airport, government etc. It estimated that for an average flight, the airline has to spend at least US$15,000, which is before considering staff costs and profits. According to L'Indépendant, this makes the Conakry airport "the most expensive airport in the world."