thaia345 From Indonesia, joined Oct 2006, 814 posts, RR: 17 Posted (1 year 4 months 2 weeks 1 day 16 hours ago) and read 10210 times:
Reason for trip
Another business trip and conference, this time in Cape Town. Didn’t really matter to me as it gave a reason to head back home to Perth for a few days before and a few days after the trip. So this meant flying with GA for the CGKPERCGK sectors and SAA from Perth to South Africa.
Date: 28 Nov 2011
Route: Jakarta (CGK) - Perth (PER)
Flight: Garuda GA724
ETD: 0740
ETA: 1355
Seat: 1A (Executive Class)
Aircraft: B737-800
Flight time: 1hr 24 mins to DPS, 3hrs 33mins to PER
Registration: PK-GMK
1st Flight: 25 Jan 2010
Preflight
Arrived airport with 1hr to spare. For this time in the morning, the roads leading to the terminal were jammed, due to domestic flights. By the time I got into the international terminal, it was really quiet in there. after check in there just time to buy my cigarettes and to the lounge for 1 smoke before boarding the aircraft.
PK-GMK waiting for us to board
Inflight
Loads to Perth was pretty low from CGK with most boarding passengers heading to DPS where this flight transits.
Cabin Views
Meal service (Sorry I forgot to take a pic of the main dish)
Bridge joining Surabaya to Madura
Transit in DPS was a quick 25mins.
Our bird waiting for her quick turnaround to Perth
GA Lounge in DPS
When boarding commenced a lot of passengers ex DPS joined the flight but J cabin remained 50% full.
Turning onto the active runway
Take off run and scenery
Nuts going thru immense pressure
Meal service
The Australian Northwest
Date: 30 Nov 2011
Route: Perth (PER) - Johannesburg (JNB)
Flight: South African SA281
ETD: 2345
ETA: 0445+1
Seat: 2K (Business Class)
Aircraft: Airbus A340-300
Flight time: 10hrs 33mins
Registration: ZS-SXA
1st Flight: 18 Sep 2003
Preflight
Arrived at the airport with 1.5hrs to spare.
Check in and airport views
Check in was painfully slow with immigration and security checks even worse. Have never seen it so bad flying out of Perth before. After completing formalities it was straight to the Qantas Club Lounge which SA uses.
Our A340-300 to JNB
Qantas Club Lounge in Perth
Boarding commenced on time and we were one of the last to board.
Inflight
Pretty excited to be on board an A343 again as the last time I was on one was over 10 years ago when SQ still had their A343 dubbed Celestar.
Cabin Views
Virgin A332 in new corporate identity
Flights looks full in all classes. J seats are actually similar to GA's on their A330 fleet, but the ones on SA do not go 100% flat. Impression of the crew is that they are friendly and polite in J, but no where to the levels of my usual Asian carriers.
Most passengers in J were South Africans. A little late at push back but we still have an on time ETA in JNB. Took off run took ages and climb was painfully slow, but hey, its all part of the underpowered A343 experience.
Menu and inflight meal service
Getting There
Date: 01 Dec 2011
Route: Johannesburg (JNB) - Cape Town (CPT)
Flight: South African SA313
ETD: 0800
ETA: 1010
Seat: 2A (Business Class)
Aircraft: B737-800
Flight time: 1hr50mins
Registration:ZS-SJF
1st Flight: 10 Oct 2001
Preflight
After picking our bags, its off to domestic checkin and after getting breakfast, we cleared security and just relaxed in the lounge till it was time to board. Really starting to feel really tired now.
Nice domestic terminal
SAA Domestic J Lounge
Tarmac views of our B738 to CPT
Inflight
Pretty disappointed with the J config on this B738. Wierd 2+3 layout in J with Y becoming the usual 3+3. Looks they are really trying to squeeze as much pax into this bird as possible. Service was polite like my previous flight but still far behind my usual Asian Carriers. J seats width is terrible, almost same as Y and legroom also did not fare much better. And unlike European carriers which still keep the middle seat on the set of 3 empty in J, on SA all 3 are filled up. Thankfully I was on the side with 2 seats. Will just let the pics do the talking
At Cape Town I stayed at the One and Only Resort and also at The Westin. Here are some selected shots from my trip in CPT
Date: 06 Dec 2011
Route: Cape Town (CPT) - Johannesburg (JNB)
Flight: South African Airlines SA362
ETD: 1755 (1820)
ETA: 1955
Seat: 6A (Business Class)
Aircraft: B737-800
Flight time: 1hr 48mins
Registration: ZS-SJV
1st Flight:
After 6 days of conferences and a short holiday its finally tine to go back home to Perth for a couple of days before heading back to Jakarta for work. Arrived at the airport with 2 hr to spare and found out that flight was delayed by about 25 mins due to late inbound flight. Didn't really matter to me as it gave me time to relax in the nice SAA lounge and to also take a much needed shower.
