Craven Suid Afrika 2022 TR

[craven morehead]

Meals onboard look amazing. Seems standards are on the up. Great report mate. Following along too. Glad to hear you're excited about being onboard long haul again. Great stuff.

Cheers mate, the meals were definitely a notch up and more like what you would expect on a long haul J flight. The crew were also excellent!

 

[craven morehead]

There were showers and storms as we approached JNB and I believe we were slowed down a little by ATC.



We're on the deck!





Once we had landed it took ~15 minutes for the airbridge to hook up



Once we had deplaned it was quite a trek to passport control. The majority of travelators were not working!





Longish trip:



It's starting to feel real



Now one thing I had never picked up on in previous trips was the Priority Lane at Passport Control. It's at the very left of all the counters.
I've always just wandered along in a daze and headed for the Non-African Passport Visa not required lanes Once I spotted the Priority Lane and saw that it said, "All Airlines" First & Business off I went and honestly, I was through in 2 minutes and headed for the baggage carousel. No vaccination certificates or any other paperwork was requested.



Waited about 5 minutes at the carousel and my bag was the 11th piece of luggage out

Grabbed my suitcase and headed through Customs which is almost non-existent here and over to the hotel shuttle pick up zone and, bugger me, the Protea bus just pulled up. The driver put my suitcase in the trailer. 2 pax only and we were off. 10 minutes later I was safely ensconced in the Protea Hotel.

In all my travels I have never passed through security, passport control and customs at both ends of a journey so quickly

In summary today's QF63 was a great flight. I got to watch a few movies and relax. Managed about 3.5hrs kip. The staff were brilliant and always proactive, never had to wait long for a refill of which there were a few The CSM Martin stopped by for a chat on about 3 occasions and I found out he lives up at Maleny (Sunshine Coast Hinterland) I mentioned to him that prior to moving to CQ in 2000 I had lived at Yandina.

Next up: The Protea Hotel O.R Tambo by Marriot.

 

[kpc]

Nice report so far. Was the QF flight an award or paid? QF J awards Syd-Jnb and vice versa are impossible to get now.

 

[craven morehead]

Nice report so far. Was the QF flight an award or paid? QF J awards Syd-Jnb and vice versa are impossible to get now.

This flight was booked about 9-months prior and was a cash fare using a DSC voucher. I normally travel here on a J Classic Reward, but they were hard to come by this time. The cash fare was close enough to 50% higher than my last trip in 2019. Keeping in mind I only looked at the cash price at the time and used points. On a positive note, I will pick up 900 or more SC's for the trip!

 

[sanne]

Really enjoy enjoy reading about your travels particularly SA. We’ve been going there every year ( 10+ years) , meeting a group of friends for safari until 2020! We’re booked this June. Really looking forward to it.

This was the first year we were unable to get our usual J award flights. Had to PAY ! Really annoying since we’re sitting on a sizeable stash of points. Cost was 50% more than pre Covid.

So I’m looking forward to enjoying your posts about your stay there.

 

[craven morehead]

Really enjoy enjoy reading about your travels particularly SA. We’ve been going there every year ( 10+ years) , meeting a group of friends for safari until 2020! We’re booked this June. Really looking forward to it.

This was the first year we were unable to get our usual J award flights. Had to PAY ! Really annoying since we’re sitting on a sizeable stash of points. Cost was 50% more than pre Covid.

So I’m looking forward to enjoying your posts about your stay there.

Wow 10+ years that is awesome! Hopefully I'll have something useful to contribute.

 

[Bundy Bear]

Thanks South Africa is a place I have wanted to visit, CoVID sort of put it down the list but you are reminding me not to delete it off the list completely.
Looking forward to the rest of the trip report.

 

[craven morehead]

The Protea O.R Tambo Hotel / Marriot

A nice easy check in and was thanked for being a loyal member of Marriot Bonvoy (I must have the lowest status possible) Like maybe Earthworm status I booked this through Qantas Hotels using my $100 PC+ voucher. So, total out of pocket with breakfast and wi-fi was AUD $49.00

As an Av Geek this funky hotel with its industrial / aviation style, floats my boat. It's casual but covers all bases. Rooms probably similar in size to a newer ibis but better set out. Still ~the 3.5-star mark but I like it. As an Accor Diamond I'm just about sick of all the pretentious hotels with no soul and this place has some spunk. Not to mention the staff here are excellent! Some of you will recognise this place from my last visit.



