JNB Transit Int' to Domestic
 

Hi,
We're due to land with Singapore airlines at 0650 on a Thursday in Feb 18.

I need to book an onward flight to CPT on South African, how much transit time should I allow to clear customs and check into domestic?

Many Thanks!

This thread in the Africa forum will comprehensively answer your question.

Well to be clear you won't be transiting as you'll be on separate tickets which is why you need some good buffer time.

6:50 is the early end of the morning rush of arrivals. You're a solid hour after EK's first A380 and within 20 minutes of a lot of widebody & jumbo traffic which can arrive early and put you in crowded arrivals hall. JNB arrivals seems to be operating well over the past two years so I'd give 40 minutes for that (that's rather generous)+30 minutes for bags (also generous) and then 30 more for bag recheck at the domestic check-in area + security.

After a flight in from SIN I'd personally want to refresh. If you do not qualify for the SA Arrivals Lounge there is a pay lounge in the domestic area post security that has a shower. Shower + a bite is worth it to me. 2+ hours would be my minimum in this situation. If you were actually transiting I'd be fine with less.

Thanks for the detailed reply we are travelling in J Class on SIN and have platinum on one of SAA's partner airlines, so I think we can use SAA's Lounges, however I'd planned to use the domestic one before flying on to CPT, is the arrivals one significantly better?

The SA Arrivals lounge is a pass for people that have access to a domestic or international lounge post security. It's way better than not having a place to wash up and have a bite but skip it if you can. One upside is that you'll have access to your baggage at that point for access to fresh clothing & to pack away your plane clothing but to me that's what day bags are for.

I've done it in 20 minutes and generally it's quick. But, I have had flights delayed and a lot of the times flights will land around the same time. Also with airlink there is a short cut that we were denied access to (through south african) while it was obvious that others had sneaked through as they magically appeared in front of us when we got to the gate.

I’d allow a 60 min queue for JNB International immigration. You only need a couple of 380s and the odd 744 or 777 to fill the hall (this is based on mid arvo arrival). And the staff seem unable or unwilling to stop people from cutting the queue - and then there are those who walk to the far end side and are curteously directed into the front main line because they made an “error” (sigh).

OP, given that you are travelling on Singapore Airlines and SAA are part of star alliance, even though you have two separate tickets, couldn't you show the domestic ticket when checking in at Singapore airport, so the baggage will be tagged all the way through to CPT. You may have to pick up your bags at JNB, but I'm assuming if it's tagged to CPT, that there will be an opportunity for you to drop the bags off for domestic transfers. Forgive my ignorance if this isn't accurate, as I've only completed such requests in North America and Europe.

There's a whole thread
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/afri...overs-etc.html
on JNB-related connections and transfers.

See post #2 .

Great minds! :)