SAA connection
 

We have no experience transiting JNB and my wife will be traveling through there this weekend with what seems like a very tight connection. I'm curious if anyone has any input on whether this is legal and/or doable.

DL 200: ALT->JNB Dep: 1655 Arr: 1725 next day
connect to
SA 66: JNB-> LUN Dep: 1900 Arr: 2100

Thanks.

Hi there AvMax8,

Were both flights purchased at the same time and issued on one ticket? Or did you purchase separate tickets for each flight? This will determine how much time you will need for the transfer in Johannesburg...

If you have two tickets, the transfer will take much longer since you will have to clear immigration and customs in Johannesburg and re-check your bags before moving on to your Lusaka flight.

If, however, both flights are on one ticket, you will not need to clear customs and your baggage will be transferred to the new flight for you.

Hope this helps.

South African Airways, North America

Slightly different situation, similar question:

I arrive on a SA flight FRA-JNB, and transfer to another SA flight (same day) JNB-WDH on a separate ticket.

On the way back, same story: WDH-JNB, then on a separate ticket JNB-FRA, both on SA and on the same day.

Do I have to check in in JNB inbound and outbound, or can I have my luggage through-checked at origin and obtain BPs for my connections before arriving in JNB?

Hi there ylwae,

The check-in agents can only check you in for the flights that are ticketed, so in this case you will need to claim your luggage on arrival in Johannesburg, and then check in again as if you were originating from there.

Probably not the response you had hoped for, but we trust this will help.

Regards,
SAA North America

Thank you for the quick reply, SAAUSA. No big deal--my TA wanted to split the JNB-WDH-JNB portion from the other bit to save some $, but we'll just make it a single itin.

Is this an SAA rule and is it always applied? I have definitely had luggage through checked on separate tickets in the past. Can't remember if it ever involved SAA though.

It depends on the person who does the check in. The system allows multiple ticket baggage interline. It has to in fact because a revenue and a non revenue ticket cannot be combined. So if you have a voyager ticket to LHR and a connection to another city on a paid for ticket, there is no way to merge the tickets.

When travelling on multiple tickets, its best to have the tickets endorsed "in conjunction with"

I have never had a problem to date.

I am also a touch worried about a conenction. We are scheduled to fly CPT to JNB on SA 352 which is scheduled to arrive in JNB at 1750. We have an onward connection from JNB to FRA scheduled to depart at 1925. Both of these segments are on SAA as part of a larger award itinerary.

Does anyone have any thoughts as to this situation? Is it worth showing up to CPT early to see if we can make an earlier flight?

As long as the CPT flight isnt delayed you should be fine, if it were me I would try to get on one flight earlier. At check in counter in CPT it would do no harm to advise agent that a missed connection because of a delayed SA flight to JNB will end up costing them a night at a hotel.

Thanks for the advice! Are SAA check in agents usually pretty good about allowing pax to switch to earlier flights, esp. on reward tickets purchased with miles from another program. [Ticket was purchased using USairways miles].

Since this our honeymoon, we will be purchasing travel insurance, and may decide to change our reservation but at 150 per change, that seems like a steep price to pay for a "makable" connection...

SAA agents won't touch an US issued ticket. However, they are quite flexible and helpful if your original flight is showing delayed. In that case they will move you to an earlier flight.

As far as checking through is concerned (on two different tickets) - of course SA check-in agents can do that (as long as they have an interline agreement with the other airline). Some are simply to lazy to do it others will go out of their way to assist you - typical SAA.

Hi -Same topic, different flights, feedback appreciated.

I have booked SA 0572 from Durban, arriving JNB at 18:50 (Terminal B).

I am connecting to Egypt MS 840 departing 21:45 which also appears to be Terminal B.

Can I check my bags and clear customs/immigration in Durban or will I need to do that in JNB? I assume I have plenty of transfer time?

Thank you.

Oh, I am on 2 separate tickets if that makes a difference.

That's not right. You will arrive from DUR in Terminal B but depart for CAI from Terminal A. What may have caused the confusion is that the MS check-in desks are in Terminal B (right at the end closest to Terminal A - not with domestic check-in, but also not at the main International check-in desks in terminal A).

I have no idea about luggage on separate tickets. Given *A it should be possible. But you definitely will go through immigration at JNB and not DUR. And you have plenty of time even if you need to re-check luggage.

Hi everyone, I have a connection question as well:

Flying SFO-MUC-JNB arriving 8:35am

on a separate ticket I have

JNB-MUN departing 10:10am on Air Botswana

Is this enough time?

Thanks!