my SAA flight to Johannesburg
24 May 2007. So, today I took an SAA flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg. This is pretty kewl, as even though I think that British Airways offers a better ride, I get bored of flying the same airline all the time. I've decided to risk leaving my car in Cape Town International's parking lot (the relatively new multi-storey parking lot)...hopefully it will still be there when I get back!
ACSA security
After getting my ticket (no queue, well done SAA!), I tested ACSA's security once again - they require you to unpack laptops, I unpacked one of mine and left the other in the bag. Once again ACSA's security failed to stop me.
You may have heard , from from June 1 ACSA are adopting new security measures (at Cape Town, Durban & Johannesburg) restricting the amount of gels and liquids you can take on board in hand luggage on international flights...it's gonna be a lot of fun checking how well they police this!
Boarding the plane
The boarding time for the flight was 1110, and boarding started promptly on African time at 1131 (the flight from Johannesburg to Cape Town was late). ACSA have some new air conditioned busses with comfy seats which take you to your flight (well done ACSA!), now the steep staircase you have to climb to get into the busses doesn't bother me, but I can see that it might be difficult for some people to negotiate their way up and down the staircase.
Snow snowy mountains
As we approached the plane, I started fretting that SAA might have placed me in the seat in front of the emergency exit (which, unlike British Airways' planes, does not fold back). Thank God I wasn't there, I was placed in 21D, far from the emergency exit and on the correct side of the plane to see the snow...bargain! Passing overhead on the Matroosberg and Cederberg mountains, there was a bit of snow; however on the starboard side of the plane, we saw plenty of snow on the coastal mountain belt between George and Port Elizabeth...a very pretty day to fly indeed.
SAA needs a new cook!
I ordered the vegeterian meal. Vegeterian cooking is difficult to get right and is not SAA's strong point. I got a roll with cucumber, tomato and some other vegetable on it - it did not have much taste, and I only ate half of it. I prefer the low cost carriers model of having a menu of items you can choose from, rather than taking pot luck with whatever SAA gives me. One thing SAA could do to make me happier is to include some legumes in the meal - being vegeterian is a constant battle for protein, and even if they cant make it tasty at least it'll provide me with the fuel I need.
Imperial car rental
[note that Imperial Car Rental rebranded to Europcar on 1 July 2009]
Avis were fully booked so I went with Imperial car rental at Johannesburg Airport...which was a bit slower than Avis, who once you become an executive member allow you to just flash your drivers licence - apparently if you pay a bit extra then you can use Imperial's speedline service which allows faster checking. The lady at Imperial told me I was at bay F21 and when I got there my mouth dropped...a chico 1.4 - not my favourite rental car...but wait, the car key wouldn't work...I stepped away from the car, clicked the keys and the lights flashed of the Toyota in bay F13...annoying that Imperial Car Rental had got the bay wrong but pleasing that it resulted in not driving the chico.
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