I have a question in regard to SAA's Dulles/Jo'burg flight.
Has anyone that has taken this flight been seated in the upper level at a blukhead (seat 79A) and what was it like? Thank you

Cats,

While I have not had that seat on the IAD to JNB flight in August when I took that routing, I did have it from ATL to JNB in 2003.

It would seem to me to be the prime row of seats! The best seat would be the window as it has a shelf/storage box along the window that was used as a footrest by the occupant of that seat - my hunting partner and I had the aisle and middle seats. All of the seats are "snug" for those of us with wide butts [the armrests are solid and did not "fold up", not uncomfortable though, the extra leg room makes a huge difference. Kathi told me that the "window exit rows" are as good or better regarding leg room - not sure about the armrests.

I do think the air flow noise from the ventilation system is louder up there but as I always fly with earplugs anyway it wasn't much of an issue. The upper deck is probably quieter overall however as there are just fewer people up there!

Is this what you were looking for?

Les

Les: Great response thank you for your time sir!
I have seat 79A which is a window booked on my flight (by Shawn from Gracy Travel) for next summer's trip enroute to Namibia via Jo'burg and also on return...guess it pays to bok early.
Thanks once again, Cats

Cats,

I can concur the the seating is much better upstairs then down...I was in the second row behind the front bulkhead and can say enjoyed the flight back..

Mike

I had thelefthand bulkhead window seat on the return. Plenty of leg room and easy to sleep. It was much better than an upstairs window seat which I had for the trip over, and that wasn't too bad either. The shelf gives lots of room to spread out and relief from your neighbor.

JPK

gentlemen thank you for the replies, it is nice to see a thread that gives the information requested without all the scrap posts so many threads seem to attract.

Mike will you and Ron be at the SCI dinner in Fogelsville in January? Cats

cats, I don't want to p*ss on your parade yes the seat is great as that was my seat last sept and it is great, but I was to have another seat furher toward the cockpit but on check in I was assigned to 79A. The point I am making is SAA has a poor policy of honoring seat assighments. Just my experience.

Try this link to view your seat.
http://www.seatguru.com
I dont know if SAA is on there but it might help.

DOJ: I fully understand what you are saying sadly honoring just about anything other than first class arrangements is not limited to SAA but would seem to be an "indusrty standard" these days

Hey cats!

I've been upstairs 5 times, overall it's a lot better then downstairs. The widow seat is the best, as someone else stated, you have that shelf between you and the window. And with only a few people up there it's much quieter.

Shawn does my travel too! Great job she does!

How are you doing anyway? Haven't seen you lately.

Cats- I have had that one also. The shelf is the best! Check out some noise reduction headphones. Several companies have knocked off the Boise at a fraction of the price. After one try you will not fly commercial w/o.

quote:

Originally posted by Die Ou Jagter:
cats, I don't want to p*ss on your parade yes the seat is great as that was my seat last sept and it is great, but I was to have another seat furher toward the cockpit but on check in I was assigned to 79A. The point I am making is SAA has a poor policy of honoring seat assighments. Just my experience.

Exactly!

I've had it both ways before, but on checking in on the way over was reassigned and you were SOL to do anything about it. Did get it on the way back though. The next year I had the same, so starting 2 weeks before I called ever other day to confirm seating and the week before was reassigned. Did all the complaining a human could possibly do but the bottom line is, they do not guarentee seats and no amount of talking to managers will get that seat back once it has been switched. The good thing is, even though you are SOL once they bump you out of the bulkhead, if you call and confirm a week or so before, you stand a chance to get reassigned to the upper deck somewhere which is still better than downstairs.

Maybe Kathi can shed some light on why they consistently bump people out of bulkhead the week before departure and also why, even if you catch them the day they did it, you are not able to get reassigned to your original seat????

I'm assuming that there is some "seating" program that get's run the week before to optimize passenger placement, i.e. tries to optimally fill the plane while keeping groups together.

quote:

Originally posted by Widowmaker416:
Hey cats!

I've been upstairs 5 times, overall it's a lot better then downstairs. The widow seat is the best, as someone else stated, you have that shelf between you and the window. And with only a few people up there it's much quieter.

Shawn does my travel too! Great job she does!

How are you doing anyway? Haven't seen you lately.

Ron: Been way too busy getting this project off the ground, speaking of ground the "ground breaking is Jan. 2.
I did kill a small buck and a couple does upstate as well as a 476# black bear an a 22# gobbler this fall.
I am looking to hookup at Fogelsville in Jan. Do you have the date for dinner? cats

Hey Cats!

Good to hear your breaking ground soon, took long enough! The dinner/Fund Raiser is March 17 - 18, 2006 At the Holiday Inn, in
Fogelsville, hope to see you there!


The regular meeting is January 17th, 2006 hope see you there too!

Congrats on the monster Black Bear! I want to see some photo's of that one!! I'm trying to score on one here in Jersey.

see you at Jan. meeting if at all possible, for certain March 17/18.
Don't know whom was more surprized the bear or me T.L.M.

Cats,

I'll be at the Jan dinner...

Mike