Other Middle East and Africa Frequent Flyer Programs - Flying SAA for first time and have questions:

I'm flying LHR-JNB and then onward to WDH next weekend and have some questions:

i) What seats are recomended in the Y cabin (I think it's a 747-400)?

ii) What sort of meal and IFE can I expect (and more importantly, should I bring a sandwich)?

iii) Which terminal at JNB will I arrive at and, more importantly, will I be able to use my Priority Pass for lounge access (as is often the case, the Priority Pass guide is somewhat coy as to which terminals their lounges are in)?

iv) The class of ticket on the SAA legs of my flight is S. Am I correct in understanding I'l receive full (1.0 x) miles on this class of ticket?

Thanks in advance and regards
I

To answer my own questions:

i) Oh please, not 64C, never again! Talk about the "strange blind spot from hell" that always seemed to be the last to get any food and drinks. In fact, if at all possible don't fly in the economy cabin (J looked excellent and the glimpse of F I got looked well OTT).

ii) Meals were alright. IFE would have been superb had it not been for a fault with my headphone socket. The flight was absolutely full in all cabins and there was nothing the cabin crew could do for me in terms of getting IFE working for me. However, to his credit, the CSD did give me full details of where to write (or email) a letter of complaint to and some on the spot compensation (nice bottle of champers). Incidentally, this was a FULL SERVICE FLIGHT. Drinks were delivered AS AND WHEN REQUESTED. European and US airlines who are starting to either charge for this (or at the very least get a bit funny with you asking for one more glass of wine) take note!

Note: A lot of passangers seemed to be having "quality control" issues with various aspects of their seats.

iii) Arrive at the International Terminal, depart from the International terminal. The Priority Pass lounge is the Permier Club International (and it is also in Diners Club's lounge programme).

iv) We'll wait and see. I have a print out from BMI's web site that indicates S gets full miles. BMI will have a British Trading Standards officer surgically implanted up their backsides if this proves not to be the case.

All in all, SAA seem to be quite a decent airline who could be a lot better with some extra quality controls up front.

Thanks for sharing this information with FT. Did the business class seats look like the new, full flat seats, or the older millenium version: http://ww2.flysaa.com/uk/uk_content_frameset.html?contents=/about_saa/fleet_information/za_fleet_info_seat_plans_content.html

Thanks for sharing this information with FT. Did the business class seats look like the new, full flat seats, or the older millenium version: http://ww2.flysaa.com/uk/uk_content_frameset.html?contents=/about_saa/fleet_information/za_fleet_info_seat_plans_content.html

They looked fully flat to me. I've only ever had cradle seats when flying business but the space between rows on this flight was more than enough to accomodate a flat bed.

If you have to fly Y, I would definitely recommend to go for seats in the upper deck, it's much more quiet up there & you have additional storage space if seated in one of the window seats