Check in area at CPT, infrastructure pretty new due to upgrading for the World Cup in 2010
Time for some spotting from the SAA Lounge
I did not take any pics inflight as my camera was running low on battery and decided to save it for the long haul flight back to Perth.
Date: 06 Dec 2011
Route: Johannesburg (JNB)- Perth (PER)
Flight: South African Airlines SA280
ETD: 2205
ETA: 1325+1
Seat: 2K (Business Class)
Aircraft: A340-300
Flight time: 9hrs 35mins
Registration: ZS-SXE
1st Flight: Preflight
Upon arrival into JNB it was a dash from the domestic to the international terminal due to the delay we had. By the time we cleared security and immigration we had 20mins to sapre and time was just spent in the SAA Lounge.
ZS-SXE in the midnight hour
Inflight
Another full flight to PER. Nothing much to mention on this flight as I was pretty tired and after the meal and movies, it was off to bed. To sum up SAA service onboard and on the ground, its efficient but service levels are just average even in J. Can't imagine how it is in Y. In short someone really have to teach them how to smile!
Cabin views
Menu & Inflight Meal
Home Sweet Home
Date: 12 Dec 2011
Route: Perth (PER) - Jakarta (CGK)
Flight: Garuda GA725
ETD: 1455
ETA: 2010
Seat: 3F (Executive Class)
Aircraft: B737-800
Flight time: to DPS 3hrs25mins DPS to CGK 1hr 40mins
Registration: PK-GMG
1st Flight:21 Jan 2010
signol From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2007, 2948 posts, RR: 7 Reply 2, posted (1 year 4 months 2 weeks 1 day 8 hours ago) and read 9116 times:
Hi Thaia345,
thanks for taking the time to write up this report. Your flights appeared to be good in C, but like you said not excellent. Interesting to see the perspective from the front of the plane -
I flew her myself, DUR-JNB, a week or so ago! Once per day between JNB and CPT SA use one of their long-haul aircraft, so the Business seating would be much improved if you could get on that flight!
MSS658 From Belgium, joined Oct 2010, 2202 posts, RR: 14 Reply 3, posted (1 year 4 months 2 weeks 1 day 7 hours ago) and read 8943 times:
Hi
Nice trip report, thanks for sharing it! We don't see the PER-JNB reported to much. Nice to see how GA really changed it's image
SA looks pretty decent as well
Carfield From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 1727 posts, RR: 9 Reply 4, posted (1 year 4 months 2 weeks 1 day 7 hours ago) and read 8935 times:
Thanks for another wonderful trip report!
I really love reading about all these reports about Garuda, which looks better day by day, and the Boeing 737-800s are very nice, and its business class cabin is very good for a narrowbody aircraft. I can't wait for GA to join the Skyteam and I can use its service to various European destinations.
South African Airlines look nice, but its lukewarm service has been remarked by a number of my friends and colleagues, who recently traveled to South Africa. Their comments are actually not very good, and despite the fancy menu, the meals fail short of expectation. The F/As left much to be desired and were very unfriendly and disappeared mid-flight.
lukeyboy95 From Papua New Guinea, joined Apr 2008, 951 posts, RR: 35 Reply 5, posted (1 year 4 months 2 weeks 1 day 5 hours ago) and read 8828 times:
Very nice routing and interesting combination of airlings.
Saa has never really excited me, but it is great to see that despite all the debt and occassional corruption, the product looks fresh and wasn't a disaster. I ALMOST never see them doing promotions.
CPT looked stunning, hear the One and Only there is fantastic. Highlight was the QR777 parked up. Stunner...
767747 From United States of America, joined Jan 2005, 1748 posts, RR: 26 Reply 6, posted (1 year 4 months 2 weeks 1 day 2 hours ago) and read 8470 times:
Very good report on GA and SA!
GA looks like a very nice airline; food, service, seats, and I think their livery looks great on the 737 with winglets! Too bad about the SA service not being better; I've heard mixed things about them before.
Looks like you had a nice trip. Thank you for sharing it with us!
thaia345 From Indonesia, joined Oct 2006, 814 posts, RR: 17 Reply 7, posted (1 year 4 months 2 weeks 20 hours ago) and read 8138 times:
Quoting EL-AL (Reply 1): saw 2-2 but never 2-3. Very strange.
