This is an e-mail I received from one of my clients this a.m..

***Dear E-Mail Extra Subscriber,

If you have booked a flight with South African Airways that originates in Atlanta, you should know that after June 30 SAA will no longer be flying out of Atlanta. Instead, daily service will be conducted from Washington Dulles to Johannesburg. Passengers scheduled for Atlanta flights will be rescheduled to fly out of Washington Dulles or JFK in New York.

In an e-mail sent to travel agents this week, SAA VP of Sales Annette Scholtz said that SAA was working on a "re-accommodation plan" to sort out the many problems created by this change. Seems SAA has assumed responsibility for changing all originating and connecting flights booked on the same itinerary. In other words, if you booked a single ticket from Jacksonville to Atlanta and from there on to Johannesburg and back, SAA is assuming responsibility for your entire flight. On the other hand, if you booked the Jacksonville/Atlanta ticket separately, you or your travel agent will have to reschedule that flight on your own. We are indebted to Kathy Klimes of Wild Travel (708-425-3552) for first word of this matter.

SAA tells us they hope to have their "re-accommodation" plans finalized by early next week, perhaps even as early as tomorrow, Friday, April 28. Check with your travel agent who will receive all the rescheduled itineraries from SAA. If you booked directly or online, call SAA directly at 800-722-9675.

An important complication here is the fact that SAA flights out of Dulles are morning flights. That means most passengers will have to stay overnight in nearby hotels. Hunters traveling with guns will want to make sure their overnights are in Virginia, as firearms are restricted in Washington, DC. SAA, we are told, is going to pick up the cost of hotel stays for rescheduled customers during a transitional period; however, travelers on future bookings will have to plan on paying this added travel expense themselves. Steve Turner of Gracy Travel (800-299-8558), who pointed out this problem to us, tells us that hotels in the Washington area are expensive, running upwards of $200 a night during the week.

SAA began limited flights out of Dulles this past June, you'll recall, utilizing a Boeing 747. With their expanded daily service now, they are replacing the Boeing 747 with an Airbus 340, which has been reconfigured to provide more comfortable seating. The new daily service will feature a stop in Dakar, Senegal, instead of Sal Island.

This change in gateway cities, we are told, is the result of SAA's decision to change flight partners from Delta to United Airlines, which is a member of the global Star Alliance network. SAA says the change from Atlanta to Washington Dulles will align their services more closely with United and other Star Alliance partners.***

Any idea when Delta will begin an Atlanta to Jo'burg service? I know it's been in the works.

stagman,

Not until sometime in December according to Gracy Travel.

Doug