South African Airways - Economy Class Airbus A340-300

Route

SA265 from Munich to Johannesburg April 2015.

Scheduled Duration

10 hours 30 minutes.

On time departure and arrival

Departed on time and landed just a couple minutes later than scheduled.

Booking a ticket

I was booked on a partner airline that was overbooked. They asked for volunteers to fly with other partner airlines. I was re-booked on a direct flight from Munich to Johannesburg with South African airways.

Online check-in and seat selection

Not applicable since I was re-booked. According to the SAA website (www.flysaa.com) you can check in online 24 hours before departure. 
You pay extra to sit at the emergency exits. No additional fees to select regular seats.

At the airport - Ground crew, check-in and luggage

There was queues for Business class and Economy class. There was no additional check-in counter for online check-ins

The ground crew were friendly and helpful.

Lounge Access

There are Lufthansa business and first class lounges in Terminal 2.  There are no pay-per-visit lounges.

Boarding procedure

There was a separate queue for Business class and assisted passengers.
Boarding passes were scanned by the staff

Luggage allowance

Hand luggage - 1 x 8 kg. Dimensions for carry-on baggage (length + height + width): 56 x 23 x 36 cm; 

Checked luggage - 1 x 23 kg  Max dimension (length + height + width) of 158 cm
See more on  baggage allowances and rules.

Before take-off

News papers were on offer.

Seating

This flight had 2 classes, Business and Economy. 

Standard overhead lockers.
Seat configuration 2-4-2. 

Seat pitch - 85 cm (33.5").
Seat width - 43 cm (17").

Seat map can be viewed on Seatguru or on South African Airways Airbus A340.

Reading light above seats. No manual air vent

Please take note that the airline use different type of planes for this route. On this particular day it was an Airbus A340-300.

In flight Amenities

Plastic bag with eye shades, flight socks, toothbrush and toothpaste.
Cushion and blanket.
Headphones.

Entertainment

In flight magazine.
Personal Entertainment screen with a selection of movies, TV-shows, music and games.
The selection are limited.

In-flight communications

None. Electronic devices could be used. Mobile phones had to be on flight mode.

Charging points for electronic devices

USB charging point.

Meals and refreshments

Dinner
Dinner was served shortly after take-off.
There were three options on the menu, including a vegetarian dish.
I had the Veal. It was served with mash and vegetables.

Special meals have to be ordered before check-in.
On the tray - Salad, bread roll, Dessert, crackers, cheese, butter and chocolates.
Cutlery, cup for beverages and serviette.

Breakfast
Breakfast was served shortly before landing.
There were two options on the menu, a warm dish with eggs or a continental breakfast.
I had the continental breakfast that consisted of yoghurt, cold meats, cheese and bread rolls.
Special meals have to be ordered before check-in.


Refreshments
Drinks and wine were served before the meal. 
Coffee/tea was served after meals.

Toilets

The toilets were kept clean.
Paper towels and tissues.
Basin to wash hands.

In-flight shopping

In-flight shopping was available.

Travelling with Children

Baby bassinets must be pre-booked. Meal request for children must be made at time of reservation.
Read more on  SAA- Travelling with children.

Crew

The on board crew was friendly and helpful. This is a improvement on previous experiences I had with SAA.

Disembarking

Business class disembarked first, then economy class. 
Economy class disembarked from the front of the plane.

Overall opinion

What I liked
The seats were comfortable. Each seat had a footrest and adjustable headrest.

Not so good
Limited selection of movies and TV shows.
No Wi-Fi.
The tap in the toilet was broken. 

Seats with headrest

Overhead locker

Entertainment system

Leg room

Dinner

Footrest

Seats with cushion and blanket

South African Airways Economy Airbus A340-600

Route

SA261,  Frankfurt to Johannesburg, 01 October 2012.

Duration

10 hours 45 min.

On time departure and arrival

Departed on time.
Arrived about 20 minutes early.

Ground crew and check-in

We were able to check in online 24 hours before departure.
We arrived by long distance train but could not drop off our luggage at the AlRail Terminal at Frankfurt airport. We needed to drop our luggage at the SAA counters.
Our printed online boarding passes served as boarding tickets.
Ground staff was friendly and helpful.

Boarding procedure

Business class passengers and selected Frequent Flyers (Voyager Gold, Platinum, and Lifetime members, Star Alliance Gold) have priority boarding.
The crew asked passengers to board by row number, but most passengers ignored it. Boarding was a bit disorganised.
The electronic boarding gates, where you scan the barcode on your ticket to open the gate, were not in use
We boarded via a mobile bridge.

Luggage allowance

Hand luggage - One carry on bag 8kg max
Checked luggage - One bag not exceeding 23kg. SAA is now using the Piece Concept for checked luggage.

Seating

Number of seats - 275 recliner seats. Seats against the bulkhead  has the same recline as standard seats.
We were not sure about the bulkhead seats, as there are conflicting information available. We sat in the  row 71,  and I checked the recline of seats in row 74 and they had normal recline.

View more information at  Seatguru and SAA

There were adequate locker space in row 71 D - G

Amenities

We did not get any amenity bags ( with socks, slumber shades etc), although we did get amenity bags on previous SA261 flights. 
Small pillow and blanket
Stereo headset

Entertainment

Personal touchscreen monitor with remote control. The entertainment system did not function. SAA needs to attend to this issue, this is not the first time on this route that the entertainment system did not work.
In-flight magazine available in seat pocket.

In-flight communication

Satellite phone

Meals and refreshments

Dinner
A choice of Pork with vegetables or  Chicken with pasta was offered.
On the tray - Salad, whole-wheat bun, dessert, chocolate, butter, cheese, crackers, cutlery, wet wipe and serviette.
Cup for coffee/tea
I had the pork and it was very tasty and the meat was tender. My travel partner had the delicious chicken and pasta.

Breakfast

Hot breakfast was served.  We were not very hungry and skipped breakfast.


Refreshments

Drinks and alcoholic beverages were served before and after meals. Coffee/tea was only served after meals. Water was available in small bottles and were served at regular intervals.

Toilets

The toilets were kept clean. 
Soap were provided.
Paper towels and tissues
Basin to wash hands and brush teeth

In-flight shopping

Available.

Travelling with Children

Some of the toilets have diaper boards. Baby bassinets must be pre booked.
Meal request for children must be made at time of reservation
Milk and baby food can be warmed up by the cabin crew
Read more on South African Airways - Travelling with Infants

Crew

I found the crew competent and friendly.

Disembarking

Business class disembarked first. We took a short bus ride to the terminal building.

Overall opinion

What I liked
The seats were comfortable with enough leg room. The recline was adequate for economy seats. I never felt the reclined seat in front of me was too close.
Water in bottles that you can keep with you during the flight.
Milk were served from a jug, so you can add enough in your coffee or tea.
The food was enough and tasty.
The plane was quiet with not too many rattles and noise

Not so good
The Entertainment system not functioning.




Economy Seats




Cabin



Legroom, cushion and blanket



Basin




Dinner




Dinner