Beware SA not honoring confirmed C reservations and the intl/dom connection in JNB
#1
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Join Date: Dec 2003
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Beware SA not honoring confirmed C reservations and the intl/dom connection in JNB
Experienced SA flyers probably know about the situation I recently experienced, but I thought I'd post it for others.
Recently had an SA business class ticket, connecting through JNB from Lilongwe, Malawi to Cape Town. Flights themselves were fine, but a few disappointing elements:
1. Right now JNB is undergoing substantial expansion, which means that to connect from the international to the domestic terminal is at least a 15 minute walk, partly through the parking lot. It's pretty clearly marked, but a bit of a hassle. I fortunately was traveling light, but can see how lugging a lot of luggage would increase the hassle factor.
2. Once I got to the domestic JNB terminal, there was a very long line to get my domestic boarding pass, which SA hadn't been able to give me in Lilongwe. And I'm talking about the business class line. I'd say the wait was at least 30 minutes, quite possibly longer. I had a couple of hours between flights, but in a shorter time frame I would have been SOL. The line was likely moving slowly because...
3. SA was bouncing many C passengers such as myself to later flights because it had overbooked even confirmed C tickets with specific seat reservations. For me it was no big deal, with only about a 30-minute delay until the next flight, except that I needed to call my Cape Town hotel to let it know that the car that was picking me up should arrive later (which the helpful SA agent let me do on their phone). But there were many unhappy fellow passengers there, including some who had longer waits. A couple of them let me know that this is far from an unusual situation on SA. Seems extremely unprofessional of SA. Would give me pause about flying SA internationally in the future (which I've done once previously, and which was fine), since it raises all sorts of concerns about reliability.
4. Also (as I learned from another leg of this trip), be aware that the regular SA C lounge in the international terminal is closed while undergoing renovations and perhaps expansion right now, so the substitute facility is pretty cramped.
Again, no tremendous inconvenience for me. But I'd especially advise taking #3 into account in flying SA domestically and planning connections.
Recently had an SA business class ticket, connecting through JNB from Lilongwe, Malawi to Cape Town. Flights themselves were fine, but a few disappointing elements:
1. Right now JNB is undergoing substantial expansion, which means that to connect from the international to the domestic terminal is at least a 15 minute walk, partly through the parking lot. It's pretty clearly marked, but a bit of a hassle. I fortunately was traveling light, but can see how lugging a lot of luggage would increase the hassle factor.
2. Once I got to the domestic JNB terminal, there was a very long line to get my domestic boarding pass, which SA hadn't been able to give me in Lilongwe. And I'm talking about the business class line. I'd say the wait was at least 30 minutes, quite possibly longer. I had a couple of hours between flights, but in a shorter time frame I would have been SOL. The line was likely moving slowly because...
3. SA was bouncing many C passengers such as myself to later flights because it had overbooked even confirmed C tickets with specific seat reservations. For me it was no big deal, with only about a 30-minute delay until the next flight, except that I needed to call my Cape Town hotel to let it know that the car that was picking me up should arrive later (which the helpful SA agent let me do on their phone). But there were many unhappy fellow passengers there, including some who had longer waits. A couple of them let me know that this is far from an unusual situation on SA. Seems extremely unprofessional of SA. Would give me pause about flying SA internationally in the future (which I've done once previously, and which was fine), since it raises all sorts of concerns about reliability.
4. Also (as I learned from another leg of this trip), be aware that the regular SA C lounge in the international terminal is closed while undergoing renovations and perhaps expansion right now, so the substitute facility is pretty cramped.
Again, no tremendous inconvenience for me. But I'd especially advise taking #3 into account in flying SA domestically and planning connections.
#2
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: CPT
Programs: BA BD SA
Posts: 4,467
1. Right now JNB is undergoing substantial expansion, which means that to connect from the international to the domestic terminal is at least a 15 minute walk, partly through the parking lot. It's pretty clearly marked, but a bit of a hassle. I fortunately was traveling light, but can see how lugging a lot of luggage would increase the hassle factor.