Enjoy the days of long haul flying on the A343, I guess not many left.
Hi Jonathan, yup, really very strange layout...even i got a surprise when i entered the aircraft. True regarding the A343, not many left, and for me and my routes, its also probably the last time i will fly them
Quoting signol (Reply 2): Once per day between JNB and CPT SA use one of their long-haul aircraft, so the Business seating would be much improved if you could get on that flight!
Hi Signol, yup, my colleagues flew in on a flight about 2 hours after mine from JNBCPT and they got the A346
Quoting MSS658 (Reply 3): We don't see the PER-JNB reported to much. Nice to see how GA really changed it's image
SA looks pretty decent as well
Hi Marc, yup, 5 years ago i won't even imagine myself picking them as one of my frist choices for flights, but come today, they are ! actually just landed in HK with GA A332
Quoting Carfield (Reply 4): South African Airlines look nice, but its lukewarm service has been remarked by a number of my friends and colleagues, who recently traveled to South Africa. Their comments are actually not very good, and despite the fancy menu, the meals fail short of expectation. The F/As left much to be desired and were very unfriendly and disappeared mid-flight.
Quoting Carfield (Reply 4): South African Airlines look nice, but its lukewarm service has been remarked by a number of my friends and colleagues, who recently traveled to South Africa. Their comments are actually not very good, and despite the fancy menu, the meals fail short of expectation. The F/As left much to be desired and were very unfriendly and disappeared mid-flight.
Hi Carfield, thanks for reading and how true blue 100% are your remarks, basically I will not fly them again unless I have too. Meny was indeed fancy, but taste really was left to be desired....
Quoting lukeyboy95 (Reply 5): CPT looked stunning, hear the One and Only there is fantastic. Highlight was the QR777 parked up. Stunner...
Hey Luke....One and Only was fantastic and the QR was really a stunning bird in the afternoon sun
Quoting 767747 (Reply 6): and I think their livery looks great on the 737 with winglets! Too bad about the SA service not being better; I've heard mixed things about them before.
Hi Matt, I think GA's B738 in their new colours with winglets are one of the best looking B738's out there in the world. Yup, SA really was crap!...hell, i woudl even pick UA domestic first service in the US over them !
SASDC8 From Norway, joined Mar 2006, 662 posts, RR: 1 Reply 8, posted (1 year 4 months 2 weeks 6 hours ago) and read 7579 times:
Hi Herbert
Thanks for a new and interesting report on SAA business product. The food looks good, but I guess that does not guarantee that it tastes good.
[quote=thaia345,reply=0]J seats are actually similar to GA's on their A330 fleet, but the ones on SA do not go 100% flat. [/quote)
I thought that SA's business seats went completely flat?
I think it is really nice the GA really has picked up their game, and if I ever end up in Indonesia I will fly with them, no doubt
rifkyrifky From Indonesia, joined Feb 2011, 28 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (1 year 4 months 2 weeks 2 hours ago) and read 7455 times:
Thaia345
First of all.. Happy new year haha
Second of all, Great Trip Report as always hahaha , I've been waiting for this Trip Report For months Lol..
I'm Glad you enjoy your trip with GA & SA ( Well a part from SA strange layout of their seats in the B738 ) i wonder what's wrong with that
Quoting thaia345 (Thread starter): Meal service (Sorry I forgot to take a pic of the main dish)
Lol.. What is the main dish anyway? its making me concern
I hope to see more new Trip Reports & great experiences in 2012..
thaia345 From Indonesia, joined Oct 2006, 814 posts, RR: 17 Reply 10, posted (1 year 4 months 1 week 6 days 9 hours ago) and read 7046 times:
Quoting SASDC8 (Reply 8): thought that SA's business seats went completely flat?
Quoting SASDC8 (Reply 8): I think it is really nice the GA really has picked up their game, and if I ever end up in Indonesia I will fly with them, no doubt
Hi Stein !! Aparently only the J seats on the A342 and A346 go flat ! Not on the older A343.
Yes, u really should have a go with Garuda ....wont disappoint
Sponsor Message: 
From Indonesia, joined Oct 2006, 814 posts, 
From Israel, joined Oct 2001, 1119 posts, 
From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2007, 2948 posts, 
From Belgium, joined Oct 2010, 2202 posts, 
From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 1727 posts, 
From Papua New Guinea, joined Apr 2008, 951 posts, 
From Norway, joined Mar 2006, 662 posts, 
haha
, I've been waiting for this Trip Report For months 
Sponsor Message: 
Printer friendly format
