Has anyone gone through immigration/customs in Jo Burg lately? Has the immigration long waits been somewhat resolved? I realize if some of the jumbo jets get in at nearly the same time there will be some delay. However, what some members have encountered lately is beyond frustrating.

Not say this is typical, just my experience.

We went through twice, once at the end of June and the other at the end of July...

Both times we went through, it was a wait of well over an hour. The second was well over two hours. The lines were never long, just the number people working booths and the efficiency (rate) that each booth would process a person.

I love the place, not so much that part.

But again, just my experience. I have read others having much different experiences.

My recommendation is to hire a service, they get you right to the front of the line and there is no wait. No sense stressing or getting frustrated with the wait for as little as thearly service costs.

End of July, I arrived on the BA morning flight. So does Swiss, Emirates, Lufthansa all with minutes of each other. The wait was over 2 hours. In early August, I arrived from Zambia mid-afternoon 15 minute.

Immigration? I hope you meant Customs by itself.

The key all three times for me was to have my flight arrive about 7-9 PM. They asked if there were any hunters in the line, and then moved the four of us to the front.

We always use one of the "meet and greet" services' ,in our case Air 2000 Hunters Support, and we bypass all of the lines at immigrationand connecting airlines ,(sometimes 150 or200 people in the line) money well spent in my opinion.

quote:

Originally posted by K Evans:
We always use one of the "meet and greet" services' ,in our case Air 2000 Hunters Support, and we bypass all of the lines at immigrationand connecting airlines ,(sometimes 150 or200 people in the line) money well spent in my opinion.

Exactly.

Last year we went with one of those meet and greet, and we were through immigration in 2 minutes.

I was also impressed with Emirates handling of our luggage. I had declared my camera bag at check in, and the lady told me they have special handling for First Class Passengers camera bags in Johannesburg. Sure enough, the camera bag was delivered to us separately from the luggage.

quote:

Originally posted by Idaho Sharpshooter:
Immigration? I hope you meant Customs by itself.

The key all three times for me was to have my flight arrive about 7-9 PM. They asked if there were any hunters in the line, and then moved the four of us to the front.

No, I meant Immigration, sailed right thru Customs.

quote:

Originally posted by K Evans:
We always use one of the "meet and greet" services' ,in our case Air 2000 Hunters Support, and we bypass all of the lines at immigration and connecting airlines ,(sometimes 150 or 200 people in the line) money well spent in my opinion.

I've used them for the last two trips that required clearing guns in Jo'burg. I could not be any happier, no lines, no waits. Off the plane and gun permit in hand in less than 30 minutes and the largest part of that was waiting at the luggage carousel.

quote:

Originally posted by K Evans:
We always use one of the "meet and greet" services' ,in our case Air 2000 Hunters Support, and we bypass all of the lines at immigrationand connecting airlines ,(sometimes 150 or200 people in the line) money well spent in my opinion.

Worth its weight in gold.

I was through there on Aug 13. We use Gracy, no lines or waits at all.

I went through on 23 August. They used to have two separate sections for Visa and non-Visa countries. These were combined which made things a bit longer but not bad. I did notice several escorted parties i.e. hunters utilizing various services, which were whisked through quite quickly

Eric

quote:

Originally posted by K Evans:
We always use one of the "meet and greet" services' ,in our case Air 2000 Hunters Support, and we bypass all of the lines at immigrationand connecting airlines ,(sometimes 150 or200 people in the line) money well spent in my opinion.

Amen to this. I used Air 2000 three times and probably was in my hotel before others were through the line. If I go again, Ill use Air 2000 again.

Agree with the others about hiring a service.

Have been through there twice, once in 2012 and lastly in 2015, used Gracy Travel and second time Rifle Permits. You go to head of the line at customs as well as Rifle pick up.

Service is worth it to me after the long flight.Just my two cents.

Arrived Jo'Burg 5AM 25th August 2016
Immigration and customs 0530hrs
Picked up Rifle after doing paper work at SAPS counter 0600hrs.
on the road by 0615hrs

From the feedback I have received it is a time of day issue. Early morning flights aren't bad, afternoon flights are a looong wait.

I just returned from Zim. I arrived in JoBurg on the 5:30 flight from Washington. The crowd at immigration looked more like a football stadium. Looong lines and only three people working the immigration booths. Because I had previous arrangements it took one hour from the time I stepped off the plane and to be at the Afton with my gun permit. Another couple on the same flight who made no prior arrangements arrived at the Afton at 10:00. You can guess if your flight arrives at a certain time there may not be too long of a wait.You may be right or...... However, why take the chance. For what it cost for a meet and greet service to me is more than worth the cost. After seventeen hours on a plane the last thing I want to do is stand in line for two plus more hours.

I too just got back home from Namibia via Jberg.
Friday night at oR Tambo was chaotic!!!!
I had no troubles when I flew in 2 weeks ago.

My opinion is that any flight arriving after 5pm
Will get caught up in this mess as that is the peak time of arrivals.

Another problem was in the transit line.

This took people over 1.5 hrs just to transit to another flight!! And some missed connections as well.

What's causing it is they are doing " biometric " testing on transit passengers.

When I asked what this was all about, I was informed that they were fingerprinting
And checking each transit passenger!!!!

They don't do this at the customs entry point, so why for transit guys? No response or answer was given.

I told them that this was crazy, and I decided to walk out of the queue.

As all my guns and luggage were already checked through,and I had a boarding pass for the next flight, I went downstairs,, got in the queue and was processed by SA customs and entered the country. No "biometrics" stuff down there!!!

I then went upstairs and went through customs, and exited into the transfer lounge again.

This took about an Hour.

It's a crap shoot at the moment in Jberg for sure!!

Cheers

Nick

We passed through with guns in less that 30 minutes using Gracy travel on the way to Zim, coming home was a different story

Just got back. Arrived JNB on evening flight from IAD, there was a line at customs but it was 20mins max.

Customs was easy. Firearms are handled by security. You just have to fill out logbook as always.

Regarding permits, if you fill out your paperwork in advance and have copies of the required docs, rifle permit takes 15 mins max.

Departing similarly no problems.

Didn't spend a cent. Not even a "tip", either way. The old "cooldrink" game seems to have subsided.

Afton good as always.