Qf63 syd > jnb

[Cool Cat Phil]

Howdy Folks,
After stalking this Forum as being an outstanding source of Information regarding all things flying, I have decided that i will come out of hiding & become a member of this forum as this is the coolest thing a cat can do!

I must say that without using many of the hints that members have shared, especially regarding Qantas Status Credits, i would never have gone from Qantas Bronze to Qantas Gold in my last membership year. And as a result this cool cat loves the perks of chillin in the Qantas Lounge these days.

I have a couple of questions regarding QF 63 to Sydney to Johannesburg, which i was wondering if any members can shread some light on.

I understand that Qantas uses a B747 for this route, although i notice that Qantas has approx 5 variants of B747, does qantas use an older version of aircraft on this route or a new version (ie A380 style).

This flight is 14 hours & 20 minutes in length. Yet under the flight details on the Qantas website it states Lunch/refreshment is served. Does this mean that only 1 meal sitting is served on board.

I havent flown long haul with QF for quite some years, but im hoping that i wont go hungry with one meal sitting.

I Have read that OR Tambo airport has had reported instances of Pilfering of luggage before reaching the coursel.

Do many travellers have their luggage Shrink wrapped in Sydney before checking in due to this perceived risk.

Thanks for rearding my questions & i look forward to hearing any feedback you might have.

Regards,

Cool Cat Phil.

 

[Danger]

Welcome, Cool Cat Phil.

There are ways of determining the type of 747 from viewing the seat map. What date are you flying and what class? Someone will report back with the aircraft type.

In Economy, you will get more than a lunch and a refreshment. Given the flight times, probably more like two lunches and possibly two refreshments.

I've been through O R Tambo six or so times and have never wrapped my luggage, without any issues.

 

[Cool Cat Phil]

Re: QF 63 SYD > JNB

Thanks Danger for your speedy reply.

I figured that shrink wrapping luggage might be a bit of overkill actually.

Flying out Thurs 30th May, so just a few weeks away.

By the looks of things the flight is an entire daytime flight leaving SYD at 9:55am.... arriving JNB at 16:15pm local time, but of course a substantial time difference between the two cities.

Im not "cool" enough yet for anything other than Y, so will chill out with all the back of the plane.

My first to Africa.... looking forward to it immensly.

 

[markis10]

Welcome, Cool Cat Phil.

There are ways of determining the type of 747 from viewing the seat map. What date are you flying and what class? Someone will report back with the aircraft type.

In Economy, you will get more than a lunch and a refreshment. Given the flight times, probably more like two lunches and possibly two refreshments.

I've been through O R Tambo six or so times and have never wrapped my luggage, without any issues.

You will only get two lunches and two refreshments if you steal your seat mates meal, a refreshment is a smaller meal, not a snack. So you will get a lunch then near arrival a less substantive meal, with snacks like ice creams etc during the middle. If your in J its called Lunch and a light dinner:

 

[ChrisFlyer]

The 747 operating SYD-JNB on that date is one of the older (non-refurb) ones. If you'd like me to check your return flight, please advise the date and I'll look it up for you.

 

[Cool Cat Phil]

Thank you Markis10 for the menu.... Interesting considering the length of flight constitutes, only 1 main meal & 1 smallish meal/snack, but i guess it comes down to the fact that upon arrival at JNB a few hours later one would be seeking Dinner considering the arrival time of 4:15pm.

May i ask, as a newbie how do i highlight or tag you in bold text when i reply back.... as you see i have yet to figure this out.

Thankyou ChrisCh for the opportunity of looking up my return flight.

Disappointing that it will be a non refurbished B747, but hay ho.... its great to know this is advance..... its a daytime flight no big deal.

Ive actually booked a multi-city booking & will in fact being flying back QF2 LHR >SYD, on June 29th that means an A380 i believe ..... uber exciting, i never flown in one of these big birds before.
I'll be licking my paws with excitement before i step aboard i should think.

May i ask ChrisCh how can i look up the specific plane used on a route on a specific day... i can't find this on the QF Website for the life of me.

