SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS Passenger Reviews and Customer Trip Reports

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SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS customer review :  19 January 2010 by Eugene Engelbrecht   (South Africa)

JNB - EZE. The cabin crew on this flight were rude with everyone. One picked up the book of my fellow passenger to read it without even asking her permission. The crew consistently pushed past passengers standing in the aisles without first asking politely if they would move. At 14h00, on a flight that had left about 10h30 owing to a 40 minute delay, the cabin crew inconsistently told passengers to close their blinds so that people could sleep. Most people who had needed to catch up on some sleep had already done so at this time. When the passenger in front of me was asked to close the blinds "slightly", I thought I would do the same in anticipation of the attendant coming to my row. When she saw what I had done, she said "If you're going to close the shutter, you can at least close it half way. There are people trying to sleep, you know." Then, when she came to me, she had decided she wanted the shutter completely closed. Once most of the shutters were down, the crew disappeared for most of the remainder of the flight. On two occasions, after the crew realised that there was now a constant stream of passengers to the galley, did they decide to bring a limited number of glasses of water and juice around in case anyone might want. Wherever possible, I choose not to fly SAA. This flight only served to reinforce my negative impression of the airline. GRU- JNB. The plane we were on was much nicer than the one from JNB to EZE (that one had almost no entertainment to speak of and leg room not the best I have had). The selection of movies was okay to good. The captain made announcements clearly and communicated well with the passengers. The crew had a much better attitude than going to EZE, and I was hopeful, until they disappeared for the night, not bringing out anything to drink even after passengers had started to make their way to the galley. The food was mediocre.

SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS customer review :  14 January 2010 by P Needham   (UK)

We travelled overnight London to Cape Town on an A340-200 seats two across - seats 54A/C. The plane felt old with only a few drop down screens which were hard to see. Initially the leg room seemed ok but after 12 hours showed its limitation. In particular the seat was very thin and uncomfortable. Food was good and the crew very friendly & helpful. Return fro Jo'burg to London on much newer A340-600 seats 39H & K all seemed well. Some increase in leg room, in seat video/games, films etc. I soon found out that my in seat entertainment system didn't work and asking for help was given a shrug of the shoulders. A second request got nowhere and on a 3rd the hostess tried to reboot it - this didn't work either and no one seemed interested after that - I later discovered that the whole row 39 didn't work throughout the flight. Again the food was good but the crew were disinterested & unfriendly. Not a good flight and very disappointed with SAA.

SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS customer review :  13 January 2010 by D Gordon   (USA)

LHR-JNB-LHR. Most surprising thing about this airlines is how inconsistent the experience is depending on equipment used. Outbound on A340-600 in economy was excellent experience. Nice clean aircraft, good seats, ok food, super friendly, efficient and fun crew, good AVOD (though for some reason the description of the movies in the inflight mag is the worst ever). Definitely good long haul economy product. Inbound was a different world on A340-200. Old, tired, dirty aircraft, much less legroom and comfort of seats - and no seatback screens or AVOD. Only a few overhead monitors for the whole cabin! Not possible or worth watching a screen 8 rows away that is half the size of the screen in my living room. Crew very friendly and helpful and food ok. SAA really needs to do something about the A340-200s - experience is not good enough for 2010! Outbound trip would be a 9 rating for long haul economy, inbound probably 2 out of 10 - anything above 2 is purely due to the crew.

SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS customer review :  7 January 2010 by S de Thierry   (UK)

Johannesburg - London A340-600. SAA are about to unveil a new premium lounge, and the "temporary" part of the current one is very apparent. Nevertheless, once the chaotic boarding procedure was completed, the onboard product was faultless. The service was courteous, warm and attentive. The seats were the best in it's class. I was able to get an 8 hour uninterrupted sleep on a flat bet , pillows and duvets very comfortable. The bathrooms were kept clean throughout the flight. The dinner was excellent, and breakfast was good. The inflight entertainment was extensive, and amenity kits plentiful.

SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS customer review :  30 December 2009 by F Swart   (Australia)

Perth-Johannesburg (A340-600) - Durban(737-800).PER-JNB I was in seat 57K so window seat just behind window. I found that in the A340-600 there is a sizeable gap between the seat and window, not the best for sleeping. I usually fly Qantas through Sydney so not really happy with not getting snacks or ice-cream during the flight. JNB-DUR a B737-800 that was the oldest in the fleet. Seat 22A this time so behind the wing again. The bagel we got for break- fast was about 3 years old.

SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS customer review :  22 December 2009 by Tim Powell   (Spain)

JNB-CPT on the Friday evening of the draws for the 2010 World Cup. The 5pm departure is an unmarked (all white) 747 which arrived late and departed 90 mins late. A great shame for all those football fans heading for the party in Cape Town. My seat was already occupied on what was a 100% load and the occupants own seat was being used by someone else. It took 15 mins to find seats for the folks who were unlucky enough to be among the last the board the aircraft. What appeared to me to be an insufficient crew for a 400 seat airplane on a short flight have no time to perform a meal and drinks service and yet they try. The food is poor quality. CPT still using the old domestic arrivals hall which realistically cannot cope with a 747.

SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS customer review :  19 December 2009 : by D Law   (UK)

If you're unlucky enough to be in the ancient Airbus A340-200 planes they use for London-Cape Town, you'll experience inflight entertainment that would have been considered poor even 25 years ago. In a 13 hour flight, they showed one movie - Ice Age 3 in the middle of the night, on a 12 inch screen which happened to be 7 rows up and to the left of me. For a major airline in the 21st century, during a 13 hour flight, that isn't going to cut it.

SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS customer review :  19 November 2009 : by Allan Robins   (UK)

Dar Es Salaam to JNB. Rather annoyingly, SAA loaded everyone onboard at the same time which resulted in a bit of a mad rush. Emergency exit seat, good legroom, though the seat did not recline. FA's on board very friendly. Food was okay. Arrived about on time, though could only park in the domestic side, which meant we had to ignore the air bridge and catch a bus. In all, a reasonable flight.

SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS customer review :  11 November 2009 : by J Pole   (South Africa)

Johannesburg to London return. Very quick check in both times. Crew friendly and efficient. Offered drinks as soon as we sat down. All cabin crew addressed us by name on both flights. Food good and served quickly. Best business class seats of any airline we have flown.

SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS customer review :  3 November 2009 : by Allan Robins   (UK)

Cape Town-Johannesburg (Business) - Livingstone (Economy). I took this ticket as a Star Alliance reward flight, I was the first to check in and was given seat 2c. The seat was comfortable, however the row in front was 2 seats and this was 3 seats so as everyone got on the plane I got smacked in the shoulder or face with peoples bags as they passed, then the catering trolley during the flight. I can only assume I got this seat because it was a reward ticket! The second leg only offered economy but I did get a safety exit seat with a window so no problems there and the bonus of flying over Victoria Falls was a big plus. In short a reasonable experience, however having seen SAA short haul business class and economy, I wouldn't pay the extra.

SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS customer review :  3 November 2009 : by Martin Kay   (Ghana)

Disgusting. That's the one word to describe seats, legroom, service on the reintroduced 747s from Accra to Johannesburg. Worst ever legroom I've ever experienced. Service just bearable considering it was a night flight but after a midnight take off why are they messing around at 0130 trying to sell duty free. We dont care about duty free at 0130 in the morning. I offered to pay to upgrade but my ticket wouldn't allow it! Next time its Arik and their nice A340 via Lagos.

SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS customer review :  3 November 2009 : by Steve Weller   (New Zealand)

PER-JNB A340-200 Business Class. I am hoping that with the new Air NZ / SAA agreement on this route that they will start using a Star Alliance Lounge at Perth (Singapore Air). The Qantas lounge is terrible - brand new but poorly designed with only cheese and crackers on offer. Flight departed on time and this was the best SAA flight I have had. Crew top notch. Quick dinner service and good quality food and beverages. Great sleep on fully flat bed - slightly hard but still plenty of rest. Crew timed the breakfast to perfection (not woken too early) and quick breakfast 40mins before landing. Excellent service.