Back-to-back immediate turnarounds in domestic South Africa: JNB/DUR/CPT
Apr 4, 2019, 3:35 am
#1
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Back-to-back immediate turnarounds in domestic South Africa: JNB/DUR/CPT
Hi folks, apologies if there is info on this already but I couldn't find in the Back-to-back / Immediate Turnarounds at BA Destinations thread.
Does anyone know how the procedure works for B2Bs in domestic South Africa with hand-baggage only (in-fact, no luggage at all). I am interested in doing B2Bs on the DUR (Durban) and PL (Port Elizabeth) route.
Is taking a domestic South Africa flight like in the UK as well? I.e. mixed departing and arriving passengers at the gate and no security clearance needed?
Equally, how is Comair/BA for mobile boarding passes and obtaining the boarding passes for both inbound and outbound flight in advance?
Would love to hear if any have experience of this.
Thanks in advance.
Does anyone know how the procedure works for B2Bs in domestic South Africa with hand-baggage only (in-fact, no luggage at all). I am interested in doing B2Bs on the DUR (Durban) and PL (Port Elizabeth) route.
Is taking a domestic South Africa flight like in the UK as well? I.e. mixed departing and arriving passengers at the gate and no security clearance needed?
Equally, how is Comair/BA for mobile boarding passes and obtaining the boarding passes for both inbound and outbound flight in advance?
Would love to hear if any have experience of this.
Thanks in advance.
Last edited by SinoBritAsia; Apr 4, 2019 at 3:37 am Reason: Extra destination added
Apr 4, 2019, 3:50 am
#2
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My memory from arriving at Port Elizabeth is that you walk off the plane and head straight across the tarmac into the baggage claim area, I'm not sure there's any way to get to the departure lounge without exiting through there, but i'm sure someone else will know for sure (maybe there's a doorway through to departures for connecting passengers). You certainly won't be walking straight off the plane into the departures area as there are no jet bridges. To be fair, it's such a tiny airport that you'll be back at security in about 2 minutes.
Apr 4, 2019, 4:13 am
#3
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Second question first - no issues at all with mobile BPs, so that won't be a problem.
I've arrived into DUR plenty of times as a domestic passenger, and you definitely don't mix with departing passengers, you take the 'down airbridge' to the arrivals level. I've never looked for or noticed any transit route,I don't think that there is one, so you'll have to exit past baggage claim, up the escalator to departures and re-clear security. I don't think that I've ever been more than five minutes through security, so if you walk at a decent pace you could be back at the gate within 10-12 minutes of getting off the jetbridge.
I'm down again next week so will look out for a transfer route.
I've arrived into DUR plenty of times as a domestic passenger, and you definitely don't mix with departing passengers, you take the 'down airbridge' to the arrivals level. I've never looked for or noticed any transit route,I don't think that there is one, so you'll have to exit past baggage claim, up the escalator to departures and re-clear security. I don't think that I've ever been more than five minutes through security, so if you walk at a decent pace you could be back at the gate within 10-12 minutes of getting off the jetbridge.
I'm down again next week so will look out for a transfer route.
Apr 4, 2019, 4:35 am
#4
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PLZ, DUR, CPT and JNB require you either to go landside or have a security scan that has a similar effect. For PLZ you walk from aircraft to baggage reclaim, turn left once landside , walk up a slight slope to main check in area, and you will see security on the left. It is about 50 metres landside .
If you are on the DUR-PLZ-CPT service you stay on board.
If you are on the DUR-PLZ-CPT service you stay on board.
Apr 8, 2019, 2:54 am
#5
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Like Stewie Mac, I'm pretty sure that there is no direct airside transit route at DUR - but I also agree that doing the circuit shouldn't take very long. You will be aided by what appears to be culturally acceptable in ZA: politely asking people in the queue to allow you to queue jump if there is a significant queue and you can show that you have a flight departing very soon.
Turnaround times at DUR can be very short. I think I've sometimes seen timetabled turnarounds at 25 minutes. This is one of the airports where departing pax are sometimes "boarded" through the gate almost before the cleaners have boarded, and are then standing on the jetty so that they can physically step on board as soon as the cleaners have finished. So there will be a little risk involved if you aren't one of the first off the aircraft. As always, if the cabin crew already know that you are supposed to be coming back ...
One other thing to be careful of when looking for a back-to-back at DUR is the actual scheduling of aircraft. It is not as easy as it might seem to find a true back-to-back. The Comair operational plan is not as simple as BA's. Some aircraft operate JNB-DUR-CPT-DUR-JNB or similar, and some operate JNB-DUR-JNB. So make sure that you have an idea of what the operational plan is for the day that you're booking, and remember that it can all go awry in a way which would be unusual for BA. For example, someone I know dodged a bullet when their aircraft flew JNB-DUR and went tech so it couldn't operate its remaining DUR-CPT-DUR-JNB sectors that day. Comair cancelled no flights, but the fleet did a lot of ad hoc shuffling to cover those sectors very late, and quite a few aircraft flew routings that day that were far from what they had planned.
Turnaround times at DUR can be very short. I think I've sometimes seen timetabled turnarounds at 25 minutes. This is one of the airports where departing pax are sometimes "boarded" through the gate almost before the cleaners have boarded, and are then standing on the jetty so that they can physically step on board as soon as the cleaners have finished. So there will be a little risk involved if you aren't one of the first off the aircraft. As always, if the cabin crew already know that you are supposed to be coming back ...
One other thing to be careful of when looking for a back-to-back at DUR is the actual scheduling of aircraft. It is not as easy as it might seem to find a true back-to-back. The Comair operational plan is not as simple as BA's. Some aircraft operate JNB-DUR-CPT-DUR-JNB or similar, and some operate JNB-DUR-JNB. So make sure that you have an idea of what the operational plan is for the day that you're booking, and remember that it can all go awry in a way which would be unusual for BA. For example, someone I know dodged a bullet when their aircraft flew JNB-DUR and went tech so it couldn't operate its remaining DUR-CPT-DUR-JNB sectors that day. Comair cancelled no flights, but the fleet did a lot of ad hoc shuffling to cover those sectors very late, and quite a few aircraft flew routings that day that were far from what they had planned.