SAA South African Airways Passenger Reviews and SAA Customer Trip Reports

South African Airways customer travel guide

South African Airways Passenger Trip Reviews

South African Airways Economy class seat reviews

South African Airways 4-Star Airline ranking

South African Airways Business class seat reviews

South African Airways Passenger seat tips

South African Airways Aircraft Seat Plans

CPT-JNB return. Both flights on B737-800. Cabin crew very friendly. I sat at the emergency exit and cabin crew member explained what I should do in case of an emergency in a professional and friendly manner. IFE could use some work, but I suppose its acceptable for a 1hr 45min flight. Food was great. Liked the announcements from the pilots, they were regular and very informative. Both landings were greasers (smooth landings). SAA pilots are definitely amongst the best in the world. Overall a great experience and great value for money.

Flew PER-JNB return on A340 and was appalled by this service. In flight entertainment was almost non existent. Channels were interfering with one another so nothing made sense. Food was poor and on the way to JNB it was cold. Will avoid flying SAA in the future regardless of the cost.

JFK-JNB return. This was my first long haul flight and first trip to Africa. (Many transatlantic flights though) I found everything about the trip to be professional and meeting my expectations. The seats reclined sufficiently for the level of service. Food and food options were good. Lots of snacks, good portion sizes, etc. The wine was decent and did the trick. The in-flight entertainment really helped pass the time. I watched more TV and movies on those two flights than I've watched in months. I was pleasantly surprised by the friendliness of the flight attendants. The return flight was only about 40% full so I was able to fully lay down and sleep 10+ hours straight. An overall great experience, I'd fly with them again.

Domestic flight CPT-JNB was fine - good staff, decent plane, no hassles. Be aware though that passengers bring enormous amounts of hand luggage - big bags or multiple bags (I even saw two guys who each had a medium-sized box in addition to their carry-on bags. All the bins were full when there were still 20 people left to board.

When attempting to travel to Cape Town from New York City for Cape Town Jazz Festival, flight got cancelled due to engine failure. Took 3.5 hrs to get rebooked onto an Emirates Flight departing 12 hrs later, which would have 8 hr layover in Dubai. Got day rooms at JFK after some discussion. When returning to airport to check into Emirates flight we were told SAA had never made the reservation in the system, there would be no meals and there was no connection out of Dubai. We went home. As compensation they "offered" us 25% off a new ticket.

May 3, SA 083, COO-JNB Economy. SAA offer the only direct flights between COO and JNB twice a week. Tried checking in online, but the response from the system was always "error - We could not find that reservation". Even called the SAA office to get it corrected, but did not get any relief. Fortunately, there was no problem checking in at the airport. Delayed on take-off for about one hour. Not a single word of explanation or apology came from the crew. Aircraft was Airbus 319, and the flight was full. The food was meagre and awful - almost inedible. Again delayed taking off after the stopover in Pointe Noire, it was already dark when we arrived in Johannesburg, making me miss my meeting of the evening. Only on arrival at OR Tambo airport that someone apologized for the delay. When the aircraft had parked at the terminal, they could not get the gangway to open, and we had to wait some more. Mechanics were called, but still they could not open it. The buses came to the rescue to take us to the terminal. We had to descend down the stairs with all our hand luggage. With all the above missteps, it was a disappointing experience. I did not find any reason for assigning four stars to this airline.

EZE-JNB-CPT-JNB-EZE. Business Class. Airbus A340-300. Remains a solid product with a friendly professional crew. Seats: comfortable enough, suggest centre aisle. Good duvet and real feather pillow so able to get some sleep. Meals: excellent quality for airline food and adequate portions and complementing wines. Movies: Did JFK-JNB-JFK in the same month so I was hard pressed by the end of March but it is a good on demand system. Value for money: SAA has monopoly on the routes to South America from SA so they can and do charge what they like. Worst Part: SAA continues to use low grade cheap instant coffee in Business class which is not acceptable when so much attention has been paid to other aspects of the product. Additionally, JNB-EZE is day time flying during comparatively 'normal' hours either side of the south Atlantic yet SAA insists on blacking out the cabin with all window shades down. 11 hours is too long to sit in artificial blackout especially since I have never been in SA226/7 when Business class is more than half empty. Rows 15/16 in their own 'cabin' are very nice to sit in if the crew are not using it as a bedroom.

