Once the car was filled and dropped off, we headed into a very busy departures area. As Terminal B seemed to be the International Departures area, we headed there first only to discover that all SAA check-ins are done in Terminal A.
Another long walk back to where we had started from to ask an SAA lady where the bag drop counter was and then stood in the queue for quite a while while she sorted out passengers problems, dropped the bags and headed off to security.
We were soon through the security check and then quickly through Passport Control (yup, you need to have your passports scanned again when leaving). Thank goodness we were early as it soon became chaotic with long queues for security and PC.
We quickly did what little bit of duty free shopping we wanted and headed off to find the pub. There is just the one bar area but we were able to get a table right by the window where we could watch the comings and goings on the apron.
When it came time to head off to the gate, we found it was almost right next to the bar and we were met by a frantic lady checking boarding passes and signing them so that she would not have to do it again during the actual boarding process saying that she would not have time to do it later! She nearly had hysterics when they opened the doors and called the pax for boarding. ~As we were standing next to the door, we were quickly down the ramp and then had to hold short of the door while they finished loading the dinner trollies.
Once on board, we settled down in 63HK to watch the rest of the self-loading carge board. This can often be quite entertaining. The plane was almost full with just a couple of seats still available in economy.
Push-back was just a couple of minutes late and we were soon airborne and looking forward to the bar service.
While the seats were as spacious and hard as mentioned in my outbound TR, they were in the worst part of the aircraft for service.
It took at least 40 minutes for the drinks trolley to reach us (and then, like busses, 2 came at the same time). Dinner was the same and by the time we were served, there were only a couple left so there was certainly no choice of meal. We ended up with beef which was quite tasty although not as good as the curry on the outbound leg.
After a night of trying to sleep with the odd few successful minutes here and there, and plenty of bumps over Niger, Algeria and the Med, it was time for breakfast.
As per usual, it was a full English but but this time, much smaller portions and again, the hot food was swimming in water. The bread roll was also somewhat stale. Still, the coffee was good.
Although the flight deck had promised rain at LHR, it was actually quite pleasant although chilly. We touched down about 15 minutes early and then had the long taxi down to Terminal 1.
I wondered whether we had landed at LGW by mistake because the walk from the gate to Immigration was certainly the longest I have ever experienced in an airport. Still, for the less energetic types, there are always the moving walkways.
As for the crew on this flight, I cannot fault them. They were cheerful with big broad smiles and always willing to help.
The aircraft interior was, again spotless and looked shiny new.
The entertainment system had a couple of hiccups early in the flight but then seemed to settle down and worked perfectly for most of the flight.
As I said in the previous TR, I have not been a big fan of SAA having had some horrendous trips in the past and I have always steered well clear of them. This trip, however, was short notice and these were the only flights we could get but i was very impressed with the standard of the aircraft interior and the crew. Maybe I will be a bit more willing to look at SAA again in the future.
Sounds like a disappointing flight most certainly on the food & service front 
