baggageinhall

SA 234
JNB-LHR
21:10 – 06:25
Seats 2A and 2C
Wow, I mean wow, really wow, where was I? I had long wondered whether it was really necessary (in some countries) to limit access to the terminal building to passengers only as they do in India – I now know why.

The International Terminal at JNB was heaving with people. It seemed ill equipped to deal with departing passengers, let alone the huge number of friends/family/etc who also seemed to be in the building. I eventually managed to find out that the SAA premium check-in was to the far right end of the terminal. Dodging the long Qantas check-in line, we managed to make it to the relative calm and serenity of the premium area. Once we reached the head of a queue that must have been no more than 5 deep, there was a moment of humour as I failed miserably in my effort to drive the trolley containing our bags onto a metal platform that was an unfamiliar weighing machine. The problem was that the heavy trolley needed some force to get it moving, that force however succeeded only in moving the platform further away. Eventually trolley and platform aligned in perfect harmony and the agent waved us towards a check-in desk confirming that we had not exceeded our permitted baggage allowance.

We were directed to a check-in agent who took almost 15 minutes to tag our bags. She did so whilst exchanging as few words with us as possible. The next aspect of the terminal design did find favour with me; once you have checked-in, you walk behind the desk to a security check point.

The security check was quick and had no queue (it was for the use of SAA premium pax only) so we were able to get to the lounge within a few minutes. The lounge is downstairs opposite the BA lounge. The lack of windows gave it a distinctly ‘bunker’ feel. I was feeling hungry having not eaten on the CPT-JNB leg; I would remain hungry as the small selection of dodgy sandwiches simply couldn’t tempt me.

The lounge itself was pretty basic and uninspiring. There is just about enough space to sit though as the little man wanted to play we retired to the children’s area of the lounge and let him tire himself out.

I did leave the lounge for a bit in a vain attempt to find something else to eat. The food options were either a full sit down meal or some dodgy looking sandwiches! The new JNB terminal is quite impressive. It’s large and spacious with numerous shops to while away the time if you don’t have access to a lounge.

I returned to the lounge and continued to wait for our flight to be called. On arrival at JNB earlier in the evening, we had discovered that our flight had been delayed for by about an hour. This proved to be correct and it resulted in both London flights being called at the same time. To prevent any confusion however, the flights departed from gates that were nowhere near oneanother. It was a long walk to the gate and when we finally arrived we were confronted by a long snaking queue that moved rather slowly. I enquired as to whether there was a Premium line but the answer was no. It took 20 minutes or so before we were on a bus heading out to a remote stand where our A340-600 was parked, ready for its flight to Heathrow.

Once onboard we began to get junior comfy in the hope that he would sleep straight away as he had done on the way out. My wife went to ask for the infant belt extension and was told by the very friendly crew that they were looking at re-seating us. Sure enough, we were invited to use 1C, 1D and 1G. Mrs BiH used 1C and, the boy had 1D and sat in 1G. After a short taxi out to our designated runway we took off and headed towards LHR. I extended 1D out into the flat bed position and strapped Junior in – he fell asleep within minutes. A number of passengers who visited the bathroom before the drinks service commenced were amused to see a little boy flat out using up less than half the seat!

The only downside of our new seating arrangement was that Mrs BiH and I were no longer able to talk – the tradeoff was worth it however. I had a gin and tonic as I perused the quite familiar menu. A glance at the bottom revealed that it was the LHR-JNB/CPT menu and so I resolved to not try the lamb but probably the fish. Minutes later however, one of the crew came round and swapped the menu for another which correctly said it was for JNB/CPT – LHR flights.

Once again, though I knew that the menu would be collected, I forgot to note the 4 dining choices. I selected the beef and a nice glass of CabSauv. The wine was nice, the food was, once again, terrible. After port and little bit of cheese, I flattened my seat into a bed and got some sleep. I was woken up with about 2 hours to go by my son was tentatively patting my head. He drank his morning bottle and then much of my breakfast tray which came around with 1.5 hours to go.

The rest of the flight seem to go very quickly and before we knew it, we were coming in to land passing over London and many of its famous landmarks. We taxied to a remote stand and waited again for what seemed like an eternity for bus to take us inside. It was as we walked to Passport Control that I remembered that due to T5 opening that morning, the building would be quiet and indeed it was.

Our bags were quickly off the baggage belt. Whilst we stood waiting (albeit briefly) for our bags, an Australian couple told us that the little boy was very well behaved during the flight. An hour and a half later and we were home. The journey was over.

True to form, 3 weeks after we got back I booked a trip for Mrs BiH and I. We are leaving the boy with his Grandparents and going to NYC in October on Swiss in First Class.