HKG-JNB-WVB and back two weeks later LVI-JNB-HKG. Long Haul flights from and to HKG were on time. SAA connect operates to WVB and we got delayed by 1 hour due to technical defect. Have never experienced that the pilot would come to departure hall and explain about the delay and later gave a very detailed explanation before take off. Well done. Food was alright nothing special really same with IFE. Very quiet flight. Contacted Call Centre for seat reservation which was carried out promptly.

Booked on Flight 359 from Jo'burg to Cape Town on 12 April, 2013. One of our bags was the last off Flight 7701 from Sydney even though it was tagged "Business". Staff at the desks were more interested in chatting to each other than booking us through to the Cape Town flight. Finally joined other people at the boarding gate only to be told a couple of minutes later that the gate was being closed, leaving 28 of us stranded there! Had to head downstairs again to find another flight which ended up being 3 hours later, even though our luggage left on the original flight.

Onboard an international flight (Cape Town to New Zealand). Just before Johannesburg we were diverted to Bloemfontein "due to bad weather". We had to wait 3+ hours for the plane to be refuelled - in which we did not get much updates or any food or water! Then majority of people on the plane missed their connecting flights. When we were finally on our way back to Johannesburg, we were told that the ground staff will meet us and tell us exactly where to go. But there were no ground staff meeting us, instead we had to run up and down (with a baby) to find out where to go. Hours later someone finally helped us and we were put up in a hotel for the night. We were told to go back to the airport the next morning to re-book our connecting flights, which we did. The worst service I have experienced, especially travelling with a baby. Not recommended to anyone travelling with kids.

Flew Windhoek to Johannesburg. Flight was full and airline upgraded many people from Economy into business - to the effect that the entire C class was completely full. It felt crowded like in Y class. Not very pleasant for people that paid for the fare. Flight attendants very friendly and efficient and food was good though.

We flew to Johannesburg from JFK. Plenty of room in economy as compared with US airlines, The food and service were excellent. Less leg room on the Jo'burg-Cape Town short flight but full service meal and good FA service. Return to Jo'burg, about the same. The flight back to JFK was wonderful, again. Goof IFE, great food and service.

JNB-PER in economy. Reasonable flight, not comfortable but no worse than most economy flights. Staff pleasant enough. Food very poor and breakfast unpleasant. Eat before you get on board. Nothing to particularly recommend it, except this is the only flight on this route.

Flew NBO - JNB - CPT - JNB - NBO in Business class. Excellent service on all fights, with crew going out of their way to help. Food was always excellent, as were drinks. The crew were chatty, and suggested wine pairings with food. Check in, luggage handling, boarding, etc., were all very good experiences. We had the 737's on 3 legs and A340-600 on JNB - CPT. The A340 is a very comfortable aircraft. Only downside is remote boarding, and a huge jam at CPT waiting for luggage.

CPT to JFK via JNB (6 March) and LHR to CPT via JNB (20 March). On time for all flights. Comfortable seats - good entertainment system. Flight to JFK lightly loaded so able to spread out - helpful given that it is a 16 hr flight. Others completely full. Check in staff very helpful. Staff on all fights excellent - pleasant food and regular visits to the cabin with drinks during night flights. Prices on the high side but well recommended.

Business Class, IAD-DKR-JNB. Very comfortable flights with the flat bed on A340-600. Flights arrived in DKR and JNB 45 minutes early! Crews were friendly and accommodating and the food service was excellent on each leg. SA have definitely made some improvements in the service area (although I know this can be hit or miss). Each main course had 4 options and there was more than enough food throughout the flight. Got plenty of bottled water and tea/coffee always piping hot!

Flight PER - JNB return economy. Seats narrow poor leg room. Cabin crew on outward flight rude and extremely unhelpful, return flight very good service. Meals were cold and plane was late leaving due to non arrival of meals, ground staff were not available as it was the weekend we were informed.

Flew from Cape Town to Johannesburg. Check in at Cape Town unable to check luggage through to Sydney. Plane left 50 minutes late and had to wait 35 minutes for luggage in Johannesburg causing me to miss flight to Sydney. Ground staff and SAA help desk at Jo'burg all offered a "I do not care attitude". No help received or even offered. Last time I fly South African Airways.

