changing planes in Johannesburg

We are booked on S Africa: An elegant adventure May 9th trip. We fly from Frankfurt to Johannesburg and change planes for flight to Cape Town. Those of you who have done this tour, do we have to pick up our luggage before going to passport control in Johannesburg and then check again for flight to Cape Town? I understand the domestic terminal for CT flight is a good walk from International.

Anyone booked on this tour? Thank you.

Comments

  • Can't remember, but usually if you do have to clear customs with big luggage, there is always a place nearby to re-check your luggage for your next flight, you don't have to physically carry it to your gate in the next terminal. Remember this is how it is done in the US too
  • We took this tour April, 2013. We arrived in Johannesburg early evening. We passed through passport control, then collected our luggage before going through Customs. When we got to the Customs area we didn't have to stop, it appeared Customs was closed for the day? After exiting the Customs area we found a porter who took us and our luggage to the Domestic Terminal section of the airport where we checked in for our flight to Cape Town. The Johannesburg airport is quite large and very busy, utilizing the services of a porter made our passage through the airport quick and easy.
  • My neighbor just returned from a trip to S Africa. It seems that the Johannesburg Airport is very dangerous. In her group, passports were stolen and men had uniforms on and led people to a quiet part of the airport for extortion. Be careful!
  • edited October 2014
    Hearsay can often be very worrying, not just because as with the children's game pass the message, embellishments can cling, but because there is no real context to the story. What does "group" mean? Did this "group" have any kind of assistance or prior advice or knowledge of this airport? Where was the "group" from? Did this "extortion" actually lead to deprivation of property? Was this air side or land side? Is there a primary source for the story? Has this "group" ever travelled before? To a foreign country?

    I would really like to hear more details before you throw a grenade like this into a forum that specialises in Tauck tours. Tauck travellers know that Tauck takes very good care of their clients and provides excellent travel advice on what to do, even before individual travellers formally join their travel group. The old travel skill of trying to fit in and ooze local knowledge (acting the part) is one of the first lessons a naive traveller learns. And that lesson last a lifetime!

    Speaking realistically, care must always be taken at airports, particularly these days in the US … and tragically more so in Dallas. Who in the world would ever have thought that? So, can you give more information that might provide real guidance for travellers moving through O.R.Tambo International?
  • We were in the JNB airport twice this last September as part of the Botswana-Zambia-South Africa tour. The first visit was a London-Joburg-Livingston trip. We arrived in Joburg at around 6 am. We were travelling alone (wife and me) on this trip. The airport was empty. No problems. The second visit was a Maun-Joburg-Cape Town trip with our tour group of 17. We arrived in the afternoon. Tauck had porters helping us with our luggage for the transfer to the Cape Town flight. Again, no problems.

    Granted, you must always be alert at any airport. Our transfers were smooth and secure.

  • TravelGuy wrote:
    We were in the JNB airport twice this last September as part of the Botswana-Zambia-South Africa tour. The first visit was a London-Joburg-Livingston trip. We arrived in Joburg at around 6 am. We were travelling alone (wife and me) on this trip. The airport was empty. No problems. The second visit was a Maun-Joburg-Cape Town trip with our tour group of 17. We arrived in the afternoon. Tauck had porters helping us with our luggage for the transfer to the Cape Town flight. Again, no problems.

    Granted, you must always be alert at any airport. Our transfers were smooth and secure.

    Is Tauck always at the Joburg airport to help or were they there just because you had a nice sized group?
  • jdurkin wrote:
    Hearsay can often be very worrying, not just because as with the children's game pass the message, embellishments can cling, but because there is no real context to the story. What does "group" mean? Did this "group" have any kind of assistance or prior advice or knowledge of this airport? Where was the "group" from? Did this "extortion" actually lead to deprivation of property? Was this air side or land side? Is there a primary source for the story? Has this "group" ever travelled before? To a foreign country?

    I would really like to hear more details before you throw a grenade like this into a forum that specialises in Tauck tours. Tauck travellers know that Tauck takes very good care of their clients and provides excellent travel advice on what to do, even before individual travellers formally join their travel group. The old travel skill of trying to fit in and ooze local knowledge (acting the part) is one of the first lessons a naive traveller learns. And that lesson last a lifetime!