Got the top floor. Something that just about always happens with Accor but not quite sure how I scored it here.

Note the aviation theme:







A much better bathroom set up than most ibis hotels.



Who doesn't need a jet turbine in the Dunny





Plenty of room: The TV never got a start at all.



Ordinary weather still: Normally you can see QF63 parked up over near where that light tower is. Too rainy to venture out in the garden today.



My first beer back in RSA for 3 years. Cheers



I ended up having 4 Castle Lagers, 1 glass of Pinotage and a toasted sandwich with chips and salad for ~ AUD $30.

Time to get some sleep the batteries have run flat!

 

[craven morehead]

Thanks South Africa is a place I have wanted to visit, CoVID sort of put it down the list but you are reminding me not to delete it off the list completely.
Looking forward to the rest of the trip report.

Please don't take it off your list. It's a beautiful country Sure, it has its issues but it's worth the effort.

 

[craven morehead]

Some more random shots of the Protea Hotel this morning:

 

[craven morehead]

There was plenty of food on offer to suit everyone:





















Staff were very attentive, and the food was of a very decent standard.

 

[drron]

Looking forward to your adventures. I also loved that Protea and have fond memories of Driving around. Down to the Drakensburgs, Boer War trail, following the Tugela River to the sea and then capetown for a cruise. Never felt threatened. I would be back in a jiffy but can't get mrsdrron to agree.

 

[tgh]

I camped here also.. but suffered from (spoiledwhiteboy) stage fright based on JNB's reputation.
Next stop was NBO and that made JNB look like a holiday home…sigh

 

[Sprucegoose]

Meals onboard look amazing. Seems standards are on the up. Great report mate. Following along too. Glad to hear you're excited about being onboard long haul again. Great stuff.

It reminds me of pre-covid standards. QFA hasn't taken the 'flu' downtime to relearn how to reassemble a green salad that rabbits would be genuinely proud of.

What has struck me is that Mr CM has moved from the Heirloom Cab Sav on QF555 to Heirloom Shiraz on QF 63..........that can only tell me, at best, QF have oversold on the domestic and undersold on the international leg?

 

[N860CR]

I think we may have been sitting in the bar at the hotel at the same time… I’m at the end of a trip though!

If you haven’t done it, head down to the SAA museum. Nice morning out for plane buffs

 

[antycbr]

I think we may have been sitting in the bar at the hotel at the same time… I’m at the end of a trip though!

If you haven’t done it, head down to the SAA museum. Nice morning out for plane buffs

Hopefully SA don’t end up in a museum permanently after what State Capture did to a once great airline.

 

[craven morehead]

It reminds me of pre-covid standards. QFA hasn't taken the 'flu' downtime to relearn how to reassemble a green salad that rabbits would be genuinely proud of.

What has struck me is that Mr CM has moved from the Heirloom Cab Sav on QF555 to Heirloom Shiraz on QF 63..........that can only tell me, at best, QF have oversold on the domestic and undersold on the international leg?

QF at its best, serving $30 bottles in both Domestic and International J

 

[craven morehead]

Looking forward to your adventures. I also loved that Protea and have fond memories of Driving around. Down to the Drakensburgs, Boer War trail, following the Tugela River to the sea and then capetown for a cruise. Never felt threatened. I would be back in a jiffy but can't get mrsdrron to agree.

How many years ago was that @drron? I'm pretty sure I remember following that TR with interest

 

[craven morehead]

Jumped on the free hotel airport shuttle back to O.R Tambo for a 13.00 flight to Durban.

Previously when I've flown internally, it was always with Comair who are sadly no longer.

For AUD $250-$300 flying J, I used to pick up 60-80 SC's

Today I am flying with CemAir an airline I'd never previously heard of. I found it on Google Flights.

So, today's flight 5Z1902 JNB-DUR with lounge access cost me AUD$112. It is on a Dash8-400 my favourite plane





Check in was easy and painless. The lady was most impressed with the only 3 Zulu phrases/greetings I knew

Security was little slow but not too bad.

Now off to the Bidvest Premier Lounge down one level.





It was well located as I was departing from Gate E13 down at ground level.

 

[N860CR]

Always liked the bidvest lounges. Good selection of food and drink. SLOW lounges are great as well. They’re still running after the Comair tanking. In the VS Clubhouse now which is great. Certainly no shortage of good lounge options at JNB!