Originally Posted by
bsd_flyer
in flight (apart from the flight time) no difference. At a stage a year or so ago they were still flying A340's into Cape Town, and the J class seats weren't lie flat. Thankfully they stopped this (or at least, I haven't seen one for some time) and everything is now 777s.
Cape Town is a less busy airport, the duty free is pretty useless, priority boarding frequently isn't and the lounge that Emirates uses is crap (if you have a choice, use the upstairs lounge - don't let them take you through to the downstairs area). In the air, Cape Town is a way more pretty approach
I believe EK have phased out all A340s and opened a new lounge in CPT recently.
CPT has a much quicker security/immigration experience generally and has an overall more put together/cleaner (and smaller/intimate) feeling, but shopping is more extensive in JNB.
CPT is closer to the city with just a 20-25 min drive from most areas in the city, while JNB can be pretty bad with traffic and over an hour if you're coming from the south-west areas. However you can take the Gautrain from Sandton and reach the airport in 25 mins in comfort for around 8$ per person.
JNB Gate is about a 10 min walk from the EK Lounge usually, depending on time of day security/immigation can be a breeze or pretty bad (the EK 7pm flight from JNB has you dealing with bad queues, while the 9am is pretty good).
If you're in F and the costs are similar I'd choose CPT just for the extra flying time. Also it's a more beautiful city