Originally Posted by Chris Gilmour

I last used the Shongololo Lounge in Mar 2020 just before the lockdown, flying up to Gaborone and back. I agree it is revolting. I flew out of JNB on a Qatar repatriation flight in May 2020 and haven't been back since. What's the situation like "on the ground" so to speak airside? Is it still pretty empty? I see BA is flying twice a day now using B777 and they're bringing the A380 back into service on the JNB route early next year. This tells me that demand must be picking up considerably. Also Qantas is supposed to be resuming its JNB routing next month as well. So I'm just wondering why the BA lounges aren't open yet? Presumably it's nothing to do with demand and everything to do with government edict? The SLOW Lounge is excellent but if you don't have an RMB/FNB card or something like that it can be a bit tricky to get in. I used to use it a lot when travelling to Zambia and Namibia for example.