    Speaking realistically, care must always be taken at airports, particularly these days in the US … and tragically more so in Dallas. Who in the world would ever have thought that? So, can you give more information that might provide real guidance for travellers moving through O.R.Tambo International?

    It was a small number of Americans who have travelled to a foreign country before. My neighbor is the primary source. She gave up money at the site of the extortion. I have no guidance to offer; I am asking for guidance. Is there a map of the airport available so we will know where to go and where the Information Desk is located?
  • A google search provides this site for the O.R.Tambo Iternational.
    http://www.johannesburg-airport.com

  • supersecdd wrote:
    Is Tauck always at the Joburg airport to help or were they there just because you had a nice sized group?

    I can't speak for other tours. Call Tauck and inquire.
  • When you fly from the U.S. to Johannesburg, you arrive airside and remain airside for your on-going flight to Capetown, so I am not sure how anyone without a ticket for a flight could be around to attack anyone traveling with TAUCK. Obviously there are no Tauck people at Johannesburg but they are waiting for you at Capetwon whatever time you arrive.Returning, TAUCK take you to the airport and you check in. We always go straight to security once we have checked in because of any unexpected delays that might occur at the security points. Once again once through, there should be no random people walking around. I know Non-ticketed people could wander around airports gates in the US pre 9/11 but it certainly did not occur in other countries.
    South African colleagues of my husband were quite concerned for us when we said we were visiting Johannesburg and recommended we wear bullet proof vests, yes really! But our Elegant Adventure was quite wonderful and we would visit again in a heartbeat.
    From our own experience, Paris seems to be the most popular place to be in danger of attack or pick pockets and scams. We encountere it twice in one visit, we have friends who had a bag stolen in a museum and someone else we know, her father was beaten up very badly in the face when he tried to stop someone taking his wife's handbag. In Rome I was almost knocked off my feet by a gang running from the police and a couple on our tour just managed to stop someone grabbing their bag. In my hometown in England I was again almost knocked off my feet by. A thief running off with someone's handbag in the market. Point being, maybe Johannesburg is no worse than anywhere else.
  • Further to British's point about …. the things people tell you.

    When I see posts that say stuff like … "Things are crook in Tallarook!* Don't go there!" or "They are mean to Calathumpians in France. Don't go there!" … I wonder where the poster acquired this information? Did the factoid come from an entertainment news source? Is the post designed to be alarmist? Is it designed to fan further feelings of resentment on the part of Calathumpians? Or non-Calathumpians? Or was the whole scenario the result of a group of people who put themselves in harm's way, perhaps out of naiveté? Was it a story that filled the dead donkey space on a TV show? Were the people advising bullet proof vests Causasians (as per the wording used in the U.S. Supreme Court**), and carried a predisposed view of the people most likely to be at that particular place?

    None of the above means that everyone who goes to a certain place is bound to be harmed or robbed.

    It does mean that everyone has to do their own research and be comfortable with the risk assessment. They need to decide if they wish to travel independently or with a group and then to choose their companions and/or group wisely.

    There is quite enough to be concerned about in the world at the moment without adding levels of panic. Important stuff … like … can I fit my DIY brain surgery kit into my carry on luggage? Possibly not the saw. Or will I need a full anti-contamination suit? Well, I possibly will if I ever get to another New England lobster dinner! Delicious, but dreadfully messy!

    Or I could cut myself with a paring knife in my own kitchen and I don't have a DIY transfusion kit, either! Bugger.

    * "Things is crook, in Tallarook". Words & music by Jack O'Hagan. Melbourne : Allan & Co., c1942
    ** United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind (1923)
  • No first hand knowledge. But a good friend who has traveled to Africa and other parts of the world on hunting trips reported being "encouraged" to relinquish some of his CDs(DVD's?) by a "uniformed (customs? security?) official" at Joburg OR Tambo airport. He was asked, "What are those?" to which he replied CD's (DVD's). The official replied that he "really liked" CD's and would like some. My friend sensed a threat so offered to give him one, but the "official" told him he would rather pick what he wanted. Then the "official" said that his friend "over there" really liked CD's too. My friend offered to give him one to give his friend. The "official" responded that it would only be fair if his friend was also able to select one for himself! So the friend came over and went through the small stack of CDs before selecting one or two.

