SA208 17 Mar 2010 scheduled dep @ 0635
Aircraft SA A340-600
Dakar - Johannesburg (flight inbound from DC)
Seat 47K (over the wing)
I had put my alarmclock at 4 o clock in the morning and after snoozing it for two times I got up at 415, I quickly got a shower and got dressed and drove myself to the Dakar Airport where I arrived around 445 I parked my car on my companies parking lot which is about 500 meters walking from the terminal building. 2 police officers checked my passport and flight booking before letting me enter the departure hall where I quickly walked towards check in row 14. To my pleasure 3 check in desks were open and only 3 passengers were waiting to get checked in. So needless to say, check in would be fast. I handed over my United Frequent Flyer Card, passport and flight booking to the check in lady and asked her to give me a window seat on both flights into Cape Town. I got seat 47K for the first leg, however as the Joburg - Cape Town flight is a domestic South African flight, she could only tag my bags up to Joburg and I had to recheck my bags and myself in Joburg for the following flight.
Hence I filled in my immigration (or rather emigration) form, and proceeded to the passport control and security, where I got through in 15 minutes. It was about 5:10 now when I arrived at the "gate" which was more than an hour before we would board, so I wondered why I didn't sleep an hour longer because that early there is nothing to do at the dakar airport (not that there is much to do during the day either actually).
Finally at 610 the boarding call was made and we were bussed to the LOOOONNNNG A340-600 (it was still dark so no pictures), we were about 25 people who boarded the aircraft in Dakar. On board there were approximately 170 people already who were already 8 hours on board as the flight originated in Washington DC. (60% biz class, 50% economy).
No-one was sitting next to me so I had the window and aisle seat all to myself. Boarding was completedquicly and the saftey announcements and welcome aboard message were made in English, Afrikaans and on tape in french.
Soon after take off breakfast was served, which was an ok omelette and croisant and some orange juice and fresh fruits.
Later on in the flight we still got a lunch and a dinner and I kept myself busy for the 8 hour flight by napping, watching some movies on the PTV or playing around with the IFE camera and map. Indeed this is a brilliant feature. The A340-600 has a camera on its tail and from the IFE you can watch the entire taxi/take off / flight / landing from a birds view perspective. Simply amazing to have this view and I watched it for hours in a row.
Hours passed by after having overflown on a direct GPS route which took us over Gambia, Guinea, Ivory Coast - atlantic ocean- Angola, Nambia and Botsawana into South Africa we landed safe and well in a partly cloudly Joburg.
Immigration as a breeze, I quickly recoverd my luggage checked it in for the flight to Cape Town and walked to the airspotters room, where you had a good view of the airport and where I took some pictures.
(descending into Joburg)
SA A340-300 (the 600 is even longer, but didn't manage to get a good picture of it )
Kulula B737-800, a south african low cost carrier, with brilliant paintjobs!
SA367 17 Mar 2010 scheduled dep @ 1900
Aircraft SA B737-800
Johannesburg - Cape Town
Seat 29A
100% full 2 hour flight, with a dinner served. Other than that pretty boring actually with a windy landing intop Caoe Town.
SA336 29 Mar 2010 scheduled dep @ 1350
Aircraft SA B737-800
Cape Town - Johannesburg
Seat 17A
flight was uneventful, so will not comment on it. I do like to point out that while the new terminal in Cape Town is very classy and beautiful it was a little frustrating to see that SA had only 2 check in rows for domestic flights (about 30 desks), where I had to wait almost 1 hour before I got checked in, while the rest of the airport and subequently all other check in rows of competing airlines were deserted. Additionally we were expected to board at gateA9 and only via rumors did we find out that the gate had changed to C5, which is "bus" stop to the aircraft stand. So I only keep my fingers crossed for what will happen during the massive amount of traffic that will go through the airport during the World Cup..
SA207 29 Mar 2010 scheduled dep @ 1730
Aircraft SA A340-600
Johannesburg - Dakar (this flight continues to DC)
Seat 42A (in front of the wing)
Overall a good experience flying SA and I look forward to seeing them codeshare with Brussels Airlines!
