J.Hamilton for JAZ350
Johannesburg Express
Welcome to my flight review! The world series continues as we embark on the journey from New York JFK to Johannesburg's OR Tambo Int'l. As one of the longest flights in the world, this route stands among the few that connect North America to the Motherland. Below are some details of the report:
Details
Aircraft Registration: ZS-SND
Aircraft Type: A340-600
Boarding: 10:30 (NYC time)
Push Back: 10:55 (NYC time)
Departure: 11:10 (NYC time)
Arrival: 08:25 (J'burg time)
On a bright July morning, the A340-600 stood perched at T4. South African Airways shares this multi airline terminal with DL and VS, amongst others.
Our J'burg chariot at gate b29.
T4 was relatively quiet around boarding, the time between push back and takeoff was relatively short.
It was clear that SAA's cabin was aging as seen by the old personal TVs and worn Recaro seats. The IFE was also quite limited. This particular Airbus (ZS-SND) had been delivered in Nov 2003.
As we banked, we headed towards the Southern Atlantic. Soon after lunch was served. I chose the butter chicken and white rice which was absolutely amazing
Midday came while the aircraft made its way. The gorgeous flag of the rainbow nation poses as a stark contrast to the blue sky.
Inflight map
A few more hours in, the sun began to set as we approached the western tip of the African continent.Nighttime swiftly approached. The cabin fell into sleep while the aircraft meandered its way over the borders of Southern Africa.
Dawn came and the crew brought breakfast. Although the meal was not quite as nice as lunch, it wasn't too bad. I picked the western option.
Soon enough, cabin crew prepared the cabin for arrival. The beauty of the nation shown radiantly whilst on approach.
Just like that, our journey was over and I made my way to customs and immigration. Before however, I was able to snap this pic of VS's 787.
Thank you for viewing!
Thanks for this FR.
The meals look good but are they enough for such a long flight?
Too bad the IFE was ancient as you sure need entertainment for 15 hours.
Actually, we had some snacks in between all the meals and also throughout the flight.
Hi Jaz350
I transit JFK T4 fairly frequently, and often see SA’s planes there. Nice to see a review of the flight experience. I’ve only ever done LHR-JNB and reverse, and JNB-DPT with SA, so interesting to see their ultra longhaul experience.
The Flying Pencil certainly has a certain attractiveness to it, and your shots of the bird are great.
Ooof! That IFE! Did then hand out pneumatic headsets too? At least the catering looks really good for economy — and god a good review too.
How was immigration? I’ve had some loooong waits at JNB.
Thanks for a sharing a great quick look at a very long flight. I’m glad it was a fairly positive experience for you!
To my surprise, the immigration wait was pretty short, no more then 20 or 25 minutes. Fortunately I brought my own headsets so I did not pay much attention to what types they handed out. In respect to catering, I was impressed with the quality we received. I'd like to try other African carriers to compare their service. Thanks for reading!
Just in case the joke fell flat, the reference to pneumatic headphones was is referring to really old-timey in-flight-entertainment. I remember having those old pneumatics on my first flight, when I was five, going to Wales on a CP Air 747. Listened to the kids’ channel on the headphones the whole way there and the whole way back.
LOL, I remember those too! When I was a kid in the 90s on Tower Air 747s. It was the coolest thing flying a 747 when I was a kid (still is), but now that how know how crappy Tower Air was run, I'm thankful to be alive, haha
Nice report! The A346 is a beautiful bird, but SAA would do well to refresh the ancient cabin, especially compared to the new A330s. Otherwise service looks quite nice, especially butter chicken for the meal, yum!
I never really understood why SAA fly nonstop to JFK, but fly a 1-stop to my home airport of IAD for a similar distance.
Thanks for sharing!
I often wondered when SAA would change the cabin on the A346s. I'm actually looking to try out the IAD-ACC route this summer. I was thinking that it stops due to fuel, maybe? But I know some people that use SAA to get to DSS or ACC so it can be useful to some extent.
Yeah, the A330 for sure doesn't have the legs of the A346, but should still be able to do IAD-JNB without too much weight restriction. But you're right, it does seem that there's a real market for IAD to DSS and ACC so SAA may be smart in doing that stop and making money on that TATL sector.
oh ;) That's a long flight !
Thanks to share ;)