Around The World In 21 Days: British Airways Economy CPT-JNB

Index:

  1. Introduction
  2. Delta Comfort+ ECP-ATL-JNB
  3. Hilton Sandton
  4. British Airways Economy JNB-PLZ
  5. Conrad Pezula
  6. Knysna and the Garden Route
  7. Westin Cape Town
  8. Exploring Cape Town + Penguins!
  9. British Airways Economy CPT-JNB
  10. Protea Hotel OR Tambo Airport
  11. Kenya Airways Economy JNB-NBO-DXB
  12. DoubleTree Hotel Jumeirah Beach
  13. Exploring Dubai
  14. Kenya Airways Economy DXB-NBO-SEZ
  15. Hilton Seychelles Northolme Resort
  16. Exploring Mahe Island
  17. Kenya Airways Economy SEZ-NBO-BKK
  18. W Bangkok Hotel
  19. Exploring Bangkok
  20. Vietnam Airlines Economy BKK-HAN-NRT
  21. Back In Tokyo!
  22. Delta Air Lines Main Cabin NRT-DTW-ATL
  23. DoubleTree Atlanta Airport
  24. Delta Air Lines Comfort+ ATL-ECP
  25. Conclusion

Introduction
As I mentioned earlier in my write up about my other leg on British Airways/Comair within South Africa, I did have two options. I really had been intending to fly the competition and book one flight on South African Airways, for at least the sake of being able to compare the two. However, once I had that newly minted Air Berlin Gold status, I think we all knew that I would stick with a Oneworld airline so that I could take advantage of the perks that come with Oneworld Sapphire status. Plus, it just seemed right to be able to check out another branch of Comair’s SLOW Lounge! So, without hesitation I booked the last CPT-JNB flight of the day at an affordable 1300 ZAR

Check-In
After dropping off my rental car with Hertz (which went surprisingly smooth), I made my walk towards the terminal. It was easy enough, especially with a luggage cart to take the load off my back from my duffel bag, but it can be a little bit of a hike.

Trekking To The Terminal

Terminal Entrance

Upon entering the terminal I made my way immediately to the British Airways counters which easy enough to find. The agents here weren’t busy at all and were pretty great; everyone for some reason had to see my Air Berlin card! Perhaps they had not seen one of those before! With my bag tagged and boarding pass issued, I made my way through security and to the airside of the terminal.

The Walk To Most Gates Isn’t That Bad

I decided to look through a few of the shops (always after yet another model airplane), but soon enough was walking into the domestic SLOW Lounge.

SLOW Lounge – Cape Town Domestic
The lobby of the lounge was very much the same as the one in Johannesburg – walking in I presented my boarding pass and Air Berlin Gold card, which was quickly checked and then allowed to proceed inside. The lounge has the same design styling as the lounge in Johannesburg, however what is different about this lounge is that it is a two story lounge and features a large window that spans both floors in the part that is open.

SLOW Lounge Cape Town

SLOW Lounge Cape Town

Large Windows For Watching Ramp Activity

The downstairs seating seemed to be the busiest, so I made my way past the food spread and chairs there and headed up the stairs to find myself a little corner of silence. There was ample seating, with options to look out the windows, sit at the bar, or overlooking the lower level of the lounge. Due to the presence of screens over the windows, I opted to sit with a view of the lounge down below, finding myself a comfortable oversized chair. I should also add that like any good lounge, they did ensure that there were ample outlets for powering up devices, and thus I made sure to get a charge on everything that I could. I didn’t want to get to the hotel that night and find that I had only two outlets to charge all my devices.

Food
I had high expectations for the food that would be served in the lounge. Based on what they had for a spread during the breakfast hours in Johannesburg, I knew I was going to get something much better than I would in one of Delta’s Sky Clubs in the US. Let me just tell you, I was not disappointed!

I Tried To Get As Much Food Into One Picture

There was salad, soups, kebabs, pasta, breads, and more. Plenty of desert options to take care of your sweet tooth and all the beverages that you could possibly want. While beverages such as water, soda, beer, wine, and coffee were self-serve, you could also have drinks made by a bartender, especially if you were inclined to enjoy

Loo With A View
Ok, now this takes the award for being a little bit different. This lounge features a few toilets that come complete with a floor to ceiling window that looks out to the runways and the top of the terminal building. I spot for contemplation? And if you are worried about anyone seeing you, well there is a screen, but I wonder how visible you are are night…

Loo With A View

Loo With A View – Other Side of The Screen

Of course if you aren’t comfortable with that, they do have several that do not feature any windows to the outside world.

