South African Airways (C) FRA - CPT - FRA
Dec 15, 2004, 9:44 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Tremelo, Belgium
Posts: 74
South African Airways (C) FRA - CPT - FRA
Dear all,
I must say I had been looking forward to our South African 10-day vacation for a couple of months. Boy, was I glad that the day of departure was finally there.
I had spent quite some time in the summer comparing the different travel options, knowing so many different carriers operate these lines: BA, LH, SA, IB, ... . In the end my wife & myself decided to fly South African out of Frankfurt to Capetown, allowing us to check out the new business class cabin (with the lie flat beds)...we did add a 3 hour drive from our home to Frankfurt to do that.
1. SA263 FRA - CPT
Departure date & time: 10th November 2004 7:10 pm
Arrival date & time: 11th November 7:05 am
Duration: 11 hrs 45 mins
Aircraft: A340-600
Seats: 4D & 4G
1) Check-in
We got to FRA about 2,5 hours before take-off, plenty of time to check-in ! SA offer a dedicated check-in area for their evening flights, whereas I had thought we would be directed towards the Star Alliance shared check-in zone. There were 3 open counters for Y and only 1 for C. At FRA, all luggage needs to be scanned before check-in, I believe it was not such a good choice to place the scanning machine right in front the C check-in counter. We had 1 person ahead of us, however we 'felt' the queue behind us building up. Eventually people started to push us in the back,
, some elderly seem to take this as acceptable behaviour, I find it pretty sad. The check-in lady was friendly & confirmed our reserved seats. A nice touch in FRA is the separate security screening zones for C-class !
2) Lounge
SAA uses the LH frequent flyer lounge in Terminal 1. I had been there before on shorter trips, there's a good selection of drinks & newspapers & it is quite roomy. We spent about 1 hour in this place prior to boarding the aircraft. Lucky us, it was positioned just down of the lounge, so no long walks !
3) Boarding & Take-off
We were down 30 minutes prior to take off and boarding was already taking place for 'all remaining passengers'. I don't know whether a separate call had been made for C passengers. There is however a separate first stairway, leading to the aircraft for C class. I had experienced it before on CX, nice touch. First impression after boarding the aircraft: Huge C cabin with very, very nice & fancy seats ! My wife & I settled down. The cabin crew was running around, take care of all pre-flight operations. After a couple of minutes, we were offered a drink (Champagne, wine or OJ), we received the menu and my coat was taken away (I did have to ask). The plane was completely full, not surprising taking into account the summer season in SA. I noticed that the A340-600 is simply HUGE...it took the aircraft a long time to gain necessary speed for the lift-off !
4) Meal service
Here's the menu we received:
Light:
Smoked Salmon accompanied by marinated shrimps, garnished with an olive and a cherry tomato.
or
Seasonal salad offered with the choice of a creamy mustard-dill or traditional Italian dressing
Hearty:
Lamb Chops, served with a red-wine-thyme sauce, accompanied by buttered green beans and gnocchi.
or
Chicken Breast, served with a tomato coriander sauce, accompanied by grilled green and yellow zucchnini, served with a Basmati and wild rice mix.
or
Fried Cod fillet, presented with a creamy mustard sauce and accompanied by sugar snap peas and dill potatoes.
or
Pesto Farfalle, garnished with green pesto, served with a creamy tomato sauce, topped with oven-dried tomatoes.
Temptation:
Vanilla Ice-Cream with a raspberry or chocolate sauce, garnished with white chocolate flakes.
Cheese Plate:
A selection of Fine Continental Cheeses
or
Cambozola Cheese
or
Emmenthaler
or
Port Salut Cheese
To my utmost surprise, I didn't get a wine list in the menu !!! Now, SAA markets their famous wine cellar for its numerous awards, one would at least expect to get a list of what's available on the aircraft.
Short after take-off, the flight attendant came over to server a drink & take up the orders. Each attendant servers 4 rows, two in each aisle. It doesn’t matter where you sit for dinner choice priority, since the take orders separately and only make a single list right at the end. On our flight they came out looking for volunteers to change choices. I found the service to be ok compared to European carriers, however it comes nowhere near the service level of the Asian carriers. I also find their uniform to be old-fashioned !