We left on the 1st Feb LHR - JNB - CPT. The checkin was fine but the flight was the worst I have ever experienced! The crew: not one glimmer of a smile, no please, no thank you, it was as if they resented serving us and we did not feel at all looked after. The Food: one mouthful was more than enough - disgusting! The entertainment system: the map never worked and my touch screen was broken - just shrugs from the crew, my partners headphones only worked in one ear. The worst thing was the temperature, my partner works outdoors and will often refer to 7c as 'balmy' but on this flight we froze as did everyone else - what is that about SAA? The flight from JNB - CPT was a little better - the staff were at least a little friendly. The return flights were a little better but but the food was again totally disgusting and I am used to airline food. The entertainment system did work but had a very poor and very old selection of films. The cabin temperature was again unacceptably cold. We will never fly SAA again and will warn all our friends and family of our experience.

Flew 18 February, Johannesburg to London. Flight timing OK. This must have been the oldest A340 in the fleet. Plane virtually full and very uncomfortable, hardly any knee room. No seat back entertainment screens, something not seen on an international flight for years. Entertainment consisted of one film displayed on a few drop down TVs, reminiscent of cheap European charter flights. Food was passable, no better, and served reasonably efficiently by a crew who showed little rapport with customers. Our journey from Cape Town had originally been booked for a direct flight but SAA change to route all flights via Johannesburg meant an additional 5 to 6 hours on our journey.

LHR-JNB. From Check-in to baggage collection, SAA service was flawless. Air stewards friendly, food was as good as airline food can get (mediocre), but not worse than any of SAA's competitors. Aircraft was clean, and staff was generally friendlier than other airline staff. I will fly with them again.

7 day, London - Johannesburg return. What has happened? From someone with over 40 years experience of flying 'The Springbok', these 2 flights were just terrible. Outbound: Aircraft A340 was clean and tidy, left a little late and arrived a little early. Crew - no smiles, no interest, no service! Food was ok and apart from the 'map' not working IFE was good. 4/10. Return: Check-in staff had no uniform making it difficult to tell who was who. Aircraft was for some reason an A320 but was clean and as far as I could see in very good condition. Flight was far from full capacity. Crew were ok with prompt service but virtually no passenger interaction between meals which on this particular flight were far from being tasty. IFE was good and again apart from the first few hours there was no 'map'! 4/10. They really need to improve their product if you want to compete in today's' marketplace.

JFK to JHB return on 12/29/12 and 1/13/13, and was very satisfied with the business class service. The flight attendants on both flights were very friendly and pleasant, and attentive during drink and meal service. It is true that the attendants then disappear for the majority of the flight but, since most of the passengers are sleeping, I think passengers would be very annoyed to have service carts going up and down the aisles during this time. If one wants something, one can ask and it will be supplied. The seats were very comfortable as beds, and I slept well. I have no complaints at all.

LHR-JNB return. What I experienced, especially JNB-LHR leg was excellent. Flight attendants were attentive and courteous with even the most basic request. The food itself was excellent. The pilots made regular announcements, notifying passengers before meals of the choices, as well as apologizing beforehand if we don't get what we want because of the meals being made in a 'ratio basis'. When I last flew SAA, the only source of entertainment were small screens every few rows but now was offered a good selection of AVOD. The seating was comfortable and was equivalent to the Economy Plus offered by United (which you have to pay extra for) for leg space which I experienced with my connecting flight from LHR to ORD. Overall, a very pleasant trip. Would gladly fly again.

IAD-DKR-IAD. Both outbound and return flight were on time. Lie-flat seat is a little hard in seating position but very comfortable if you use the blanket as a mattress in the bed position. Dakar-IAD leaving at 2am, the entire flight is by night. IAD-DKR is overnight as well. Food is ok but nothing special. Breakfast was not served before arrival in Dakar, which is odd, particularly in C class. The video system is not very easy to use but the screen is adequate and the earphones are good. In all, SAA's business product is very correct. I would recommend the airline, at least for this class of service.

Port Elizabeth-Johannesburg on a quite old 737-800, flying with a packed Economy. The service was pretty good: nice cabin crew, a tasty and complete breakfast was served as this was an early morning flight. Good selection of beverages. Comfort of the seat quite good. Landed ahead of schedule in JNB. Johannesburg to Cape Town: this second flight was a different story. Flew on a pretty new and well-maintained but empty Airbus A340-600, which was surprising to me as flight time is only two hours on this route. Cabin crew were not good: quite rude, kept chatting among them for the whole trip in the back of the aircraft, ignoring some requests from a group of Dutch passengers. A poor sandwich was served as lunch, with the usual selection of beverages. The entertainment system was not running, but I could notice it is not the new touch-screen version. Space for legs good with the usual 2-4-2 configuration for the A340. Overall, the price paid was too high for what you get back aboard.

