I went to South Africa with my family for the New Year holidays. I had little flexibility in the dates and this is not the period for great discounts. The only reasonable business class rate I had was with EgyptAir. Yes, EgyptAir does not have a great reputation for punctuality, customer service or onboard service and Cairo Airport is certainly not considered to be the best airport in the world yet I was looking forward to my trip.
Budapest to Cairo, EgyptAir, economy class
Cairo to Johannesburg, EgyptAir, business class
Durban to Johannesburg, Kulula, economy class
Johannesburg to Cairo, EgyptAir, business class
Cairo to London, EgyptAir, business class
Domestic flights are important in South Africa. Although the roads are mostly good, there are huge distances and an important part of the population can afford to fly if offered at an affordable cost – an ideal playground therefore for low-cost airlines. There are about 33 direct flights a day from Durban to either O. R. Tambo International Airport (JNB) or the smaller Lanseria (HLA) airport in Johannesburg.
Kulula, whose name is often used as Kulula.com, is a South African low-cost airline. It’s a brand of Comair which same company also operates domestic flights on behalf of British Airways. Kulula flies to only seven airports (Cape Town, Durban, East London, George, JNB and HLA in Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth) but often at high frequencies. Cheapest flight cost about 500 rands (about 33€) each way.
Durban is airport is compact, modern and easy to use.
Check-in and security were not crowded and could be completed in a few minutes.
There are enough seats and several good and affordable cafes airside.
You can even play piano.
Most of the flights are to Johannesburg.
You’ll see many narrow-body British Airways aircrafts in South Africa, operated by Comair.
Boarding was slow. It was by bridge to the front seats and stairs down from the bridge, walk next tot he plane and up to the aft door for the back seats.
The flight was completely full and therefore I don’t have many photos of the cabin. It’s a typical B737-800 in a single economy class 3+3 configuration.
Bad surprise: seat 11A has no window (11F has one, strangely enough). There was a beautiful African sunset that we completely missed.
Push-back was at 18.15 and take-off at 18.25 for a scheduled departure time of 17.55. A flight time of only 53 minutes was announced.
There’s a buy-on-board service. This was a short flight and the prices are slightly high so not many people purchased a snack or a drink. You can only pay by card (no cash).
The cabin crew was friendly and smiling.
We landed at 19.15 for a scheduled arrival time of 19.00. Deplaning at Johannesburg Airport was easy and quick.