5) Entertainment
SAA has a fantastic AVOD product on the A340-600. We had a choice of over 20 movies, finally we picked the latest Robert Redford movie ! The LCD screens are quite big and fold away between each 2 seats (they’re not attached to the front seat as CX does). Next to movies, there’s plenty of music & TV shows to watch as well.
6) Lie Flat Seat
This is the most wonderful part of it all: Truly the best lie-flat seat I have ever experienced. You can control everything electronically, including a massage function. The lie flat position is wide, since 1 armrest moves down when you activate it. The bed is still too short, however, for long people like me. Anyone over 6 feet can’t stretch their legs. But still, I found it much, much better then for example CX’s lie flat seat. The large pillows & think duvets allow a good night’s sleep. The attendants unfold all duvets after the meal service, a nice touch that I appreciate. They are also very, very generously offering water bottles to all C passengers. I believe that they like some quiet time overnight, not having to server water all the time. Without asking, my wife & I ended up with 5 bottles of water !!!
7) Breakfast
Breakfast was served 2 hours prior to touchdown, nothing special to mention. I found the service once again to reach very good standards.
8) Landing/Luggage retrieval
The plane parked airside and all passengers were kindly escorted to busses. Ours was the first to reach the terminal building, we were quickly through passport control.
9) Overall conclusion
I found the SAA C-class experience to be very good, taking into account the wonderful seat. The service level compares closely to other European carriers, but tends to vary a lot depending on the crew (look at the posting of the return journey -> the crew was much much worse). Choose it because of the seat, which guarantees you a good night's sleep.
I’d recommend other travellers to try out this wonderful product !
A posting of the return journey coming up soon ! (I didn't like the service at all on this leg)
I must say I had been looking forward to our South African 10-day vacation for a couple of months. Boy, was I glad that the day of departure was finally there.
I had spent quite some time in the summer comparing the different travel options, knowing so many different carriers operate these lines: BA, LH, SA, IB, ... . In the end my wife & myself decided to fly South African out of Frankfurt to Capetown, allowing us to check out the new business class cabin (with the lie flat beds)...we did add a 3 hour drive from our home to Frankfurt to do that.
1. SA263 FRA - CPT
Departure date & time: 10th November 2004 7:10 pm
Arrival date & time: 11th November 7:05 am
Duration: 11 hrs 45 mins
Aircraft: A340-600
Seats: 4D & 4G
1) Check-in
We got to FRA about 2,5 hours before take-off, plenty of time to check-in ! SA offer a dedicated check-in area for their evening flights, whereas I had thought we would be directed towards the Star Alliance shared check-in zone. There were 3 open counters for Y and only 1 for C. At FRA, all luggage needs to be scanned before check-in, I believe it was not such a good choice to place the scanning machine right in front the C check-in counter. We had 1 person ahead of us, however we 'felt' the queue behind us building up. Eventually people started to push us in the back,
, some elderly seem to take this as acceptable behaviour, I find it pretty sad. The check-in lady was friendly & confirmed our reserved seats. A nice touch in FRA is the separate security screening zones for C-class !2) Lounge
SAA uses the LH frequent flyer lounge in Terminal 1. I had been there before on shorter trips, there's a good selection of drinks & newspapers & it is quite roomy. We spent about 1 hour in this place prior to boarding the aircraft. Lucky us, it was positioned just down of the lounge, so no long walks !
3) Boarding & Take-off
We were down 30 minutes prior to take off and boarding was already taking place for 'all remaining passengers'. I don't know whether a separate call had been made for C passengers. There is however a separate first stairway, leading to the aircraft for C class. I had experienced it before on CX, nice touch. First impression after boarding the aircraft: Huge C cabin with very, very nice & fancy seats ! My wife & I settled down. The cabin crew was running around, take care of all pre-flight operations. After a couple of minutes, we were offered a drink (Champagne, wine or OJ), we received the menu and my coat was taken away (I did have to ask). The plane was completely full, not surprising taking into account the summer season in SA. I noticed that the A340-600 is simply HUGE...it took the aircraft a long time to gain necessary speed for the lift-off !
