SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS   Passenger Reviews and Passenger Trip Reports an official 4-Star Airline   Add your South African Airways review   South African Airways official 4-Star ranking   Airline Reviews : A-Z Index   2009 Quality Approval Status ? South African Airways Customer Reviews = 163

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.

SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS customer review :  26 October 2009 : by R Botha   (UK)

Domestic CPT-JNB flight during Friday afternoon peak. Check-in online and seat allocation was honoured. Friendly service at check-in, although Fast Bag Drop not available for Economy class. Older B737 with huge leg space. Friendly and attentive FAs, even coming around for further drinks rounds. Good quality wine and snack. Watched comedy programme on overhead (drop down) video screens. Arrived 20 minutes before the scheduled time and waiting about 10 minutes for my bag. Overall efficient impression, especially as this "full service" flight was less expensive than the "no frills" alternatives.

SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS customer review :  30 September 2009 : by Michael Schade   (Singapore)

Johannesburg - Cape Town return in Y class. New 737-800, surprisingly good service for a domestic flight.

SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS customer review :  26 September 2009 : by P Smit   (UK)

LHR-JNB return A340-600 economy. Planes new and clean, impressive legroom and tasty food. Seat was however very hard and passengers complained. some cabin crew very helpful and friendly but some just average.

SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS customer review :  24 September 2009 : by A Gori   (Kenya)

Nairobi-Johannesburg-Upington. A319 Nairobi to Johannesburg, Embraer 135 (operated by Airlink) Johannesburg to Upington. Flights on time and good on-board service. I find the A319 a little more comfortable than the B737-800 they sometimes operate into Nairobi, nice Recaro seats and a roomier cabin, which helps make a four-hour flight more enjoyable.

SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS customer review :  24 September 2009 : by Claes Elowsson   (Norway)

CPT-JNB to catch a LH to FRA. Service was friendly and smiling, food simple and tasteless, aircraft new, clean and roomy. Roomier than LH - alliance partners should be similar so one know what to expect when choosing to be loyal.

SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS customer review :  22 September 2009 : by Phil Eadie   (UK)

LHR-JNB-LHR on A340-600. First time on SAA and generally pleased with performance and service. Good, efficient cabin crew, more than reasonable food and entertainment system (which is not typical across rest of fleet) was rather good - especially enjoyed the tail plane camera being available. A couple of gripes - seat pitch is OK but for some reason the seats are really uncomfortable and required constant shifting around to ease pressure points. Also on return leg from JNB they never called the flight or announced it as boarding (as every other flight was) and seemed quite disinterested in rectifying the situation or indeed even understanding why there was a problem.

SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS customer review :  19 September 2009 : by Andrew Fleming   (Ghana)

Return from Accra to J'burg and SAA disappointed on this trip. Flight out A340-200 and direct. Service very average with the crew doing nothing more than they had to. A welcome drink, one further drink round once in the air then average meal served. Crew then disappeared. Entertainment not befitting a 4 star airline and packed up half way through the flight. The return was less satisfactory. Equipment a very tired 747, seats had very little recline. Food, considering a day flight originating from SA most disappointing. Crew gave the impression they could not care less and several spent long periods in the near empty first class cabin - heaven knows what the paying passenger made of their laughing and joking. When he got off in Lagos most of the crew seemed to congregate in this cabin and made considerable noise. A very poor service in terms of food (cold pasties and a limited selection of cold soft drinks) was offered on the Lagos to Accra leg.

SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS customer review :  18 September 2009 : by Brendan Binder   (USA)

Our flight New York to Johannesburg arrived over 5 hours late. Because of late arrival in JNB we had missed connecting flight to Victoria Falls. We were obliged to stay overnight at an airport hotel - SAA would not provide meal or hotel compensation (or assistance whatsoever) claiming they had fulfilled their contract. The SAA customer service personnel were surly and unhelpful.