Thank you for your help so far.

 

[markis10]

Thank you Markis10 for the menu.... Interesting considering the length of flight constitutes, only 1 main meal & 1 smallish meal/snack, but i guess it comes down to the fact that upon arrival at JNB a few hours later one would be seeking Dinner considering the arrival time of 4:15pm.

May i ask, as a newbie how do i highlight or tag you in bold text when i reply back.... as you see i have yet to figure this out.

Thankyou ChrisCh for the opportunity of looking up my return flight.

Disappointing that it will be a non refurbished B747, but hay ho.... its great to know this is advance..... its a daytime flight no big deal.

Ive actually booked a multi-city booking & will in fact being flying back QF2 LHR >SYD, on June 29th that means an A380 i believe ..... uber exciting, i never flown in one of these big birds before.
I'll be licking my paws with excitement before i step aboard i should think.

May i ask ChrisCh how can i look up the specific plane used on a route on a specific day... i can't find this on the QF Website for the life of me.

Thank you for your help so far.

Hit reply with quote on the bottom of the post you want to quote, if its a couple of posts you want to quote, select the Quote+ sign

for all the posts you want to quote then hit reply with quote!

 

[casanovawa]

As for luggage, i've flown through JNB a couple of times and never shrink wrapped it or had anything stolen... I think the best advice is to just not put anything of value in your checked luggage (unless its like alcohol which you might have to carry in there to not have it taken off you in certain circumstances) but cameras, money, ipods, ipads etc, etc take with you in your carry on and just leave clothes and other general stuff in the checked luggage, and even if they can look at your bag through a scanner out the back they won't identify anything worth having a crack at...

 

[serfty]

...

May i ask, as a newbie how do i highlight or tag you in bold text when i reply back.... as you see i have yet to figure this out.

...

Use the " Reply With Quote " option on the bottom left of each post.

 

[JohnM]

O R Tambo is a very good airport. I see no need to be anxious about anything there.

 

[Cool Cat Phil]

O R Tambo is a very good airport. I see no need to be anxious about anything there.

Thanks for your advice on O R Tambo, a certain well known travel guide ( won't name names) says its an issue, but then this particular well known travel guide is known for being somewhat overly opinionated at times.

Another question slightly off topic , I'm doing three domestic flights with BA in South Africa ( BA flight numbers using their franchise operator comair )does BA in south Africa operate domestic lounges at Cape Town, johannesburg & livingston @ also as a Qantas gold member would I have access?

 

[JohnM]

Thanks for your advice on O R Tambo, a certain well known travel guide ( won't name names) says its an issue, but then this particular well known travel guide is known for being somewhat overly opinionated at times.

Another question slightly off topic , I'm doing three domestic flights with BA in South Africa ( BA flight numbers using their franchise operator comair )does BA in south Africa operate domestic lounges at Cape Town, johannesburg & livingston @ also as a Qantas gold member would I have access?

They have lounges at CPT & JNB, not Livingstone (don't expect too much at the airport there!). AFAIK, SG should get you in.

Vic Falls is amazing and a chopper ride over is worth doing.

Where else in S Africa are you going? It's a sensational place.

 

[Flying mermaid]

I went to Johannesburg last year and had no issues with luggage. We carried anything valuable (like tripods) with us, but we couldn't see any tampering with luggage and my brother and wife (who have lived there all their lives), thought shrink wrapping was pretty pointless. Flying with Comair, you get to use their SLOW lounges, as a one world sapphire. I thought theIr Johannesburg lounge was great - food much nicer than anything QF has domestically. Was quite crowded. Very long queues in JHB to get through domestic security.

South Africa is much like any other country - just be sensible about where you go and what you do and you will be fine. I didn't take any jewellery to South Africa based on what I had read in guides, but my sister-in-law said that was ridiculous as she wears hers all the time without any problems. It is obviously a country that has a lot of issues to solve, but they have come a long way in a short time.