4) Meal service
Here's the menu we received:
Light:
Smoked Salmon accompanied by marinated shrimps, garnished with an olive and a cherry tomato.
or
Seasonal salad offered with the choice of a creamy mustard-dill or traditional Italian dressing
Hearty:
Lamb Chops, served with a red-wine-thyme sauce, accompanied by buttered green beans and gnocchi.
or
Chicken Breast, served with a tomato coriander sauce, accompanied by grilled green and yellow zucchnini, served with a Basmati and wild rice mix.
or
Fried Cod fillet, presented with a creamy mustard sauce and accompanied by sugar snap peas and dill potatoes.
or
Pesto Farfalle, garnished with green pesto, served with a creamy tomato sauce, topped with oven-dried tomatoes.
Temptation:
Vanilla Ice-Cream with a raspberry or chocolate sauce, garnished with white chocolate flakes.
Cheese Plate:
A selection of Fine Continental Cheeses
or
Cambozola Cheese
or
Emmenthaler
or
Port Salut Cheese
To my utmost surprise, I didn't get a wine list in the menu !!! Now, SAA markets their famous wine cellar for its numerous awards, one would at least expect to get a list of what's available on the aircraft.
Short after take-off, the flight attendant came over to server a drink & take up the orders. Each attendant servers 4 rows, two in each aisle. It doesn’t matter where you sit for dinner choice priority, since the take orders separately and only make a single list right at the end. On our flight they came out looking for volunteers to change choices. I found the service to be ok compared to European carriers, however it comes nowhere near the service level of the Asian carriers. I also find their uniform to be old-fashioned !
5) Entertainment
SAA has a fantastic AVOD product on the A340-600. We had a choice of over 20 movies, finally we picked the latest Robert Redford movie ! The LCD screens are quite big and fold away between each 2 seats (they’re not attached to the front seat as CX does). Next to movies, there’s plenty of music & TV shows to watch as well.
6) Lie Flat Seat
This is the most wonderful part of it all: Truly the best lie-flat seat I have ever experienced. You can control everything electronically, including a massage function. The lie flat position is wide, since 1 armrest moves down when you activate it. The bed is still too short, however, for long people like me. Anyone over 6 feet can’t stretch their legs. But still, I found it much, much better then for example CX’s lie flat seat. The large pillows & think duvets allow a good night’s sleep. The attendants unfold all duvets after the meal service, a nice touch that I appreciate. They are also very, very generously offering water bottles to all C passengers. I believe that they like some quiet time overnight, not having to server water all the time. Without asking, my wife & I ended up with 5 bottles of water !!!
7) Breakfast
Breakfast was served 2 hours prior to touchdown, nothing special to mention. I found the service once again to reach very good standards.
8) Landing/Luggage retrieval
The plane parked airside and all passengers were kindly escorted to busses. Ours was the first to reach the terminal building, we were quickly through passport control.
9) Overall conclusion
I found the SAA C-class experience to be very good, taking into account the wonderful seat. The service level compares closely to other European carriers, but tends to vary a lot depending on the crew (look at the posting of the return journey -> the crew was much much worse). Choose it because of the seat, which guarantees you a good night's sleep.
I’d recommend other travellers to try out this wonderful product !
A posting of the return journey coming up soon ! (I didn't like the service at all on this leg)
Dec 15, 2004, 9:55 am
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2001
Location: South Bend, IN
Programs: AA EXP 3 MM; Marriott Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium Elite
Posts: 18,562
Good report. I've seen photos of the SAA lie flat seats and they look like the best in the market. I flew SAA last year on some short haul flights within South Africa and enjoyed the experience, especially the A340-600. Great plane!
Dec 15, 2004, 12:34 pm
#3
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: FRA
Programs: LH SEN
Posts: 732
Originally Posted by PresRDC
Good report. I've seen photos of the SAA lie flat seats and they look like the best in the market. I flew SAA last year on some short haul flights within South Africa and enjoyed the experience, especially the A340-600. Great plane!
Dec 15, 2004, 3:14 pm
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2001
Location: South Bend, IN
Programs: AA EXP 3 MM; Marriott Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium Elite
Posts: 18,562