1Time from Johannesburg to Cape town

12 August 2007. On the flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg we jammed ourselves into Mango Airlines' sardine can, and were sorry we didn't take a 1time Johannesburg flight. We don't always fly with the same airline both ways, as it's often cheaper to get onto a different airline for the way back. This was the case, and we flew 1Time airlines back. The 1Time flight from Joburg to Cape Town came to R1178 for the two of us (or R589 per person). These aren't the greatest flight prices, but the flights were on a Sunday and we were picky about the times we wanted to fly - we took flight 1T109 from Joburg to Cape Town leaving on the 12th August 2007 at 1250.

	1Time Airline	Mango Airline
check-in queues	5 minute queue	15 minute queue
special seating for mothers with children	Seated us on a 2-seater on seeing that we had a little one with us (on previous flight booked out the middle seat on a 3-seater for us).	Placed us in a 3-seater with a stranger (no attempt to provide additional privacy for a breast-feeding mom, even though there was additional space on the plane)
queue-jump for mothers with children	Allowed us to board just after the disabled.	No queue-jump offer for mothers with children.
Space available	More spacious than Mango Airlines.	Crammed in, extremely uncomfortable if person in front folds their seat back.
Cleanliness	Clean-looking.	Baby's white cloth was filthy after lying against the side of the armrest.
Magazine	We each had a 1Time magazine.	No magazines provided (although we think there were meant to be some!)

1Time Airline's queues

We're happy to report that 1Time Airline's check-in queues were far shorter than on the Mango flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg. Plus, the nice fella at the 1Time Airline check-in spotted our little one and said he'd check us in in a row with 2 seats - this offers way more privacy than a three-seater (especially important when you're breast-feeding). Thank you God for cheap 1Time flights.

Priority for mothers with children

1Time Airline allowed the disabled to board the plane first, and then babies and parents to board thereafter.

Spatious seats

There was noticably more space available on the 1Time flight. On boarding we renewed our vow not to fly Mango Airlines again, even if it meant paying R100 more to fly on a different South African low-cost carrier.

If not when!

When you've got a baby with you, the air hostess will come and give you a special talk - e.g. tie your seatbelt around only yourself, not around the baby. The air hostess mentioned that "...when the oxygen masks fall down...", we hoped she meant "...if the oxygen masks fall..."!

VIP spot of the day

We spotted the Mayor of Cape Town and leader of the opposition, Helen Zille, at Johannesburg Airport (at the Nescafe shop) - she didn't notice us! We saw Helen again at the arrivals hall in Cape Town International, waiting for her luggage at the British Airways carousel. Good choice of airline - we've for some time thought that British Airways has the edge over SAA.

Other 1time flight reviews

24 Apr 2009	Review of 1time flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg
28 Dec 2008	A 1time JNB-CPT flight review

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