JNB: 1 insane long flight or 2 shorter ones?
 

Hi,

My girlfriend and I are travelling to JNB this fall, and are wondering about the experience with taking the SAA long haul flight (16hr) from NYC or DC, as opposed to taking 2 shorter flights (but still long haul). Some examples of the latter being Turkish Airlines stopping in Istanbul (both legs 9+ hrs), SwissAir routing through Zurich (7 & 10 hr flights), and Lufthansa routing through Frankfurt (7 & 10 hr flights).

Do people prefer the one insane long haul flight, or is it better to break it up into 2 shorter flights (albeit still long haul in each case)?

Regardless of preference regarding flight length, I'd highly recommend booking flights operated by aircrafts with a 2-x-2 config (e.g. SA or LX).

OP, I'll trade you... I have to go from SFO to JNB; I get to choose two long flights for a total travel time of 26hrs :(

I am also going from SFO TO CPT but I am breaking my journey in HKG for 3 days.

Take the single plane alternative. No brainer unless you are stopping over instead of connecting.

Business class/flat bed? One, long flight. Economy? I'd like a little time to stretch my legs somewhere.

I believe that the single shot flight actually stops in Senegal for an hour or so (but you don't get off the plane). If it were me and I hadn't been to Frankfurt, Zurich or Istanbul I would go on TK through IST. If your layover in IST is 10+ hours and both the flight in and the flight out are on TK you can get a hotel room free (if in business you only need 7+ hours). Also, it doesn't take all that long to get from the airport to the old city so you could also do some sightseeing. TK has a fantastic *A lounge in IST.

One of the insanely long flights makes a refuleing stop in senegal. This means you have two relatively long flights regardless as they wake you up and make you prepare for landing (I think it's the DC flight and the JFK flight is truly nonstop).

We faced the same choice and went with IAD-GRU(UA)-JNB(SA). Both overnights and both in business class. both were long enough to get a decent night's sleep which helped me tremendously in terms of fighting jetlag vs. getting on a flight in the AM out of JFK, being on a plane 16 hours and landing in JNB in the late morning or early afternoon. My wife i think would have preferred the one nonstop.

We had a six or seven hour layover in GRU and didn't have a visa so we were stuck in the lounge. But after a shower, some food, and binge watching something on itunes, the time went by fast enough.

Single flight with the stopover (if applicable) in Dakar. The JFK-JNB is non-stop, no stop in Dakar. Why deal with a LONG layover in Europe?

To minimize the risk of DVT?

I personally would much rather take two shorter flights with a long layover than one insanely long flight.

A change-plane itinerary increases the risk of a misconnect or baggage mishandling.

If in coach, I would choose two flights --- but would strongly advise flying trans-Atlantic from NYC on a day-flight, then sleep overnight near the connection/stopover airport, and then continue the next day (ideally on another day flight) to JNB. Eight hours in a real bed on the ground can transform a horrific itinerary into something extremely pleasant. The best TATL day flights from NYC are to London (on UA, BA, VS, or DL etc.), and there are lots of direct and/or connecting flights from there to JNB.

If in business class, I might instead choose either the 15+ hour nonstop, or the Istanbul route (to maximize sleep on both flights). If I could, I would avoid the flight with the stop in Dakar.

We're trying to score lie flat business class seats for this one, though the idea of spending 15 hrs in a confined space is a bit daunting, no matter how comfortable

Yikes! I guess the silver lining is that you can find 2 flights that get you to JNB, instead of 3 or more...

Thanks for all the responses! JNB is actually our stopover en route to Victoria Falls and safari, so we want to minimize travel time there, so we will look for biz class SAA availability in the flights from JFK or IAD. Though at this point, the largest availability appears to be with routing through GRU (Sao Paulo), so we may not have a choice when we are ready to book