Cheap tickets were just not available and all the direct flights to Johannesburg were ridiculously expensive. My youngster managed to find half-decent prices through a travel agency for SAA.
After having the kids home for a shortened Easter weekend, I travelled across to Heathrow with my son and his wife to drop her off at their home and to give him a chance to pack his suitcase.
A short tube ride later and we were at Terminal 1 to drop off our suitcases.
Asked about doing an upgrade to be told that there were plenty of Business seats left but that it would cost more than a thousand pounds to upgrade so we laughed that one off.
Security was a breeze and we were soon in the pub enjoying a couple of ales before wending our way down to the gate.
Boarding was done efficiently with those making a left turn and others with gold and platinum Voyager membership getting first call, followed by those needing assistance and those with children. After that, it was the usual seat-row lottery but everyone was very well behaved and the plane was loaded and ready to go more than 15 minutes ahead of schedule. Although not completely full, there were not too many empty seats. We were in 47HK.
The aircraft (an A340-300) itself looked like it was brand new although it has been in service for a while now. It was sparkling clean, the seats looked pristine and the entertainment centre worked like a dream the whole way.
Leg room is superb for economy and knocks spots off of BA and Virgin with a 34” pitch although the seats themselves are quite hard and I had to keep moving to relieve the pain around the coccyx area.
I was pleased that they seemed to have got the cabin temperature right with it being comfortable the whole way.
We pushed back 5 minutes early and had a short wait at the threshold (number 3 in the queue) before we took off on 27L turning out towards Midhurst.
There was some turbulence over France which resulted in the seatbelt lights coming on and some over Africa but nothing uncomfortable.
I was pleased to see that SAA has not followed Virgin's idea of no bar run on flights after 7pm and fairly soon after take-off, the trollies arrived with drinks and bottles of (very good) wine being offered at the same time for the later dinner service.
Around an hour and a half after departure, dinner was served. The choice was lamb curry or chicken and veg. We both went for the lamb option and were not sorry. It was one of the best tasting meals I have ever had on a flight. More wine was available for those who had been thirsty and downed their original bottle already.
Service started at the front of our section and being in the second row of the section, we had no problem getting what we wanted from the trolley.
Tea and coffee only arrived much later when we had already finished eating but at least there was no worry about knocking it all over the place while eating.
Next came the duty free which was actually a bit disappointing as the selection on SAA is very small.
Soon it was time for lights out and the entertainment equipment to be put to full use.
I am not very good at concentrating on anything other than the flight although I had managed to do most of the crosswords and puzzles from the MoS. I managed to watch an excellent documentary on the Aliwal Shoal before trying to get some sleep. I think I was out for about 30 minutes or so and then woke up. The glasses were refilled and I watched Madagascar. They have quite a mix of movies on SAA with a lot of older ones available. The music choice is also very good and I like the fact that you can choose something to listen to and then swap over to the flight map and the music continues to play. I do find the inclusion of the exercise program a bit of a pain, however. You get 3 screens of flight detail/maps and then 4 of different exercises.
Later, I tried watching a few other bits and bobs but eventually gave up and just listened to music and watched the flight progress on the map.
The CC came through the cabin every hour with small cartons of fruit juice and bottles of water so there was no reason why anyone needed to go thirsty. If anything stronger was needed, a quick visit to the galley paid dividends or the CC could be asked as they passed through. As I had to drive from the airport, I stuck to juice and water.
An hour and a half before landing, it was lights on and breakfast. The choice was between full English and Continental. The latter may have been a better choice as the scrambled egg could be used in place of a tennis ball and the bacon could have spent another minute in the pan. The bottom of the foil dish was swimming in water which I took to be because of using cheap bacon.
We landed on 21R and had a very short taxi in to the gate. Once the Business Class passengers were off, the usual free for all took place and, being in the 2nd row of Economy, we were quickly off and through to Immigration. This was a breeze too as our flight was the first one of the morning and the desks were already all manned so we were very quickly through to get our luggage and out into the big brave world that is South Africa to pick up the hire car and throw ourselves at the mercy of the road system which, in some parts, is a total mess.
Overall, the flights were good with friendly, efficient crew which pleased me as I have for many years tried to avoid SAA after some really bad experiences with them.
The TR for the return 2 days later will be written up shortly.
