Review of South African AIrways flight from Johannesburg to George in Economy

SAA

SA - South African AIrways

Flight taken on 21 December 2015
SA1521
09:30 01h 55m 11:25
Class Economy
Seat
MrMax
1,596 · 59 · 8 · 0

Welcome to the third FR in my first series. Tody I will be flying from JNB-GRG (a small airport in the southest of the country)
BACKGROUND INFO
This december I visted South Africa to visit my familly there (I'm half South African). For this third leg, I will be travelling to george after three days in Jo'Burg. Some of my familly rents holiday houses in nearby Plettenburg Bay, so we like to see them here. George is the closest airport to Plettenburg Bay. Anyways, here's my routing:
EK226 SFO-DXB in Y http://http://flight-report.com/en/report-12750.html
EK767 DXB-JNB in Y http://flight-report.com/en/report-13149.html
SA1521 JNB-GRJ in Y YOU ARE HERE
FA121 GRJ-CPT in Y http://flight-report.com/en/report-13026.html
SA332 CPT-JNB in Y FLIGHT REPORT COMING SOON
EK764 JNB-DXB in Y FLIGHT REPORT COMING SOON
EK225 DXB-SFO in Y
FLIGHT REPORT COMING SOON
If you're wondering, FA is the IATA code for FlySafair, a smallish South African airline (small enough for it to not be in the FR database). And GRJ is the IATA code for George Airport. George is a small city in the south of the country.
Here is a map of my internal flights for this trip (courtesy of www.gcmap.com):


photo Screen Shot 2015-12-10 at 5.50.35 PM

THE FLIGHT
This FR is going to be short, so I added a big tourisim bonus, with a surprise!
I arrive at JNB about 1.5 hrs befre scheduled departure time
I really like the archtecture of JNB:


photo IMG_3600

The FIDS at CPT and JNB is the same, It's OK:


photo IMG_3596photo IMG_3597photo IMG_3598

Check in:


photo IMG_3602-2photo IMG_3602

The line was less then a few mins and the man behind the desk was efficient:


photo IMG_3601

My Boarding Pass:


photo FullSizeRender-3

JNB is crowded today:


photo IMG_3599

I go to the Bidvest lounge. Limited seating. The buffet was OK. Overall, a decent lounge, but nothing to be exited about.
We are bussed to the plane, witch is in Maluti Sky (Leshotoan Airline) livery. I think that the Maluti Sky livery goes really well on the CRJ200.
The view from my window seat at our neighbor:


photo IMG_3606

The legroom is good, but I'm very short. My seatmate didn't look very comfortable:


photo IMG_3605

The safety card:


photo IMG_3608

The only entertainment was the Saubona Magazine. The december content was bad, and I ended up being a little bored during the 1:45 flight.
Once airborne we were served juice, and this "Cappichino Muffin":


photo IMG_3609

It was actually good, I asked for another one, wich the really-friendly FA kindly accommodated. Thanks to Lindiwe for the great service!
I took this exact same flight in december 2012, and I got a breakfast box on that flight. Now you just get a muffin. The quality of domestic SAA flights is getting mutch worse. You used to have a hot breakfast on CPT-JNB flights, now you get peanuts. The breakfast box had a yoghurt and a ham sandwich. I think that SAA should bring the breakfast box back, especially at the price we had to pay for this flight!
We landed at GRJ on time (to the best of my recollection).
Bonus
Plettenburg Bay is really beautiful. I'm also an amature landscape photographer. So here we go!



We went on a 1:30 game drive. I also like photographing wildlife:


photo FullSizeRender-4photo IMG_3729photo IMG_3753

Summery
JNB was OK. The flight was also average. The catering was minimalist, but the quality was decent. On time preformance was fine, no comment. GRJ had very efficiant baggage claim. I think that SAA has very bad value for moeny. Fly Kalula for half the price and get a similar flight experience. I chosse SAA because of the timing. Other than that, definitly not a good option.

Display all

Product ratings

Airline

South African AIrways 6.9

  • Cabin7.0 / 10
  • Cabin crew10.0 / 10
  • Entertainment/wifi7.5 / 10
  • Meal/catering3.0 / 10
Departure airport

Johannesburg - JNB2.6

  • Efficiency1.5 / 10
  • Access2.0 / 10
  • Services4.5 / 10
  • Cleanliness2.5 / 10
Arrival Airport

George - GRJ8.9

  • Efficiency10.0 / 10
  • Access8.5 / 10
  • Services8.5 / 10
  • Cleanliness8.5 / 10

Conclusion

JNB was OK. The flight was also average. The catering was minimalist, but the quality was decent. On time preformance was fine, no comment. GRJ had very efficiant baggage claim. I think that [b]SAA has very bad value for moeny[/b]. Fly Kalula for half the price and get a similar flight experience. I chosse SAA because of the timing, but other than that. I shouldn't have flown SAA.

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Comments (8)

  • Hi There, thanks for sharing. In November I spend some wonderful three weeks in South Africa, we did flew to Port Elizabeth and also passed at Plettenberg Bay. There is an airport there, and CemAir flies there from JNB, I believe on Beechcraft planes. They advertize this at Plettenberg Bay at the beach :)

    • I'm glad you enjoyed the FR, and your trip to SA!

      I also saw LOTS of CemAir ads there too. On their website they (falsely) stated that they didn't fly JNB-PBZ on mondays, so I reluctently booked SAA JNB-GRJ. But at JNB lo and behold I saw a CemAir flight to PBZ on the FIDS. Oh Well.

  • Thank for sharing. Have planned a trip next November in CPT and GRJ, for sure will don't miss Plettenburg Bay!

  • Thanks for sharing this FR,

    I had to google Maluti Sky to comfirm the beautiful livery!

    The Plettenberg Bay looks nice!

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