In June of 2002, my cousin, who is also my travel agent, was invited on a FAM, (Familiarization trip for travel agents), by South African Air. She was allowed to take her husband or a friend. He husband couldn’t go so she invited me.
We all met in the South African VIP Lounge at Kennedy Airport in NYC. We were on a 747 airplane.
If we were going to Capetown first we would have met in Miami, and flown to South Africa, via Rio, in Brazil.
Outbound it takes 15 hours to fly from NYC to Jo’berg.Because we were their guests we had seat is business class. The seats were very roomy. My cousin and I were seated together.
The cabin staff was helpful and the food was not as good as what I have had, when I was in business class on other airlines. It was better than coach.
After dinner, I saw Bishop Tu Tu walking around the cabin. I guess he was sitting in first class.
I just fell asleep when we hear the pilot say, ’’Please prepare for landing.’’
When we landed we were in Cape Verde Island. We were told to stay in our seats until the pilot got clearance for us to deplane.
They opened the doors and it was so hot I thought I would faint. It took ten minutes for the pilot to tell us we could go into the airport.
I couldn’t wait to get into the airport, because I thought it would be air-condition. It didn’t! The wooden building was small and hotter than it was on the airplane. The one fan, on the ceiling turned so slow, that it didn’t help all.
We bought a bottle of soda pop, and used a straw, (because everything looked so dirty).
When we got back on the plane I fell asleep again. I didn’t wake up until we landed in Johannesburg.
After we landed we were told we couldn’t leave the plane, and to sit in our seats and wait.
Two people came on a sprayed us with a chemical, that I was allergic to. I began to sneeze and cough.
We had to go through immigration and passport control. Then we had to point out our luggage for them to be taken to the next flight. Bishop Tu Tu’s wife and I had the same bag and it took a while to convince her that she had my suitcase.
We waited an hour in the Airport to connect to the flight that would take us to Durban. There was just time to change our money into Rands.
On our return we landed in Cape Verde again. I had no idea that this was a Resort Island for people from Africa. The crew changed here and one of the stewardess told me that there are a lot of wonderful hotels, here.
The pilot was told we couldn’t leave the plane for miliary reasons. I had bought a fan in Cape Town, and was using it, to keep cool, (I’m sure it was my imagination that it helped at all)!
I looked out of the windows and saw a large plane that had USA 1 painted on it. I believe that’s the plane the President of the United States uses.
When we got into the air again, all of the travel agents were invited into the cockpit to visit the piolet. Half of the upper deck had seats and the other half had sleepers, (like you see on a train), for the crew to use if they need to rest.
It always amazes me how small the windows are in the cockpit. They are as a car’s front window.
The food on the way back was tastier than the food going. I guess the South African cooks use more spices.
Would I fly South African Air again? I would if I had the chance, but I would go to Cape Town first, because it’s a shorter trip.
Thanks for reading my review.
©LL2004