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Booked our flights for Sept 6-18 2019

cathyandsteveg__

We booked our trip exactly one year ago...but yesterday we were finally able to book our flights. We booked main cabin extras on the AA flights. We simply could not justify the price difference in upgrading to business class. It says we are allowed one bag and then the second bag is $100...however my husband is gold for life and we have advantage charge cards which also gives us free bags. I am not going to fret over it...we can sort it out when we get there and $100 is not going to break us one way or the other.

We leave STL on AA at 12:40pm Sept 4 to ORD Chicago 1:52pm. Leaving ORD Chicago 5:10pm to LHR London 6:50am.

We will go to the admirals club in London. We checked and showers are available and shampoo, body wash, hair dryers are provided. We will have plenty of time to freshen up since our BA flight does not leave until 7:05pm.

We arrive JNB Johannesburg 7:05am. Leaving at 11:00am and arriving LVI Livingstone 12:45pm. on Sept. 6. It sounds like we can expect an hour to clear immigration and another hour to get to the resort.

We booked an extra night so we will have time to recuperate a bit before our tour begins the next day. I am hoping to plan some kind of excursion for the next morning.

I feel like the trip is now a reality and can seriously begin planning.

Comments

AlanS

Something we learned during our trip- just because the falls are not at full flood in April/May, doesn't mean the flow won't pick up in June or July, but all bets are off for Aug / Sep. Frankly by being less that full flood we were able to see them better, though it was still a struggle to get clear shots with my GoPro from the Knife Edge bridge. I had to repeatedly wipe big droplets from the lens area of the waterproof housing.

itskr

We went the end of August. The falls were not at full flow - maybe 50-60%, but they were still impressive. We were on the South Africa Elegant Adventure so saw them from the Zimbabwe side. We took an optional helicopter ride over the falls to get the full scope of how big they are. I don't know if that will be an option on your tour. If it is, it was worth it!

British

Yes Lathy, recommend the helicopter ride

AlanS

Or if you are adventurous- a micro/ultra-light flight over the falls. Also, if you can, book a window seat for the flight from Jo'burg to Livingstone. I think we were on the right side of the aircraft (in Business Class), but there were empty seats across the aisle on the left side and elsewhere- I hopped from side to side!

Three fantastic views out the window of South African Airways Flt 048:

Makgadigadi Pan (you'll see this up close and personal in just over a week):

Victoria Falls and the zig-zag Zambezi River gorges:

The Falls, Falls Bridge, and, in the upper left and just a short walk from the falls, the Royal Livingston Hotel (the long, gentle arc of small rectangular white buildings). To the right and more compact is the Avani (sister hotel) where there are two decent, casual places to eat (we tried both), Teddy's Restaurant and Bar and the Shungu Pool Terrace (decent wood-fired pizza)- you can charge meals at the Avani to your room at the Royal Livingstone.

British

We ate a very good dinner at the Royal Livingstone.when we arrived early, can’t remember whether it was one or two days, we walked to the falls, we did the plane flight over the falls and had wonderful massages. We just find we need to chill after long flights because the Africa tours are rough starting so early in the mornings. Good on you for having so much energy. Report back on the encounters.

AlanS

cathyandsteve, 6:06PM. This brings me to a question. Our flights are all booked ...however we still do not have seat assignments from Johannesburg to Livingstone. It keeps saying it will be assigned. Did anyone else have this issue?

What airline? What class of seat? Booked thru Tauck?

We booked our own flights online- open jaw Atlanta to Jo'burg & Cape Town to Atlanta on Delta and a separate booking/reservation with SAA, Jo'burg to Livingstone. We selected our seats during booking for both. I don't know how it works if you book a flight where there is a charge for seat selection.

If you are booked on a single reservation, say Heathrow to Jo'burg on BA and Jo'burg to Livingstone (usually on Comair a BA partner) but the BA website won't let you select seats on the Comair flight, try going directly to the Comair website and signing on using your BA confirmation number and name. Comair should recognize your BA confirmation number. I book very early (330 +/- days out) and sometimes I need to to that with Delta when my itinerary includes an Air France or KLM connection.

