Since this isn't airline-specific, I'll post it here. Hopefully someone who has flown the route before can give me some advice...

Flying JNB-FRA, flight departs at 20:20 and arrives at 6:15 the next morning.

My question is, is there a better side of the plane to sit on for views? From the time, I'm guessing the only "view" would be darkness and the occasional city lights far below for most of the trip, with a possibility of a sunrise right before landing.

Can anyone shed some light on what I'm likely to see (if anything) and what side of the plane might be best? If it matters, the flight is towards the end of March.

Thanks in advance!

Sean

You will have no views. As the flight is around the time of the equinox, it will be dark at JNB, and dawn or pre-dawn in FRA. In the final 45-60 minutes of the flight, the sun will be coming up on the right side of the plane (behind you, so not in your eyes).

Nothing much to see either place. Just scrubland upon arrival for the most part. If you were flying into CPT it would be different because the sites are spectacular, particularly if there's a cloud bank pouring off Table Mt...

I've done that route (maybe even the same flight). I wouldn't worry about it. Not much to see...hardly any lights, even. Just pick a seat where you think you'll be able to get some sleep. Or if you plan to be awake, get an aisle seat. Just my 2 cents.

Thanks, wideman, Shareholder, and fairviewroad, for your responses!

Sounds like it won't matter at all, so perhaps I'll keep the seat I've got.

I'll look forward to a domestic JNB-CPT flight - am assuming the left side of the plane is the way to go?

Thanks again for your feedback!

Sean

That largely depends on the weather. If there is no wind or the south easter (the prevailing summer wind) is blowing you will be better of on the right hand side for views of Table Mountain, Robben Island, the city etc. as you come into CPT. If the north wester (the prevailing winter wind) is blowing your plane will come around and approach from the south so the better views will be on the left hand side.

JNB-CPT reminds me of flying over the southwest US.

I've landed to the north several times, but each time the flight has circled south over the city and in over the Cape flats. So I have to second the left side. At least your odds are 50/50.

It's too bad only KLM offers a day flight on the longhaul from Europe to South Africa anymore. We flew it on Swiss from ZRH several years ago. The impossibly thin band of green along Libya's Mediterranean coast and then the vastness of the Sahara was stunning. The Sahara itself was beautiful, too... almost lunar, endless, featureless, except for giant mountains rising out of nowhere and tiny straight-line roads barely keeping the sand at bay. By the time we crossed the equator, it was twilight, but we could see giant thunderheads in the distance, lightning crackling around inside the huge clouds. What a great introduction to Africa.

David

Completely agree with you about the benefits of day-time flights between Europe and Africa. Some years ago, BA changed the schedule to Zambia & Zimbabwe so that the a/c went out & back in a day (from LGW). This gave an all-day trip down, & it was stunning compared with overnights both ways previously. (It also provided the opportunity for an extremely civilized 'afternoon tea' towards the end of the flight.)

These possibilities still exist for LUN & HRE, but these days it's the return flights (now into LHR) that give the daylight trip. The same applies to DAR. Most outward flights to NBO are day-time and there are some daytime return flights as well.

There are also lots of chances to get daytime views of the Med & the Sahara when flying into West Africa, but because these flights are shorter, around 6 hours, many finally arrive after dark. You then sometimes miss out seeing the transition from Sahara to rain forest. (They arrive after dark because the schedules have the a/c departing late at night for arrivals into Europe just after 06:00.)

If you're flying CDG-DKR, the trip sometimes takes a very westerly course, so try to ensure that you're on the left side of the a/c. You then get to see the NW African coastline & a wonderful view of the Sahara meeting the Atlantic. On the other side, all you see is sea (& the Canaries in the middle distance).

SatProf and IndyDavid you almost talked me into flying to Europe just to fly southward over north Africa in daylight.

I'm an aisle flyer, but I'll make an exception for KL's daytime flights to NBO, JRO, JNB and CPT. Those are the only ones where I try to get a window seat.

I can't quite decide which is my favorite, but it is probably JNB.

On flights to JRO and NBO there is a good chance that the aircraft will fly along the eastern bank of the Nile for quite some distance, at least as far as Khartoum, sometimes further. This makes for spectacular sunsets, with the river gleaming in the foreground and the Sahara stretching to the horizon in the background.

JNB flights normally cross into Africa near Tripoli, and then continue in a straight line, heading almost due south to a waypoint at SEB (Sebha), an airfield and oasis in the in the absolute middle of the Saharan nowhere, but nevertheless surrounded by a surprising number of cultivated fields. The plane then changes course to the south-southeast, and an hour or so later flies right over the Tibesti Massif (those "giant mountains rising out of nowhere") in northwestern Chad. Some of the mountains are quite precipitous, with the highest peak rising to over 3.400 meters. Flying past at an altitude of 9 or 10 km, the mountains thrust straight up at the aircraft, with every detail standing out in the often crystal clear air. Eons of torrential rainfall have gouged out canyons and rivers valleys. The trees and shrubs lining the latter in places can be seen with the naked eye, even from 30,000 ft (as, by the way, can cars driving along the very few roads in the Sahara). On one occasion I was even treated to a couple of storms raining down water on the mountains.

The Sahara itself I also find fascinating. Apart from the never-ending sands, which come in an infinite range of hues and colors, the rock formations add variety and interest.

The transition from Sahara via Sahel to tropical rain forest comes just before sunset, and depending on where the inter-tropical conversion zone is hanging out, some spectacular thunderstorms may provide extra entertainment (at this time of year the ITCZ should be close to the equator)

On top of all this, the European part of the flight almost always offers fantastic views of the Alps. The exact flight path over Europe varies, but sometimes the plane follows the Rhine through Holland and Germany, on occasion almost far as Basel in Switzerland.

Crossing the Mediterranean will afford views of Sicily, and sometimes Sardinia and/or Corsica as well.

All in all these flights never bore me, I can spend hours with my nose glued to the window, no matter what side I'm seated on!

Johan