karenkay

To follow up, we did get SAA lounge access no problem at CPT, and ended up having correct weight bags, so there was no problem with overweight charges.

malmostoso

Thank you for reporting back! I suppose lounge access and no extra charges made your day!

UNITED959

Just reporting my experience on this...

Had a ticket CPT > JNB (J) > HDS (Y - no other choice).

I'm UA *G; got the luggage weight and lounge access at CPT.

At JNB, SAA pulled the "Express isn't *A" thing. What a ridiculous policy, but not surprising from the suckery that is SAA.

Then tried the SLOW lounge on my AA emerald status. At first she said no, but then I pointed out ComAir doesn't fly to HDS, and a light bulb went on it seemed. Unfortunately, the computer wasn't giving her the go ahead after entering my card info, so she asked her colleague who I suspect didn't want to deal, so the easiest answer is "no you can't use this lounge."

lewis_saint

I am a *G and a BA Silver card holder, travelling with a guest from CPT-SZK with Airlink. Based on this thread:

- Should I be entitled with my guest to the SAA "Baobab Premium Class" lounge at CPT? (The flight begins with SA, and Airlink is an 'affiliate' of Star Alliance)
- I believe I am entitled to the SLOW lounge at CPT as a BAEC Silver cardholder flying domestically within SA to a destination that Comair doesn't fly to. However, my guest on the same booking doesn't have status. Can one pay for the SLOW lounge at CPT?

cur

took an express flight cpt to grj yesterday, no benefits offered.
bag tagging all that junk does't matter, it's an rj
but no lounge ;(

and my usual trick of buying a refundable ticket on a mainline flight and using that to get in would not work, because (here's yet another "only in rsa") "fully refundable" tickets are subject to a refund service charge.

isn't this economy great

-no
-no clue, ask on the ba forum if no love from here


we know. but it's ridiculous. it's like saying ua express or ac express flights are ineligible because they're a completely separate company (which they are).

like most sa corporations, saa is being greedy and cheap. nothing else.

there is word of merging the three companies thank god

not the best inflight catering or product but far better service and far far better *gold recognition in add

i made the switch and couldn't be happier, although my god they only have beer and wine in long haul y.

far better award mileage earned on ua as well.

jetboys360

Yes, you can use the Slow Lounge and as silver cardholder take in one guest. I have done that before in CPT and JNB as long as they don't fly the route.

Access: British Airways Executive Club Gold and Silver cardholders*
*The above guests may invite one travelling companion to the Lounge, subject to capacity
*Gold and Silver cardholders may access the Lounges when travelling to SA destinations not operated by BA Comair.

lewis_saint

Many thanks. It seems under the circumstances that I should be able to freely access both lounges with my guest at CPT. Which lounge is better between the SAA domestic and SLOW, that we should try first?

jetboys360

SLOW!!!

cur

i can't comment on slow as i've never been in but it's always looks crowded

saa domestic lounge at cpt always seems dead/is larger than needed has nice spread, mediocre drink selection and lazy staff but it's by no means inadequate.

lewis_saint

Ok, I'll probably try SLOW as it is newer, then SAA if unimpressed.

malmostoso

I was denied domestic lounge access flying SA1227 to HDS today. Pay use of the lounge (300ZAR) was offered, but obviously I wasn't in the mood for giving any extra money to SA.

At least SA Express should not print their boarding passes on "SA, a Star Alliance airline" paper.

N1120A

Lots of games from the SA lounge dragons, it seems. My wife (AC *G) and I (UA *G) have not had these games played with us, except for once at check in for an Airlink flight where they said we had too many bags (we didn't).

w00tzen

Just wanted to quickly share my recent try and error experiences with flights operated by South African AirLink out of JNB. All booked and ticketed through flysaa.com

Dep JNB Flight SA82XX international
*G = SAA-Lounge intl *access-denied* (not a star alliance member...)
EMERALD = SLOW-Lounge intl *access-denied* (rule does not apply for international)

Dep JNB Flight SA87XX domestic
*G = SAA-Lounge domestic *access-denied* (not a star alliance member...)
EMERALD = SLOW-Lounge domestic *access-granted* and welcomed!^

However, on all flights by AirLink had been the beautifully 'SAA proud to be Member of Star Alliance' napkins...

olivedel

Well, I have been denied access to the SAA domestic lounge on an SA Airlink flight.
However, I do believe that this policy is dysfunctional, as these flights are not even marketed directly by the operating airline and do operate clearly as franchise flights.
It would be like if UA Connection flights would not be considered as UA flights.

To me, SAA is clearly not respecting Star Alliance rules, as my boarding pass states only the SA flight number (normal, as SA Airlink does not even market the flight with its own IATA code).

B747-437B

The worst situation is the SA flights to Malawi on Mondays (other days of the week are ok) which are considered to be SA Express flights even though they are operated by SAA itself (due to a complicated bilateral rights issue the rights for the Monday flights lie with SA Express while the other days of the week with SAA). This is not disclosed anywhere (since the flights are both operated and marketed by SAA, they don't need to disclose anything) except when you try to access the lounge when you are denied as the flight is theoretically an SA Express flight.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/south...a-express.html