British Airways #6404 (operated by Comair)
Cape Town, ZA (CPT) to Johannesburg, ZA (JNB)
Monday, June 8, 2015
Depart: 7:45PM Arrive: 9:45PM
Aircraft: Boeing 737-400 Seat: 10A (Traveller/Economy)

Although I had been keeping an eye on the departure board, I had opted to go ahead and head down to the gate a little on the early side prior to my flight. If anything, it was to stretch my legs, plus knowing how boarding went in Johannesburg and that this is probably the busiest domestic route in South Africa, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to be down in the gate area. Unlike in Johannesburg 1) There wasn’t anything to coral the queue and 2) they actually did priority boarding for elites. I was one of the only of maybe a couple of folks who made their way to the front of the line, actually being the first one to board this flight. I figured surely that this would be a full flight, but that was hardly the case! At most, perhaps only half the plane was filled with passengers. This meant that I would have the entire row to myself.

Looking Out The Window In Cape Town

Now, when I picked my seats, I had thought that I had booked an exit row. Well, I guess not, as I was seated in the row before the exit row. This resulted in significantly less legroom compared to my JNB-PLZ flight a few days earlier. For a two hour flight that was hardly full, it was at least easy enough to manage!

Economy Legroom

Departure was on time and a quick take off, and as we reached cruise altitude the flight attendants came through to offer the meal options. Again, just as with the flight to Port Elizabeth, there was a full meal service with a choice of entrees, of which I had opted for the chicken and pasta. Now, I am not going to go on and on about how this was the best airline meal ever, but it filled the spot since I wasn’t planning to eat dinner once I landed, but that desert was pretty darn tasty.

Basic Dinner In Economy

After the meal service though the flight attendants were pretty much non-existent. Not really a problem since it was at worst a 2 hour flight and by the time the meal service was done, we were over halfway there. I enjoyed the rest of the flight looking out into the night while listening to Spotify.

Arrival
With an on-time arrival, I made my way towards the domestic baggage claim where I only waited a few brief moments before seeing my duffel making the rounds. From there it was fun schlepping it to ground transportation – the hotel shuttles seemed to be further than I would have thought and given the weight of my bag, made me wish I had just hailed a cab from arrivals! Of course in getting to the hotel shuttle pick up, there were a number of “helpful” helpers who would tell you when the shuttle bus for your hotel was due to arrive, carry your bags, and want to talk with you. Of course, this is all part of a ploy for a tip, they are by no means official, or at least it did not appear that way. It didn’t seem very nefarious, but I suppose your bags could easy be stolen if (as I watched) you let them take the bag to the back of the hotel shuttle bus to be tossed in and you board before seeing it get stowed. Does it happen? No idea, but why not just be safe and keep control of your bags?

Another British Airways/Comair 737 In Johannesburg

Conclusion
Overall, I was very, very happy with my two flights on British Airways/Comair within South Africa. Elite recognition was good as a Oneworld Sapphire member (I really do owe Air Berlin a thanks on that for matching my Delta Gold Medallion status!), the SLOW lounges were phenomenal for a domestic lounge (beats practically any Delta Sky Club that I have been to) or just for any airline lounge really, flights operated on-time with no delays, crews were courteous with decent enough service. Of course some of that is from the fact that I was in Economy versus Business, which I had considered for booking on at least one of my flights as those prices were very affordable.

Really, for the average short flight time for most domestic South African routes, you would be hard-pressed to actually pay for Business over Economy. Perhaps if you are traveling during peak days or seasons, there might be an advantage or if you don’t have Oneworld status that gives you access to the SLOW Lounge. To be honest, I think the difference in fares for the two classes was around $50, so it wouldn’t have been a stretch. I think if you are used to flying domestically in the US, you’ll find yourself generally happy picking British Airways flights operated by Comair. I know that if/when I make it back to South Africa, I certainly wouldn’t hesitate to fly with them again.

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