    Now this wasn't a big deal and you can interpret this incident any way you want. It may have been nothing more that friendly conversation and expression of shared interest in music, hoping (this rich) American would give him a CD. The officials made no overt threats and never mentioned there might be any consequences if my friend did not give the "officials" the CD's. It could have been totally harmless, but that is not how my friend interpreted what was going on. There was no doubt in his mind that he was the victim of extortion.

    Despite being in the "air side" etc. of an international airport, there is no doubt in my mind that an "official" could make things difficult for a traveler if he wanted. At worst he could plant something in your luggage, make unsubstantiated claims against you, etc. Clearing things up could cause you to to miss your connection. At the very least it could be very stressful.

    A Google search will turn up numerous incidents of extortion going back a number of years, including this one from 2005 at this link, where an Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) security supervisor and an airport-based police officer were charged with abducting a Nigerian passenger from the transit lounge of the airport and robbing him of a large sum in American dollars.

    It won't keep me from traveling through Or Tambo if I must, but I will be extra vigilant.
  • edited October 2014
    Good points, Alan. As a female, I'd be making sure I wasn't wearing (or carrying) any jewellery bar a plastic wrist watch. No sense drawing attention to oneself, even by buying anything duty free which would mean opening a wallet. And I'd work out a way to have an identifiable kangaroo somewhere about my person and luggage. Anything that works and makes for a safer trip!

    Cheers,

    Jan
  • Very interesting Alan, then we should all be reminded to leave the fancy jewelry at home, keep our cash on several different parts of our body and most important not to travel with our favorite CD's. It seems that the African airports are al title less subtle than hte US ones where you probably won't realize your suitcase got rifled until you open it at home, if you ever see it again one you give it up to check in. I must check these links out
  • edited October 2014
    British wrote:
    Very interesting Alan, then we should all be reminded to leave the fancy jewelry at home, keep our cash on several different parts of our body and most important not to travel with our favorite CD's. It seems that the African airports are al title less subtle than hte US ones where you probably won't realize your suitcase got rifled until you open it at home, if you ever see it again one you give it up to check in. I must check these links out
    Ah, yes. That old luggage riffling trick. I'm glad it's not just me who's noticed that. I always feel extremely vulnerable in US airports. I travel alone and I'm not all that proficient in spoken, colloquial American English. I have learnt to get air side as quickly as I can and avoid the main shopping concourses airside as much as I can as well. Nothing I can do about people going through my luggage, though. Luggage handling in US airports is very rough. You do need sturdy luggage. Perhaps that's why people cart almost full size "hand" luggage on board and steel all the overhead first class bins as they walk past to the back of the plane.

    Cheers,

    Jan
  • British wrote:
    Very interesting Alan, then we should all be reminded to leave the fancy jewelry at home, keep our cash on several different parts of our body and most important not to travel with our favorite CD's. It seems that the African airports are a little less subtle than the US ones where you probably won't realize your suitcase got rifled until you open it at home, if you ever see it again one you give it up to check in. I must check these links out

    British, if you look, you may find similar reports about airports from around the world. There was one link I did not post because I thought the story too inflammatory and frightening. It detailed the (horror?) story of a solo woman transiting OR Tambo with luggage and a large box of school supplies she was taking to a (mission?) school. She made decisions about her arrangements that I thought were unwise from the get-go, but things got worse as time went on. She finally flew home, never left the airport. You'll easily recognize the article if you come across it in your search. I have no doubt she had quite an experience, but what surprised me were those who posted comments attacking her story and motives for posting. She hung in there and did a nice job with her responses.

    I know it won't allay some peoples fears, but let's take a look at the big picture. Compare the number of people who transit some of the worst airports in the world every day, I'm sure many thousands, vs the number of incidents of theft, extortion, etc. I'll bet it is very small in comparison. From what I have read, there has been a big increase in crime aboard those floating hotels known as cruise ships. People just need travel smart- at home and abroad. There are any number of travel magazine and web articles out there on how to do that. I believe I have read similar stuff on the Tauck website, but don't think there is a section devoted to how to travel smart and stay safe. Maybe there should be.
  • That's pretty much the overall point I was trying to make, Alan. I think you made it better than I did and in a language that more of the people who most often frequent this site might understand.

    Cheers,

    Jan
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