Yeah, I know… 9 minute economy trip reports don’t usually pack to much of a punch, but
this little flight on the new South African Airways was the chef’s kiss superb.
Hi there, my name is Kevin.
This channel came from a love of traveling, a love of the full process and the journey
itself.
I feature airline trip reports and high end hotel reviews from all over the world.
My reviews aren’t sponsored by airlines or hotels so you can be sure to get my unbiased
opinion.
Am I an expert?
You can decide.
Am I fair?
Yea, I am.
Let’s get into it.
Welcome to Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International airport.
I just arrived from Rome via Addis Ababa, check out my past two videos in Ethiopian
Business Class if you’d like.
Now we’re heading to the domestic terminal for my final leg to Cape Town.
If you’d like to know the exact fare I paid or my next five videos in queue, please check
out the description below.
Alright- so I am Star Alliance Gold, but you can see that definitely wasn’t necessary.
The extremely friendly check in agent had my boarding pass in my hand in a matter of
seconds and then I was off to security which had it’s own priority line which honored
Star Alliance Gold- also, super friendly.
Let’s head up to the lounge and I’ll explain why there was literally no one else checking
in.
First off, I was early- but besides that, South African Airways has been having a time.
Let’s see if I can do this in 60 seconds as we look around the lounge.
The South African Government formed the airline in 1934 after acquiring Union Airways.
Throughout the majority of the century, there were many anti-apartheid restrictions on the
government and airline which created a pretty small route network.
Following the demise of apartheid in 1990 the government owned carrier expanded willy
nilly.
Flying to New York, ok.
Flying from Cape Town to Miami?
I’m sorry you’ve got to be out of your mind if you think that route is going to make
you money.
That kind of wreckless expansion plagued the airline until 2007 when they announced a restructuring
program- except, nothing really happened until 2017 when they began reducing their fleet
and cut their route network.
For decades, the carrier did little more than spend tax payer money.
Then in December of 2019 they officially declared bankruptcy.
In true South African Airways fashion, 4 months later they decided to introduce four brand
new A350s with a new business class and everything.
Two months later, now also bleeding money because of Covid the government stopped funding
the airline with immediate effect and in May 2020 they ceased operations.
So as I rambled on, did you notice how nice the lounge was?
I mean relatively speaking it’s quite the place for a domestic lounge for an airline
that only reactivated itself in September of 2021.
The airline was relaunched by the Takatso Consortium which controls 51% of the airline.
Their route network is now a fraction of what it used to be and they currently operate 9
aircraft, down from their peak of 75- but, I look at all of this as having a silver lining.
If they expand slowly and methodically, there’s absolutely no reason that this airline cannot
reemerge as a true player on the continent.
As I mentioned in one of my community posts a while back, I’m looking at one thing as
an indicator of what's going on.
If 4-5 years from now, they have expanded but still are only flying within Africa, I
see many good things in their future- a steady reasonable hand is exactly what they need
right now.
Alright, boarding began with priority for business and elite passengers and was overall
very orderly.
Let’s take a look at today’s stats.
We’d pushback three minutes early and head up to flight level 38 for our 101 minutes
in the air, arriving in Cape Town 14 minutes ahead of schedule.
When I booked my flight I was heming and hawing about whether or not to book Business Class
or not.
Obviously it’s not necessary but I was just curious to try it because it’s a strange
offering.
It’s the only standard narrowbody layout in a 2-3 pattern that I know of.
I ended up just being reasonable and booking economy but that’s not to say they didn’t
try to get me to upgrade around 3000 times.
The only thing about the new SAA that I wasn’t a fan of was the communication.
When I booked the ticket I received six SMS messages from six different US numbers.
All strung together formed a single message.
Each time I changed something like my seat assignment for example, the same would happen
with 3 messages.
After a very warm welcome on board, here you can see the Business Class offering as we
pass through.
But my seat 18A turned out to be one of the more comfortable economy seats I’ve been
in in a while.
They’re not super slim line seats, but they are Recaro which pretty much spells uncomfortable
most of the time.
These were kinda delightful though.
Plenty of padding, a fully functional head rest, generous legroom, a real tray table…
I mean, all things considered, this is a pretty great product that they’re offering.
The cup holder was a battle that I lost though.
We pushed back as the sun started to hang low and the crew performed the safety demonstration.
I’ve never been to South Africa before so I was like a kid looking through the window
of a candy story as we taxiied to the runway.
Always love to see new airport.
My eyes were especially fixated on the Taag Angola 777 though.
A Business or First Class flight with them is definitely on my bucket list, perhaps for
2024.
We’d be taking off to the southwest and continuing in that direction all the way down
to Cape Town.
The spool up and take off and a bit of light reading is coming up next.
A few minutes after the seat belt sign was turned off the crew were already coming down
the aisles with carts.
I honestly just thought it was going to be a drink service- if that.
Was shocked to see a proper meal- and a tasty one at that.
The choices were beef or chicken- I went with the beef and was more than happy with the
choice.
The beef was actually tender and very flavorful and those creamy greens were probably the
best two bites on the tray.
And for a nostalgic throw back that pasta salad tasted precisely like every macaroni
salad in every American supermarket ever.
In case you still had a bit of faith in Skytrax, all me to take it away.
So Skytrax named South African Africa’s second best carrier of 2021.
Funny thing though, at the time of the announcement the airline hadn’t flown for the past 18
months.
As we approached Cape Town the terrain began to get a bit more interesting as we approached
from the northeast before making our final turn to land from the north.
Cape Town, by the way, is humongous.
Almost 1000 square miles- the entire city isn’t even in this frame.
We landed without much fanfare and made a beautiful late afternoon taxi to the gate
and it kinda felt like we were the only ones here.
And that is that.
Let’s head into the Flip Flop Score.
I think you got the picture already, it was a great flight.
Beyond the seat and food though, I was truly struck by just how friendly each and every
SAA staff was thoroughly the process.
I’ll see you in town next time from the Gorgeous George Hotel, one of my favorite
boutique hotels in quite a while.