Introduction
We decided to go away for a week, and not to travel too far. As people who live in the city of Johannesburg, miles from any visible ocean, our first instinct it to find ocean whenever we have the opportunity. This time we headed off to Durban, which is a comfortable one hour flight away.
I am fully aware that there is an SFO777 trip report in the region, and that tends to make everything else on the planet seem mundane, but luckily this is a small domestic trip with some fun highlights, that should pose no risk to the aforementioned delightful poster.
The first thing to do was to get hold of two business class tickets down to Durban using my SAA Voyager Miles. Normally I'm not a great fan of SAA (their indifferent service can be quite flustering), but these miles have been lying around for ages. So 31,000 miles + taxes later, and we were set. We got our BA flight for 9,000 Avios, showing once again that Avios go further than Voyager miles. We decided to make the best of our week away and booked the 08:00 flight, meaning that it was an early rise and trip to the airport.
There are some great benefits to living in South Africa - we are far from everything, so a lot of heavies fly here, and the views are great. You never have to worry about booking a flight to LHR and landing up on an A320.
We checked our bags in at the Premium counter, and as usual it was an underwhelming experience. The ground staff of SAA are abysmal, and have been so for years. Their apathy is almost legendary. Next up we entered the Premium Lounge, and as the sun started to rise we started to see some of the morning flights start to arrive.
The lounge is comfortable with some great views. The snacks are average but the beverage service is good. There is free Wifi, as you might expect. It's a good place for planespotting.
Thai 777
Egyptair A330
BA 737-400.... our ride home.
BA 747-400 from LHR... soon to be followed later in the morning by another one, and then a 772.
SAA A340-300
SAA 737-800 leaving for Cape Town
After malingering in the Premium Lounge for half an hour we made our way to the plane, which has already started boarding, so we didn't use the priority boarding they offer.
SAA JNB-DUR
Airbus A320
08:00 - 09:10
Business Class
Seats 3A + 3C
This A320 really perplexed me. I might need to be corrected on this but I think it is the only type in the fleet that uses the classic 'European Business Class' seating layout i.e. 3-3 but with the middle seat blocked out. The 737 fleet certainly has different and larger seats than in economy, and the A330/A340 fleet has fully lie flat beds in business. Not so sure about A319 - I flew it quite some time ago.
Good leg room... more than BA I believe.
On our way.
Screaming along 3L
Singapore 772 just landed... waiting for the A388's that normally land from Paris and Frankfurt later in the day and park there.
Take-off
Some views of Johannesburg
Getting a bit higher now. The clouds were so low that day... note the the pylons of the factories breaking through the cloud layer, as well as how the clouds are hugging the mountains.
The beautiful African sky after settling in at FL320
Breakfast is served! We had a choice between cold meats/fruit and Belgian yoghurt + fruit. I chose the former, and it was enjoyable for the time of day. I'm not one of your big breakfast eaters. (Four salt and pepper shakers for me...!)
The service was fantastic, though if you want to call me a cynic, I spoke to the excellent flight attendant and he used to work for CX. Still, I wrote an email of thanks to SAA customer service after the flight to thank them for the good onboard facilities, and they responded graciously.