2. Once I got to the domestic JNB terminal, there was a very long line to get my domestic boarding pass, which SA hadn't been able to give me in Lilongwe. And I'm talking about the business class line. I'd say the wait was at least 30 minutes, quite possibly longer. I had a couple of hours between flights, but in a shorter time frame I would have been SOL.
The line was likely moving slowly because...
3. SA was bouncing many C passengers such as myself to later flights because it had overbooked even confirmed C tickets with specific seat reservations. For me it was no big deal, with only about a 30-minute delay until the next flight, except that I needed to call my Cape Town hotel to let it know that the car that was picking me up should arrive later (which the helpful SA agent let me do on their phone). But there were many unhappy fellow passengers there, including some who had longer waits. A couple of them let me know that this is far from an unusual situation on SA. Seems extremely unprofessional of SA. Would give me pause about flying SA internationally in the future (which I've done once previously, and which was fine), since it raises all sorts of concerns about reliability.
3. SA was bouncing many C passengers such as myself to later flights because it had overbooked even confirmed C tickets with specific seat reservations. For me it was no big deal, with only about a 30-minute delay until the next flight, except that I needed to call my Cape Town hotel to let it know that the car that was picking me up should arrive later (which the helpful SA agent let me do on their phone). But there were many unhappy fellow passengers there, including some who had longer waits. A couple of them let me know that this is far from an unusual situation on SA. Seems extremely unprofessional of SA. Would give me pause about flying SA internationally in the future (which I've done once previously, and which was fine), since it raises all sorts of concerns about reliability.
Of course it didn't help that you hit the start of the school holidays!
I hope the new lounge is a big improvement - and considerably larger. The old one was getting so tired and crowded that I sometimes prefer to use the Bidvest lounge instead.
#3
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: RSA
Programs: SAA Voyager Lifetime Plat
Posts: 141
The new International arrivals is very close to the domestic terminal, and really is only a couple of minutes walk, entirely indoors.
#4
Ambassador, Emirates
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: LGW / AMS / CPT
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Well, I am doing this same thing on 19 DEC (int C to dom C in JNB), so it will be interesting and I will post my experience here (including the obstacle course or otherwise between the int' and dom' terminals). To be honest, I am VERY surprised about the heavy overbooking in C. My gut feel is that there were one or more flight cancellations that day (unusual but not impossible in itself) and the overbooking resuted from the backlog. Not an acceptable situation, but maybe an explanation......
#5
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I guess the other possible explanation is that I simply missed the signs for the easy transfer, but if so I certainly wasn't the only connecting passenger in that boat.
Well, I am doing this same thing on 19 DEC (int C to dom C in JNB), so it will be interesting and I will post my experience here (including the obstacle course or otherwise between the int' and dom' terminals). To be honest, I am VERY surprised about the heavy overbooking in C. My gut feel is that there were one or more flight cancellations that day (unusual but not impossible in itself) and the overbooking resuted from the backlog. Not an acceptable situation, but maybe an explanation......
#6
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: RSA
Programs: SAA Voyager Lifetime Plat
Posts: 141
Well, now you've got me thinking...I did do the connection in reverse, also. Perhaps what I'm recalling is the connection from Domestic arrivals (I flew in from CPT) to International departures. But it was a long walk through the parking garage for at least one of those connections. My apologies if I'm confused on this point and for not recalling for sure which one it was.
#8
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: CPT
Programs: LH, SA, AA
Posts: 856
From international arrivals to domestic departures it is only a short walk and entirely under roof. The other way round is a bit of a schlepp - at least it still was when I was there some two month ago.
#9
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Johannesburg
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now that the plans are coming together JNB looks to be really well thought out.
#10
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: AMS>GRU/GIG
Programs: KL/AF Platinum
Posts: 1,417
Any updates on SA new international lounge in JNB?
Tks,
#11
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Johannesburg
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never done it personally, but it appears you go through doors leading onto the Mez level, which is where the SA business class lounge and BA departure lounges are.