South African Airways

My wife and I flew South African Airways to Perth Australia in April and returned in May. Both flights were excellent we really enjoyed the flights. The cabin staff were very good entertainment excellent. We will be flying South African Airways again.

My daughter and I attempted to check in at Johannesburg's OR Tambo airport for our flight to Victoria Falls Zimbabwe. Although we were timely and had paid nearly 8000 rand each for our tickets we were not allowed to check in. We were told that the airline had overbooked the flight. Told that although another group had not yet checked in we were not going to be issued boarding passes unless someone failed to appear. My daughter was able to get on the flight but I had to remain behind and spend the night at the airport Holiday Inn. The airline paid for the hotel and my meals but I asked for a rental car instead of a hotel so I could drive to Vic Falls and only miss half a day of riding. I was refused. The airline gave me a free domestic flight anywhere SAA flies in Africa to be used in the next year. I live in the US and have little or no chance of getting back to Africa in the next year. When I got on the plane I saw at least ten empty seats in business class. I missed a full day and a half of my six day riding tour. My daughter and I were split up during our vacation and left to travel separately. South African Airlines personnel were polite but just passed me around like they were completely helpless.

Entebbe to Johannesburg 15th Sep and back 21st Sep flight SA161 and SA160 respectively. I was jolted out of my sleep by a loud announcement that 'after rebooting several times the TV screens at the back have failed to function and we apologise for the inconvenience'. Come to think of it even on 15th those screens never worked and the whole flight seemed like one of our typical bus rides. That aside the rest of the things were pretty good. I would definitely choose SAA for my next flight down South!

Flew IAD-JNB-CPT and back on the A343 in business class. Good food very good IFE FA's were quite good and paid the right amount of attention to passengers while letting them sleep during this 20 hour journey. Far superior than my experience with US carriers such as UAL. Flat bed seats are good and I arrived with little or no jetlag even though I was six time zones away from home.

After spending almost 800 dollars months ago for a round trip ticket from Johannesburg to Victoria Falls my daughter and I were denied a boarding pass because the airline overbooked its only flight of the day. While trying to resolve this we learned that there was a group that had also not yet checked in but the airline made the decision that my daughter and I though we arrived first and in a timely manner would have to wait standby until this larger group arrived and they were given boarding passes. Because one person did not show up we were given one boarding pass. I sent my daughter ahead without me and I am sitting in a Holiday Inn near the OR Tambo Airport waiting to fly out tomorrow. To make up for missing two days of my tour the airline has given me a voucher for a domestic flight on their airline to use in the next year. As I am halfway around the world from home this voucher is useless. Although polite staff just shuttled me from person to person place to place. So instead my daughter is alone in Zimbabwe and I am alone in Johannesburg South Africa. This is utterly wrong.

I flew SAA from Mumbai to Cotonou (Benin) via Johannesburg. I arrived early enough in Mumbai to get an exit row seat. That was brilliant - great legroom and very comfortable. The other seats also seemed nice. Plane was an Airbus 330-200. IFE was great - but I slept for most of the flight. I usually get an Asian veg special meal - but it was one of the default options. Flight landed a bit early at Jo'burg. Spent an hour or so shopping. On the flight to Cotonou I was upgraded to business class because of my Star Alliance status I guess. This was a day flight on an Airbus A 319 so the business class was not lie flat but rather a wider and nicer seat and with much better meals. Flight was punctual though it included 1 stopover at Pointe Noire Congo. Cotonou airport was a mess but that has nothing to do with SAA. Bottom line I will fly SAA again even if it means a few hours extra. My alternative was Ethiopian or Kenyan but these don't have daily service to Benin and included 1 leg in an unknown African airline which have to avoided like the plague for their terrible safety records. SAA was pricier but I got comfortable seating wonderful warm service and good food.

They are a real hodge podge of excellent and completely inept service. Pros: The inflight entertainment okay legroom inflight attendants and meals were above average. Cons: On the return flight from JNB-JFK I checked in 2.5 hours before the flight and was told I couldn't fly. My confirmed reserved seats were still available but they'd loaded too much cargo. After 2 hours of staff bickering with each other they finally allowed us on the plane but had given my family's seats away to someone else. When they finally issued our seats we were scattered and all 4 of us were in the worst possible non-connected middle seats. No apology for the inconvenience. The inbound flight from IAD-JNB did not have these issues and remitted a higher rating. But it felt like customer service roulette. They did however misplace one of our luggage items and took 4 days to get it to us.

We just got back from a trip to South Africa (DC to Cape Town and elsewhere). My three most favorite words in the English language are now lay-flat seats. The flight attendants were very good and attentive. For more than 40 hours in the air (round trip) I never once had to hit the call button or hunt down a flight attendant to seek service. My glass always seemed to be filled. Now I must admit their food is not all that great but still it is much better than best cuisine you'll ever get in coach. Besides on a trip as lengthy as what we faced having space and comfort trumped food. In the comfort and space department SAA certainly delivered. We landed feeling very fresh and ready to go. Besides once we landed in county we had more than our fare share of food. So not overeating in transit was even a bigger plus. If I ever go back I'd fly SAA again.

My experience was on the Douala to Libreville (continuing to Johannesburg) flight in the evening. I bought a business class ticket but got a low-cost coach airline service. At check-in whatever weight you will pay extra for a 2nd piece of checked-in luggage. On board business seats are coach seats and worst is the service: dinner is an extremely bad sandwich (dry bread with no more than 1 ounce of chicken) and a choice of sodas no wine no beer.

My flight to South Africa with my 6 month old was fine in fact quite enjoyable. Unfortunately our return flight could not have been any worse due to the over booking and re-seating process. We were we tossed from pillar to post as the seat we had been allocated was taken to re-seat a mother and daughter. I was then offered another seat which was next to another re-seated passenger obviously put out as he had been downgraded due to the plane being overbooked. I was then re-seated for a final time in between 2 people. It was certainly not ideal with a 7 month old as I could not get up easily if I needed to settle my son. I felt the service in this case fell well below the standard I expected and below that which I experienced on the outbound flight.