I just returned from Namibia, via J'Burg a couple of days ago. Air Namibia out of WHoek made the return trip a true adventure......one in which Opus1 had warned me about prior to booking plane tickets.

So we get to WH airport Saturday, August 20th, a couple hours early only to find long lines for both SAA and Air Namibia. We had purchased out tickets late January so I wasn't worried about it. When we (3 of us total) get up to the window the lady informed us there were no more seats on the flight we were booked for (Flt 727) and that we would be bumped to flight 729 leaving at 4:30pm. We were pissed off mightily, but what can you do? After letting them know how pissed off we were, we grudgingly accepted since there were no other alternatives. The SAA flights looked booked as well while looking at their long lines.

I could smell trouble since this would allow us only 45 minutes upon arrival in JBurg to take bus transfer to terminal, get boarding passes, go through security, and get to Delta gate for FLT 201. If I had not bribed some security guy in JBurg with $20 to let us go to the front of the hour long line in security check we would probably still be in JBurg somewhere. We made it to the Delta gate while they were literally starting to close the door to the plane, but hey let us board. What a relief.

My buddy took his bow, and neither of the other two of us had rifles. He still doesn't know where is bow is as of yesterday evening. What's bad is that Air Namibia's planes were newer, cleaner, had better food, and the staff on board was great both ways.

I really wish there were some way to avoid JBurg entirely without using Air Namibia out of Frankfurt.

quote:

I really wish there were some way to avoid JBurg entirely without using Air Namibia out of Frankfurt.

Qatar Airways flies to Doha then non-stop to Windhoek. No JNB transfer.

Reviews for Qatar Airways are either the very best or the very worst. Not having flown them myself I'm uncertain as to which view is the more accurate. They do have "the youngest fleet in the sky" with mostly 777's and 787's on their long-haul routes.

Sorry to hear of the troubles. Nothing like having a great hunt screwed up by poor flight connections and transportation issues.

Anyhow, I hope you guys had great hunting and hope the bow turns up eventually.