I recently had the chance to fly South African Airways onboard the A330-300 in business class from Johannesburg to Accra. It turned out to be a very pleasant flight experience that greatly exceeded expectations.
Surprisingly (or perhaps not surprisingly when you consider how great Alitalia, which finds itself in a similar position, is), the onboard product blew away my expectations.
I knew what kind of seat I would be getting: similar to business class on SAS. That did not disappoint and proved quite comfortable for the 5.5 hour flight to Accra (which then continued on to Washington Dulles).
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For example, real towels in the lavatory. Heck, some carriers cannot manage that in first class and most do not in business class.
Service was also excellent. Flight attendants were engaging and certainly not trying to get by doing the minimum. For example, I wanted a glass of white wine with my fish and asked for a pairing suggestion.
The flight attendant responded, “Let’s have a wine tasting, ” and proceeded to pour me two glasses of wine, both from South Africa. I went with the Chardonay.
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Unlike some carriers that drag out meal service for hours, meal service was lightning fast on South African…and I’ve come to love that whether the flight is long or short. Immediately after takeoff the table was set for dinner and a choice of beverage was offered with nuts.
The pan-fried sea bass with risotto for the main course was a difficult choice over grilled rib eye steak (a novelty compared to the usual “short ribs” served in business class), but it was the right one. The fish was cooked perfectly, moist and flavorful, and also beautifully presented.
The entire meal was complete within 45 minutes, leaving plenty of time to enjoy the sunset and then take an extended nap.
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I’ll have more details about the amenities, meals, and service in my full review, but this was an excellent flight…I far prefer South African to either EgyptAir or Ethiopian Airlines, its two Star Alliance counterparts in Africa.
Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200, 000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.Zach Griff is a senior reporter at TPG. He writes travel and product reviews, deep dives into loyalty programs, news about the airline industry and more.
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. Through our involvement in PeaceJam, we've attended the annual PeaceJam conferences in both South Africa and Ghana, among others. A few years ago, TPG flew SAA's A340-600 on its daily nonstop flight between New York-JFK and Johannesburg in order to get to the conference in Cape Town, South Africa.
The carrier only flies to one other US city -- Washington, DC -- where it operates flights between Washington Dulles and Johannesburg via Accra, Ghana and Dakar, Senegal, depending on the day of the week. But SAA sells tickets on both fifth-freedom routes between IAD and ACC and DSS, making for a convenient option for travelers headed to West Africa.
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For this year's conference in Accra I had the opportunity to fly one of these fifth-freedom routes on board the A330-300, which was equipped with an entirely new hard product up front. Based on our first look at these new seats, I was prepared for an experience unlike any of
Points people rejoice! South African makes a good number of business-class award seats available on the route I flew. Even if Accra isn't your final destination, SAA does a pretty good job of releasing award seats across its network.
When redeeming transferable credit-card points for flights operated by Star Alliance carriers, you've got plenty of programs to choose from -- United MileagePlus, Air Canada Aeroplan, Singapore KrisFlyer or Avianca LifeMiles. For my routing, United charges 80, 000 miles, Aeroplan charges 75, 000 miles, Singapore charges 96, 500 and LifeMiles charges 78, 000.
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However, thanks to South African's partnership with Virgin Atlantic, you can book a one-way flight between DC and Accra for just 55, 000 miles each way, which is a pretty great deal for a transatlantic flight like this. Plus, Virgin is a 1:1 transfer partner of all three major points currencies (American Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards and Citi ThankYou), so getting points is easy. In fact, if you went this route for booking, you could earn the points you'd need just by signing up for a card like The Platinum Card® from American Express, which is currently offering a welcome bonus of 100, 000 Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $6, 000 on purchases on the Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership; or the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, which is offering a sign-up bonus of 60, 000 bonus points after you spend $4, 000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. And, Virgin often features transfer bonuses with its partners, meaning you could get an even better deal on a redemption.
Regardless of how you book, make sure to choose the new SAA A330 (1-2-1 configuration in business) instead of the older jets like the A340s.
South African's check-in counters are all the way to the west of the main terminal. There were three staffed counters for the flight to Accra.
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While there wasn't a line for the business- or economy-class check-in, I found the process to be incredibly slow, especially as a passenger who had already been checked in for the flight.
Before long, I was issued a South African boarding pass and sent on my way through security. South African doesn't participate in TSA PreCheck, so I was stuck going through the regular lines at Dulles.
South African Airways flights depart from Terminal B at Dulles, which required a short walk or underground train ride from the main terminal.
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During check-in, I was advised to use the Turkish Airlines lounge in Terminal B near Gate B43. I made my way to the lounge and found a small sitting area and buffet connected by a long corridor to another small sitting area and bar.
The best feature of the lounge, however, was that you could access it with a Priority Pass card. With so many credit cards offering free Priority Pass memberships, you don't have an excuse to skip this lounge before your next flight from Dulles. (All terminals are connected airside with an underground train, so you can use this lounge even when flying domestically in economy class).
If you're accessing this lounge on a domestic ticket, you should be thrilled. It's leagues better than your traditional Admirals Club or United Club. But as an international business-class lounge, it pales in comparison to Flagship or Polaris lounges.
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Terminal B at Dulles has a second Star Alliance lounge that you can access with a same-day, international business-class ticket on any Star Alliance carrier. It pays to know the rules, because no one at South African advised me to use the Lufthansa lounge instead of the Turkish lounge.
The Lufthansa lounge is just a few steps down the terminal near Gate B51. The lounge is split into two levels: The upper level is the Senator Lounge, and the lower level is the Business Lounge. As a Star Alliance Gold member, I was invited into the Senator Lounge.
Although the Lufthansa Lounge was definitely smaller than the Turkish lounge, I found the higher ceilings and cleaner furniture to be more inviting.
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For those flying Lufthansa, the lounge offered direct boarding to Lufthansa gates, allowing you to bypass the gate lice in the terminal.
Overall, the Star Alliance lounge situation at IAD was definitely quantity over quality. When the new United Polaris lounge opens, that will definitely be the place to relax before your SAA flight.
About 75 minutes before departure, I decided to head to the gate to check on our plane. The gate area was calm and had separate boarding doors for priority and economy class.
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The business-class cabin was split in two sections: a forward cabin consisting of eight rows to the left of Door L2 and a small cabin to the right consisting of four rows.
I had chosen Seat 11K, a window seat flush with the starboard side of the plane. I really liked the red accents, which gave the cabin a bit of a race-car vibe.
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In this staggered 1-2-1 configuration, there were
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