FIRST IMPRESSIONS I arrived at 1900 for my 2040 flight to Heathrow. The SAA premium desks are located at the far right-hand side of Johannesburg’s terminal. As you approach, you wheel your bag onto a metal plate that weighs it and you are given a slip of paper with the weight written on to hand to the check-in counter. There was one person ahead of me and four desks open so it did not take long to get checked in. Security and passport control were swift.
THE LOUNGE The SAA business and first class lounges are situated downstairs in the middle of the terminal. The desk was busy, but within a couple of minutes I was in the business class lounge. The lounge is very much a larger version of the one found in London. It has a staffed bar with a good selection of drinks, a couple of coffee machines and a fridge (sponsored by Amstel) full of beer for those that wanted to help themselves. Snacks included crisps, nuts, cake, biscuits and sandwiches.
There were a number of sections to the lounge but, apart from the main area, all were empty. There were two smoking rooms, a playroom for children, showers, a sports lounge with a large screen and plenty of chairs. For work there were 18 workstations, six of which had computers – although most of these seemed not to be working and would not connect to the internet. I used the wifi connection hotspot and signed up for 30 minutes at 30 rand (£2.40).
BOARDING The flight was due to board at 1955. As it was a fair walk to the gate, when it appeared on time on the monitor I decided to leave for Gate 10. But when I got there, I discovered that the flight was not boarding after all. I was annoyed with myself for not waiting for the call in the lounge. All the passengers were either sitting on one of the few seats in the corridor or on the side of the moving walkway (which, fortunately, was not moving). At 2020 there was an announcement of a delayed departure to 2100, and boarding did not start until 2048. Not surprisingly, I was one of the first to board. I was given my amenity kit, followed five minutes later by a drink. At the same time, the stewardess took my jacket. The flight pushed away from the gate at 2115, and was airborne at 2130.
THE SEAT The Boeing 747-400 is in three classes, with business class in a 2-3-2 configuration split over two cabins. I was in the second cabin, which has three rows but has a huge amount of space between the seats and at the back of the cabin. The seats, in contrast to the new seats I had seen a few days earlier on the London to Cape Town journey, are slightly older, though very comfortable. They are covered with blue leather and cloth and look very similar to any cradle seat you might see. The main difference is that the seat has back, leg and lumbar adjustment and can be reclined virtually flat (the seat is slightly undulating but feels fairly horizontal). This huge recline from what looked like a cradle seat explains the large amount of legroom and space allowed for at the rear of the cabin.
There was little seat storage apart from the seat-back in front, which would have been difficult to access when the seat was reclined. There was also no privacy screen between the seats, so when lying flat I felt as though there was little separating my seat from the one beside me. The seat also had a reading light and laptop power supply. A good-sized pillow and duvet were provided and this helped me to sleep, although it was not as comfortable as the newer flat-bed product. The seat dimensions on this Boeing are 198cm pitch and 52cm width.
The IFE is not as modern as that of the A340-600 and is clearly an upgrade from the original product. It operates with two controls – the original fixed to the arm of the chair with the volume control and a newer one that you access by lifting the armrest. It took a while to master but had a reasonable selection of movies, TV channels, games and CDs – though some of the images that went with the movies did not match the titles, which was a little confusing.
THE FLIGHT About 25 minutes after take-off, drinks and nuts were served, followed 30 minutes later by a meal. There was a choice of salad or terrine with chicken and ostrich to start. There were four main courses including venison, chicken, fish or a vegetarian pasta dish. To follow there was either cheese or baked cheesecake. An express menu of the two starters and the cheese plate was offered. Cabin crew came round regularly to top up drinks.
Breakfast was served about one and a quarter hours before landing and included choices of cereal, fruit, yoghurt, hot options such as a tomato and cheese omelette with bacon and mushrooms, pastries and cold meat/cheese. To grab some extra sleep you can choose a light breakfast of yoghurt, fruit and pastries, which is served 60 minutes before landing.
I was woken two hours before landing, offered a hot towel and soon after was tucking into a hot breakfast of sausage with a warm salad of bacon, mushrooms and potato cake.
ARRIVAL As we approached Heathrow the usual delays kicked in and we circled Biggin Hill for about 10 minutes. We landed at 0719 and, after a long taxi, arrived at the gate just after 0730 (some 35 minutes late). The crew announced details of the arrivals lounge for elite status members. Immigration at Terminal 1 was almost deserted, and within a couple of minutes of arriving in the baggage hall my priority tagged bag arrived.
VERDICT A good flight, although the communication prior to boarding could have been better and the initial service was a little slow on board.
PRICE Online agent Travelocity (travelocity.co.uk) quotes £2,785 for a business class return with SAA.
Julian Gregory
