Has SAA changed the seating configuration in their dreadful Airbuses yet? Also, has anyone heard any more about the SAA and Delta partnership ending? Thanks

Not unless they changed it in the last two weeks. It was the worst flight I had ever been on.

Tell us about the flight and why it was the worst that you had been on. I'm leaving on Friday for S.A. and want to be prepared for the worst as best as possible.

It's a mankiller of a trip!!! Do a search, this has been discussed before.

John

SAA will be replacing one AirBus plane with a new config one starting on or about June 20th on the ATL/JNB/ATL route.

As they finish a plane they will swap out another.

At this time there is no set day of the week this plane will be operating.

What they did to the Airbus was remove 2 rows which changed the seat pitch to 33-34. Also adjusted the entertainment boxes under the seats.

Well it is a bad trip because the seats are narrow, they are close together, and there is no leg room. My knees were embeded in the sea in front of me for the whole trip. The flight service was lousy. There was one bar service for the entire flight. They brought around juice most of the flight that had been watered down. I had to go to the galley to get bottled water during the flight. The seating was miserable. No air vents so flight was hot. I thought that the better seats were on the sides of the plane but the metal boxes that contained the video players took up there leg room. The only good thing about the flight was that it got me to Africa on that I can't complain but I will be looking for a different route and airline for my next safari.

What 200mag said. The seats are way to narrow, I'm only 5'10" & 190# & I squeeze into a coach seat. Leg room sucks, the aisles are so narrow you can barely walk down them w/o hitting the seats. If you can ask for the exit row. door seat. Lots of leg room there but the seat is still way too narrow. I won't fly SAA again until they go back to the 747. On top of all this, the plane is slower & has to refuel half way adding another 2hrs to the flight.
When I go back, I'll have Kathi route me thru Germany. The cost is about the same & the great 747 will be involved.

Reading this almost makes this 6'3" fellow not want to go!! I'm leaving July 29th from Atlanta, maybe I'll get the reconfigured plane.

17 hours there and 17 back. Good thing I am only 5' 9" tall. Like being in a cattle car. I was next to a 4 y/o girl who squirmed and kicked me the whole way to JNB. My first trip to Africa and as bad as the flight was after I got to ATL I would have got back on that scarebus and done it again. Africa is that great. We killed 11 animals in 10 days.

reconfigured or not the seats & isles are too narrow. Try leaving the USA from Dulles (Washington DC) SAA is using 747s on those flights.
The Frankfurt/Windhoek route is a better deal but the layover is long. What most those going that route do is book a day room...trouble is you must deal with customs in Germany and your equipment if switching air carriers to Air Namibia like I did.
Try the Dulles/JNB SAA flight on a 747
*** every plane is cramped and the flight is long and boreing...try getting a script for a sleeping pill. wyn

Looks like I really lucked out this time. After my three previous safaris on the 747, I finally accumulated enough air miles to upgrade to business-class seating for my trip in September. Based on all the horror stories I've heard about the 320 Airbus I think it was worth 120,000 air miles. I can hardly belive it when I hear myself say I'm "looking forward to the trip," this time. You never know when you next trip may be your last trip...make it count

Bull1

Heck, I'm 6'4" and weigh 280 lbs, leaving June 30 and I'm still looking forward to getting on that plane. Hope I'm still smiling when I get off

There's nothing quite like the ignorant bliss of the African Rookie

Elmo

For you guys over 5'-8" or so, book the exit row window seat. Almost 48" of leg room.

quote:

Originally posted by fredj338:
For you guys over 5'-8" or so, book the exit row window seat. Almost 48" of leg room.

Good luck with that! I booked a bulkhead window seat back in September '04 and reconfirmed it 30 days prior to my flight last month. Guess what? I did not get any of the seat assignments I asked for. I had to fight like the dickens just to get out of the middle of the plane and back onto an isle or window seat, but I lost my bulkhead seat.

I ran into two other hunters with the same problem on the way to J'berg. Only they had the exit row seats reserved and they had no hope of getting those back.

George