Delta and SAA C class LAX-JNB
 

This is my first trip report so hope it's not too boring or lacking in the right details!

We flew on Delta from LAX-ATL on Sat. Aug.2 and arrived at the airport approx. 2hrs early even though we were only going to ATL on this first leg and stopping over there. It's a good thing we did because I have never seen the Delta terminal at LAX so congested and disorganized. After standing in quite a long, slow line for Business Elite, we then had to stand in a longer line for checked baggage screening which wound around the terminal twice. That took a good 30minutes then we had to proceed outside the terminal for another line to go upstairs to the second security screening. At least upstairs there was a separate line for BE travelers and that took the least time of all. We had no time to use the Crown Club room as our flight was now boarding but they had to hold the flight while more passengers tried to make it to the aircraft on time. It was incredibly chaotic and I will never schedule another flight on a Saturday morning for summer vacation travel in case that had anything to do with it.

Two days later, check in at ATL for the SAA flight to JNB at 10:30am on a Monday morning was uneventful. We had plenty of time to use the Crown Club room which turned out to be extremely crowded and not as comfortable as the BE lounge. The SAA flight was a 747-400 and everything I had heard regarding SAA turned out to be true, unfortunately. The food in C class was worse than I have ever seen in economy on any flight and VERY overcooked. Luckily the cheese plate for dessert was good enough and I always carry snacks. No other food service was offered other than ice-cream bars for the 8hr flight to Ilha de Sal for refueling. After take-off following the refueling, an overcooked piece of quiche was served with no linens or real bar/drinks service. The flight from Ilha de Sal to JNB is approx. another 8hrs and there was no other food service until breakfast which turned out to be fairly nice with yogurt, fruit, cold cereal and then a hot entree of either eggs or flapjacks(although they were covered with vegetables so don't recommend).

The seats in C class were pretty comfortable although don't recline as far as Delta's but are wider, I believe and softer. They also have Video on Demand with a choice of 15 or so films which is a much better system than Delta's but the same movies were offered on the return and we had seen the ones we wanted to view on the way down already.

SAA had no separate boarding for C class and the check-in for the return flt from JNB was disorganized with no agents working the Business class counters and the passengers went to the closest economy check in agent which actually didn't take too long and was easier than our LAX check in. Service and food was the same on the return I'm sorry to say, but we were at least comfortable and had a great trip to SA and Botswana so it was well worth the miles I used to redeem the seats!

Sorry, forgot to mention the Delta flights we flew. Even though our award tkts were Business class, they switched us to First on the LAX-ATL portion after many schedule changes(I booked 6mos in advance). We were on one of the older 767's and as you probably already know, there is not all that much room in FC. The service was good and included a hot pasta lunch that was tasty. Our return was in BE from JFK-LAX since I couldn't get seats via the ATL route. We boarded prior to economy but since they used the forward door, all passengers had to board through our cabin so no drinks were served until the boarding process was over. Richard Simmons was on board also seated two rows behind us and he made sure everyone knew he was there and even played "hostess" for most of the boarding and handed out hot towels after take-off. The service was efficient but BE was unimpressive with no menus but the FA had to read off the 3 entree choices for each seating group. The choices were beef ribs with noodles and veggies, grilled chicken with rice or mahi mahi. We tried the ribs and chicken, both of which were passable. There was an appetizer and small caesar salad served first and dessert was the sundae cart.

All in all, it was a very comfortable flight, just nothing special but that is the norm these days, at least on domestic flights.

What did Richard Simmons eat on the flight? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Sorry to hear SAA was rather a let down. Nice report otherwise.


[This message has been edited by MileTex (edited 08-24-2003).]

I've never flown SAA, but have had this idea in my head until now that they were a really great airline, esp. in premium class. I seem to recall my father flying them in J before the end of apartheid, and hearing really great things. I guess that's just not correct anymore.