Other Middle East and Africa Frequent Flyer Programs - SAA biz class seat differences

Just another simple question re: seating in business class on SAA. We are traveling in August from ATL-JNB then back JNB-JFK. We are a party of three and have row 16 going down but row 29 coming back. Should I make the effort to try to change any of these seats because of noise, etc? From the website it doesn't look like we are too close to any galleys or lavs but would like to hear from the experts! Thanks again

I took the same trip in December, and was seated in the same areas you mentioned both outbound (row17) and return (row27). I didn't see any noise difference for either area. The website at that time was not current for the seating arrangement. Row 27 is in a cabin behind 17. 27 is in the first row of the second cabin. The seats were different, and I liked row 27 better for the seat comfort. The seats do not recline as much as other carriers business class, nor do they have foot rests. I am 6 foot tall, and my feet hung off the bottom. For the return flight I brought a pillow to ease the pressure on the back of my legs and it helped. I also bought an inflatable neck pillow to help with the pressure on my neck-since the seats don't recline very far. I thought the service and food were OK. It was the first airline I have traveled on that had lots of full bottles of water that they gave out all the time.

I just re-read your message. My return was to ATL. I don't know if the seating is different for that routing.

Latest figures of SAA's C seats on their latest A340-600's:

seat pitch 65 inch / 165cm
seat width 18,4 inch / 47 cm
backrest width 21,6 inch / 55cm
seat recline up to 67°
footrest moves up to 85°

-> No Lie Flat Seats like on current SA 234/235 flights (744 F/C/Y)

Call SAA's U.S. call center at (800) 722-9675 (Select option for Business / First Class Option). Representatives are helpful but sometimes require a little patience on the part of the caller. In Business Class, SAA does 2 seats per row on each side of plane and 3 seats per row down the center. My experiences (many flights between JFK/ATL and JNB/CPT) has be that it is very noisy in part of business class with the exception of seats and rows near toilets (lots of foot traffic throughout the flight). SAA's web site has been updated recently. Try it. In the past it offered detailed seating charts. Although I still find the site contains a lot of bugs and often does not work (may be my old computer / browser).