South African Airways

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.

Sao Paulo to Johannesburg on 2 October 2012. The cabin crew were one of the worst I have experienced. Their behaviour and conversation before we boarded was less than professional. The flight was smooth so it made me wonder why the food trolley was bumping into the passengers. There was one passenger who had requested a vegan meal when she booked and when she asked the air hostess she was told "no we don't have any vegetarian meals". She didn't even try to compromise which was something that could have been done.

SA 191 Mauritius - Johannesburg 28th September. Seat 6A. This really is a very mediocre domestic business class product for a medium haul flight of 4 hours 35 minutes. On boarding two elderly male flight attendants who when asked how they were the one's response was 'you do not want to know'. No pre-take off refreshments no hot towel service. Newspapers half heatedly passed out. Meals slammed onto tables - the beef selection ran out somewhere near row 3. Drinks - unopened can of mixer and alcohol miniature handed to me with a glass containing ice. Absolutely no interest in providing anything but the bare minimum service. And then the parade of economy class travellers starts traipsing through to use the toilets.

I flew Perth to Joburg return on SA airways on the A340 both ways. I was really impressed with the cleanliness of the plane and modernity of the entertainment system. In flight staff were helpful and fairly attentive. Seat was as comfortable as can be hoped on a long haul economy flight. Food was not bad - I was grateful that my vegetarian meal was catered for and not forgotten. The Joburg airport is fairly big fairly efficient and easy to navigate but with not much to do inside and no real opportunity to charge devices such as phones or iPods. This flight was also code-shared with Qantas and Air NZ.

JNB-WDH-JNB in Business Class. Food excellent service very good. Only complaint is that they allow economy passengers to use the business class toilet. On other airlines this is forbidden.

Flew Business Class to and from Perth to Johannesburg on an A340-300. Very comfortable relatively flatbed seats excellent crews and service and good choice of quality meals. Only gripe on the A340-300 is that the cabin temperature on these night flights was set way too high and was exceptionally uncomfortable with crew resistant to lowering it and with one staff member claiming it was a defect of the A340's! The Business Class service on the 738's between Johannesburg and Cape Town was good but the aircraft are showing their age and if anyone looks at floor level you'll notice grubbiness and that the IFE units are coming apart - not a good look.