Ok, "simply awful" sort of makes up my mind for me, I'll put up with SwissAir being a bit uptight to avoid simply awful. My point about losing a day is, I can leave here (DC) in the evening, fly to Zurich and catch a flight that morning to JoBurg that arrives early evening. With SAA since I can't leave DC around noon to fly to Atlanta, I end up waiting until the next day, then they fly to Capetown, then JoBurg (on the day I need to leave)and arrive around noon. Plus and actually most important I need Advantage miles. Thanks to all