AlanS

It looks you had to pre-pay extra for a seat during initial booking or now wait until 24 hours prior to flight to select a seat during check-in or at an airport kiosk. This link takes you to booking info for Kulula, a subsidiary of Comair, which I suspect uses the same procedures.
https://www.kulula.com/flights/seating Bottom line, I think you may be stuck with whatever seat you are assigned/select during check-in.

This is what it says on the BA website:

Reserving seats with our partner airlines

_If you make a booking on ba.com or by calling a British Airways customer centre for a flight operated by American Airlines, Finnair, Iberia or Qantas, you can reserve your seats in Manage My Booking.

If you’re flying with one of our oneworld alliance partners and are an Executive Club Gold/oneworld Emerald Member, a Silver/Sapphire Member, or a Bronze/Ruby Member, you can contact your local British Airways customer centre to reserve a seat for that flight.

In all other cases when you're flying with one of our partner airlines, please contact them directly to reserve your seat.

Please note that you cannot use Avios to pay for seats on flights that are operated by our partner airlines.

If you paid to reserve a seat on a flight operated by any of our partner airlines and would like to get a refund, please contact them directly_.

AlanS

That is what I expected. Comair is just a licensee of BA, and like their competitor in SA, South African Airlines, aren't the most well managed nor easiest to reach to get answers. It is only slightly better if you fly First/Business.

Before our B,SA,Z trip I was unsuccessful trying to find out if SAA offered a meal on the short flight from Jo'burg to Livingstone- the website gave no clue and I received no response to my emails and never reached anyone on the phone (US number). We were scheduled to arrive in Livingstone early afternoon (just before the Comair flight.) We had an activity (microlight flight) booked soon after arrival and wouldn't have time to eat. We planned to sleep in a bit and were trying to decide if we would eat a late breakfast/early lunch at the Intercontinental Hotel where we spent the night, at an airport eatery, or attempt to access the SAA sky lounge at OR Tambo. I wasn't certain, but as far as I could tell, our tickets gave us access to the lounge. They did so we ate there. It turned out we were offered a small meal on the flight too.

British

😀😀😀😀😀 meanwhile, I’m wondering what happened to Nedda, I thought we would have heard from her by now. I ve been scanning the news and there are no reports of anyone being eaten by a lion or anything like that

Lotusgirl

To those of you who, on the front end of this trip, changed planes in Johannesburg on route to Livingstone airport, were you able to check your bags through to Livingstone? Or, were you required to claim them in Johannesburg, go through customs, and then recheck the bags for the next flight?

BSP51

Lotusgirl - This thread is very old. Suggest you post on a more recent thread or start a new one.

AlanS

Lotusgirl
4:22PM
To those of you who, on the front end of this trip, changed planes in Johannesburg on route to Livingstone airport, were you able to check your bags through to Livingstone? Or, were you required to claim them in Johannesburg, go through customs, and then recheck the bags for the next flight?

BSP51 is correct. The airlines situation has been a mess in South Africa since the demise of SAA and COVID.

At one time there were only a few ways to get from Jo'burg to Livingstone: South African Airlines, Comair (codeshare with BA), Airlink, Precision Air. If your flight from the US and flight to Livingstone (which is also an international flight) are booked with the same airline or codeshare airline, your bags should be ticket thru. Otherwise you'll need to retrieve and recheck your bags. While it may be possible to leave your bags overnight with an airline at the terminal if you spend the night in Jo'burg (e.g. at the airport InterContinental, where we stayed) and even if you don't need them and rely on a carry on, I would retrieve your main bags anyway. OR Tambo used to have a terrible reputation for stolen and pilfered baggage.

As far as the airlines go I just saw these press releases, "South African Airways (SA, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) is to re-enter the intercontinental market in the first quarter of 2023 and has announced its re-entry on some of its traditional regional markets and new routes that remain unde-served.Nov 4, 2022." and, "After a year, a “new” SAA restarted on a much smaller scale in September 2021. It currently operates just nine aircraft and flies only two domestic routes and will soon serve ten African destinations ranging from Accra to Mauritius.Mar 16, 2023

I'm not sure I would trust SAA.

A quick check on Google Flights shows only one non-stop flight from JNB to LVI per day on Airlink. Don't even think about a 1 or 2 stop flight, they can turn a 1+45 flight into 3+25 or even 20 hour flight.

Lotusgirl

Thank you, Alan.