SA 288, 3 January, Johannesburg - Beijing, Business (Premium) class, Seat 7K. Uninspiring, mediocre and ordinary in every respect. Flight empty in business class cabin, 8 passengers with 42 seats on A340-600. Departure at 00.30, drinks service, canapés, main meal service. Crew just going through the motions with a complete lack of enthusiasm. Lots of loud chatting and laughing in the galley. Such an ordinary product. In flight amenity kit best left behind - apparently a new product line - just the very basics. Requested coffee twice and staff happily complied served in a paper cup with a serviette. Duvet and over seat mattress placed on empty seat next to me - no offer to make the bed? One blessing on such a long flight is that the IFE is good with a large selection of movies and series.

Flew from London to Johannesburg, in economy. Love the new seats and the staff were great. The French airspace was closed and the pilot kept us informed and offered to fly the next morning with free accommodations despite the fact many others were just sitting on the tarmac, we did have a vote and choose to stay and then went over Poland. Fantastic airline.

LHR-JNB. Was switched from LHR-ZCH-JNB when Zurich airport was closed by heavy snow. Despite the late switch SAA managed to get my wife and I on adjacent seats. SAA always scores well on flight attendant service and the excellent bed cover and duvet. Used the Arrivals Lounge and as usual this was quiet and well-staffed.

Flew Johannesburg to Washington route on 1st December 2012. I was on economy class and there were no amenities whatsoever. The least SAA could have done was to send out a notice that they do not hand out any amenities because why would I pay so much and not get an amenities bag.

We were on A340-300 from Dulles to Johannesburg. The seats were impossibly small. I am 5'6" and could not cross or move my legs. My husband is 6' and could not move at all. The layover in Dakar only made it worse. The flight was long enough without adding a stop. A340-600 could have made it non-stop. If you are ever on the 300, change your route. We travelled extensively by air in Africa on BOAC planes that were twice as roomy as the SAA. The worse part of the trip to Johannesburg was knowing we had to do it again to get home.

Very good trip CPT-LHR. Staff very friendly and professional. Food about the best of any airlines. Aircraft clean. Entertainment up to date. Seats comfortable.

Business class on A340-600, CPT to JNB on Oct 1. Business class lounge nice with light snacks/espresso machines/staffed bar. The latter turned out to be better than the food on board. Never flown economy on SAA so unsure of the difference. Business class product comparable if not worse than US carriers. Lie flat seats are those that do not fully recline but didn't attempt sleeping on this 2 hour flight. Plenty of leg room but no pillows/blankets. Asked FA for a blanket but she never got back to me. IFE non-existent and meal, which consisted of a pre-packaged salad and small dessert, was of poor quality. Two drink runs which was good but after the meal/drinks, FA's retreated to the galley where they talked amongst themselves. The fare cost $240 USD more than economy not counting the extra bag fee. Business class on this flight not worth the extra money and would have chosen economy if I had it to do over again.

CPT-JNB-CPT on 737-800 in Economy. Both flights left early and arrived on-time. Both flights fully booked. Food was great! Received the standard chicken croissant and muffin on the 10h00 flight to JNB. On the return flight to CPT at 17h00 we had a choice between a hot option of lamb and rice or chicken pasta, along with a salad, dessert , bun and chocolate. Also could choose between more than 2 red wines. Cabin professional on both flights, was impressed by how much service improved over the last 3 years.

Cape Town to Johannesburg in economy on 11 October. Flight delayed due to closure of Jo'burg airport because of bad weather. Captain kept us informed. Some of the time made up during flight. Easy boarding and deplaning. helpful staff, pleasant food and ok seats.

Flew recently Hong Kong-JNB and back. Terrible service and refusal on both trips of a baby bassinet, even though it was booked 2 months in advance. Our baby met all the safety regulations but still told they are "breaking the law" when they will give us one. On the first flight we managed to convince the captain to give us one, baby slept 8 hours out of 13.5 hour flight. Also, we only received one bottle of water the entire flight and were told to go get our own beverages. Temperature in-flight was way too cold. When ringing for service, we were ignored. Return flight better service, but refusal of booked bassinet and our baby was the only one on the entire flight (under 9 kg and 73cm) I was moved to a two window seater and could not sleep throughout the flight. Towards the end of flight the captain told me not to fly alone again with my baby, or bring a car seat next time.