Review: South African Airways Business Class A340 Frankfurt To Johannesburg

I flew SAA business class EZE-JNB back in 2013 connecting off of a UA biz flight from IAH. It was cool to compare to the two back to back. I found the food and service to be better than UA, but the seat was not as good as that on my ex-Continental business seat on a 767.

Hi Ben - Amongst the big 5 of Africa: South African, Kenya, Ethiopian: Royal Air Maroc and EgyptAir, where would you rank the business class of SAA?

...“in appreciation of your loyalty, can I take your meal order first?” Hopping around the cabin to take orders by status is very inefficient from a service perspective and also a bit insulting to other passengers. You mentioned this happened on Air Canada as well. Why make other paying passengers feel less worthy, and do it openly, in front of everyone? So if I bought a business class ticket on SAA for the first time and my seatmate is elite, he/she gets their order taken and I don't until later? If I was the elite traveler in this situation I would find this extremely embarrassing. A more discreet way to handle this would be to take the orders from the front like they do in economy and simply grey out forward seats on the seat selection page to all but elite status travelers. That way elite travelers still get first meal selection and nobody else is made to feel less worthy. Makes sense? I just think we're taking this whole "status thing" a bit too far.

Nice and useful review, thanks!

I flew SAA longhaul business class a few times about a decade ago and funny enough the seats appear not to have changed a bit since then -- so I would agree they're holding up very well for their age. At that time they were cutting-edge since most other airlines still had angled lie-flat seats, and I always found them quite comfortable though I'm sure they've lost some padding since then. The "cradle" position, where your knees are raised like in a recliner or rocking chair, is particularly nice for lounging and is not a position that many other business class seats offer.

Back then the food was also pretty bad, so good to see that they've apparently improved in the years since. Service sounds fairly unchanged, on the other hand.

This is just tongue in cheek but any chance you could use the word disembark in place of deplane. I know deplaned is US English but it just sounds like a made up word (i know it's not) tiny bug bear, hate the word.

Bye Felicia!

Wow that IFE looks like a color version of MS DOS.

I often get the same reaction you had when I have a seat mate and I'm taking pictures of everything, I find it easier when they notice to just tell them why i'm doing it and then they become interested and normally ask for the URL to read about it during the flight.

I think the standard business class product should all be direct Aisle access, so this product is pretty dated now.

@ Charlie

I understand where you are coming from, however I don't think this is any more embarrassing than boarding the aircraft before any non-elites or being greeted by name, or being brought to or taken from the airplane in a limousine, so on so forth.
If anything, I agree with their practices and I wish more airlines would also do this. Personally, I am sick and tired of having my primary food option being denied just because I happen to sit one row further back than someone else who has never stepped foot on this particular airline and has not been loyal to the alliance. Having your firm food selection denied based on your seating arrangement seems completely arbitrary to me as it is just pure coincidental nonsense.

Lucky - I've never heard of someone so excited to get their dinner choice when it's chicken. I mean, it's not like they scored with lobster or something else 🙂

@John - could you pre-order food, so that you're guaranteed the meal of your choice?

I agree with @James; if your seatmate is curious about why you are taking photographs, tell them, and have a business card ready with your site's URL (even if that's the only thing on the card). This is an opportunity to network or gain more readership for your blog.

@Susan, I normally do it to avoid people informing the cabin crew and getting into a situation. You know how paranoid people are these days on flights. But yes a few more readers won't be a bad thing.

@John - or maybe the airlines could let everyone in premium cabins order their food in advance, then everyone gets what they want. You can even do that in economy if you want a "special meal." I have a work colleague who orders sodium free meals because "special meals" are generally better and bigger, and he secretly brings his own salt!). With computer order systems between airline and caterer it should be easy to do and could be a great sales feature for premium seating. That should work for both of us. I'd just feel strange if my order was taken and my seatmate's wasn't (seatmate: why wasn't my order taken? Me: because I am a VIP and you aren't. Ouch) . And kudos to Lucky's seatmate who refused to accept an alternative. He got what he wanted, and Lucky wasn't so lucky this time!

@Lucky Wow, that reflection photo is absolutely gorgeous. Well done.

Looks boring and somewhat nasty. How many engine shots could you take?

Food looks like United garbage. What a horrible way to travel and to a terrible place.

I've flown this route on this aircraft several times. I like that SAA isn't shy about serving grown-up food in business class - e.g., salmon tartare, vitello tonnato, pavlova - rather than assuming we're infants who are going to be impressed by a hot chocolate chip cookie.

My main gripe about their J cabin is that the seats aren't insulated from the aisle traffic. The FAs (often "sturdy" Afrikaans women of a certain age) tend to stomp around like oxen, and you feel and hear their every step when you're trying to sleep.

Your photos of menus illustrate one of my pet peeves on virtually any airline, in any class cabin: the beer selection stinks. Even on flights where the airline and the cabin seem to compete for their idea of "classiest" (whether Emirates bling or, as above, South African wines), they typically offer only industrial yellow lagers from whichever country. Bud = Heineken = Amstel = Tsingtao = Corona. This is the equivalent of serving boxed wine and a $4 bottle of champagne.

Other than on Alaska Airlines or the token Goose Island or Sam Adams on major US carriers, where are the quality craft beers, and why is the industry stuck in the 80's on this point?

@wayneham: Brussels Airlines Business Class! So. Many. Options. Lambic, Kriek, Dubbel, etc. etc.

I flew SAA (biz) about two years ago. (retired, but a former client pushed - a lot.) If I had reviewed the ride, it would have read much as yours did. SAA and other operators cannot dump/tore/sell their A345 and A346 airplanes fast enough. Early on, it was close to the only airplane with such long legs. Today, there are multiple other choices.
I too was pleased and surprised by the outbound meals. To be honest, the meals provided for the escape flight - catered in J'burg, were horrible.
Despite a full staff of managers and FAs, the cabin service was miserable. SAA's hard and soft products need major upgrades.

Oh wow, this brings me back. I flew SAA back in April of 2006. This was when SAA was still a part of Skyteam. I flew direct from Atlanta to Johannesburg with a fueling stop in Ilhas da Sol in the Cape Verde Islands. We flew in business class and it was my very first time in business class as well. As this was 10 years ago I dont remember which type of aircraft it was, but I remember eating ALOT. I mean we were offered food almost every hour. We boarded around 10 AM and was immediately offered lunch and after that I swear the food and drink almost never stopped for the 18 hour flight (which included the 2 hour stopover for fuel). We were not offered a mattress pad but we did have an IFE with a couple of movies and music and a game and the wine list was fantastic. This flight will always be special to me because it was the first time I ever flew over seas and I remember thinking, I can never ever EVER go back to coach!!

I enjoy your reviews. Helps me to determine what carrier I shoot for with future destinations. I would be quite disappointed if I walked into that "Business Class" for such a long haul. The food looked good, but the seats and entertainment were horrid. I personally have found my favorite BC service to be found with Lufthansa, and Austrian Air which I found to be very impressive!

I laughed at the beer comment another reader posted above, and had to agree. Although, my last flight on Lufthansa Business Class had Erdinger .5L bottles on hand, which is one of my favorite European beers. So I was a happy camper!

SAA is absolutely out dated and I even prefer British airways for flying to South Africa. For me ba has the worst business class cabin arround together with af 380 business class. But Sara is even worst the seats are horrible and you can not even say business anymore I would say premium economy... do not understand how Sara has such old and outdated seats and entertainment... the worst, Sara is very expensive offering the worst comparing to other airlines in business.

Ben, I got the exact same picture in Frankfurt with my plane reflecting off the windows. so cool!