ellsa

We are flying from LHR to JNB with BA on business class. The flight is overnight and arrives in JNB at 9.50am local time. We then have a domestic flight from JNB to PLZ on South African Airways, departing at 11.40am. I am travelling with my wife, we will have checked-in luggage and have UK and Canadian passports respectively. We have never been to South Africa before and are not familiar with JNB airport.

Is 1hr 50mins enough time to exit the plane, pass through immigration, check-in and go through security in time to board the flight to PLZ? Seems like it is really tight and does not give much room for slippage.

A few things:
- We do not want to arrive in PLZ too late in the day as we are hiring a rental car and driving 1.5 hours to Addo Elephant Park on that day. Conscious that we do not want to be driving when it is dark for safety reasons. The later flights arrive in PLZ around 5.30pm or 6.30pm, which I think may be too late.
- We have travel insurance - not sure whether it would cover a missed departure in the circumstances set out above.

Options are:
- Stick with the current plan (and rely on travel insurance and/or check the BA departure punctuality on the day of departure from LHR and then decide whether or not to book a later flight on the day we arrive in JNB)
- Book new flights for later in the day and take the loss on the JNB-PLZ flights already paid

Thoughts?

Thanks

nux

Are they on seperate tickets? If so you are not connecting and BA will not check your luggage through. You will need to leave enough time to collect and checkin with SAA before their checkin closes, allowing time for any delays.

ellsa

Separate tickets.

travelmad478

I would absolutely not try this. SA immigration can be insanely slow and although I do not check bags myself, I wouldn't imagine that baggage claim is any quicker. And then you get into the often massive queues for check-in at the domestic terminal. Beyond all that, if you have not transited JNB before, you may find it quite confusing--it's a big airport, with a domestic and an international terminal separated by a substantial walk, as well as the added excitement of some international flights going from the domestic side, among other complications.

Change the JNB-PLZ flight to later. Why did you book this itinerary as two separate tickets? You could have done the whole thing on BA (which has a domestic SA subsidiary)--they have multiple flights a day on that route.

ellsa

Thanks.

I booked the BA flight from LHR to JNB on a 2 for 1 companion voucher using Miles, which doesn't allow for a same ticket booking on BA Comair as well. That has to be separate. Even if I book with BA Comair, I'd still need to re-check in etc.

May be better to book another flight, I'm just worried about driving from Port Elizabeth to Addo Elephant Park if it is dark...is this safe?

travelmad478

You'll be fine. It's a 35-minute drive. SA is not a war zone, despite what you may have heard.

JY1024

Moving this over to the Africa destination forum for further discussion. Thanks. /JY1024, TravelBuzz co-moderator

Ditto

You didn't say what month you will be flying, in summer time sunset is at around 7PM, and you get another hour or so of light after that as well.

johan rebel

No it is not. Having said that, the Sundays River Valley municipality has the second highest homicide rate in South Africa, a horrendous 178.

A friend of mine was killed in a head-on with a DUI driver between PE and Addo. That shouldn't stop you from driving there, but if you are not familiar with SA traffic and driving on the left, you should probably not do so after dark.

Johan

johan rebel

As late a 7.30 around the summer solstice, but depending on weather I would not count on more than half an hour or so of twilight.

Johan

ellsa

Thanks for answers...think I'll take the flight that arrives in PE at 5.30pm and just arrange a private transfer with the safari lodge. Takes the stress out of it (and reduces the danger)!

jg70124

How much later? We are arriving JNB at 5:35 pm on DL200 from ATL (cabin already purchased, front cabin), then going on to CPT, presumably on SAA (tickets not yet purchased). There are CPT departures at 7:30, 8:15, 8:45, and 9:10 - which would you choose?