 

[Cool Cat Phil]

I went to Johannesburg last year and had no issues with luggage. We carried anything valuable (like tripods) with us, but we couldn't see any tampering with luggage and my brother and wife (who have lived there all their lives), thought shrink wrapping was pretty pointless. Flying with Comair, you get to use their SLOW lounges, as a one world sapphire. I thought theIr Johannesburg lounge was great - food much nicer than anything QF has domestically. Was quite crowded. Very long queues in JHB to get through domestic security.

South Africa is much like any other country - just be sensible about where you go and what you do and you will be fine. I didn't take any jewellery to South Africa based on what I had read in guides, but my sister-in-law said that was ridiculous as she wears hers all the time without any problems. It is obviously a country that has a lot of issues to solve, but they have come a long way in a short time.

Thats really sound advice! Despite this being my first visit I'm certainly not having any sleepless nights worrying about personal security. I think I'll have more to be worried about getting lost in Kruger NP, as this cat may come of second best if I come across one of my larger wild feline cousins. Lol
Thanks again for your detailed response, I'm certainly impressed with your knowledge.

 

[JohnM]

Thats really sound advice! Despite this being my first visit I'm certainly not having any sleepless nights worrying about personal security. I think I'll have more to be worried about getting lost in Kruger NP, as this cat may come of second best if I come across one of my larger wild feline cousins. Lol
Thanks again for your detailed response, I'm certainly impressed with your knowledge.

There's no way you'll get lost in Kruger.

 

[Cool Cat Phil]

They have lounges at CPT & JNB, not Livingstone (don't expect too much at the airport there!). AFAIK, SG should get you in.

Vic Falls is amazing and a chopper ride over is worth doing.

Where else in S Africa are you going? It's a sensational place.

Thanks for your insight into Vic falls, I think that a chopper ride might have to be on the cards!

I'm also travelling through the Okavango Delta in Botswana on a safari. Your absolutely right John, everyone tells me it's Spectacular & that once your gone once, you'll go again before you know it.

Any insights into Cape Town limited to just 4 days though?

 

[ChrisFlyer]

Thankyou ChrisCh for the opportunity of looking up my return flight.

Disappointing that it will be a non refurbished B747, but hay ho.... its great to know this is advance..... its a daytime flight no big deal.

May i ask ChrisCh how can i look up the specific plane used on a route on a specific day... i can't find this on the QF Website for the life of me.

Thank you for your help so far.

I have an account with ExpertFlyer, which lets me access live seatmaps for Qantas flights (as well as many other airlines). In this case, your seatmap shows seats 58HJK as available (the RH side exit row in economy). As the refits do not have these seats, it's a dead giveaway! You can always go to the Qantas website and view the seatmaps of the flights that you've booked, but there is no way to do this on the Qantas website before or during the booking process. Always happy to help though

 

[Cool Cat Phil]

Thanks Markis10. I believe I've got a hang of the replying function. Cheers for that.

As you a moderator, do you know if there is a function on this forum, where I could put my flight dates & offer to guest a member into a lounge should someone be travelling on the same flight & not have One world status that allows lounge access?
i figure this would be a great way of meeting more people on this forum, as I usually travel by myself.

 

[JohnM]

Thanks for your insight into Vic falls, I think that a chopper ride might have to be on the cards!

I'm also travelling through the Okavango Delta in Botswana on a safari. Your absolutely right John, everyone tells me it's Spectacular & that once your gone once, you'll go again before you know it.

Any insights into Cape Town limited to just 4 days though?

Africa is addictive. Table Mt in CPT , obviously, and it's worth going out around Stellenbosch for the wine region. Beautiful scenery, beautiful wineries.

 

[markis10]

Thanks Markis10. I believe I've got a hang of the replying function. Cheers for that.

As you a moderator, do you know if there is a function on this forum, where I could put my flight dates & offer to guest a member into a lounge should someone be travelling on the same flight & not have One world status that allows lounge access?
i figure this would be a great way of meeting more people on this forum, as I usually travel by myself.

Lounge meetings are advertised by month here:

2013