Travelling to JNB (Dl200) as S4 on August - Please advice

Hi all,

First timer here! :cool:
We are planning on traveling to Johannesburg (DL200) by mid August (14 or 15) flying back August 30-31 as S4s.
We have used the buddy-passes to other destinations but never to JNB.
I wonder if you guys can shed some light on how difficult is this route, what load is expected for Aug/Sep, average of nonrev per flight, personal experience, etc, etc
We are far away from our departure so current load is less than 50% for the days we are looking for; but that will definitely change in the next couple of months.
As an fyi, I'm not a Delta employee, so I don't have access to TravelNet.

Thank you all!

mpividal

Others with more wisdom on this route will give you a better outlook on these flights.
"BUT" beware of the dreaded "Load Ops" restrictions where even if there are empty
seats all over the aircraft the flight will depart with these seats empty due to Operational
reasons - Weight & Balance primarily - this flight is one of the longest flown by any
carrier and often requires a maximum load of fuel to operate with all the safety parameters
satisfied ! Bad weather anywhere along the route of flight is enough to cause this
restriction to kick in and prevent NRSA travel. Factor in revenue cargo and this can be
a dicey situation.

Welcome. First:
How many is "we"? Do you have flexibility to stay a few days longer if not boarded? What is the employee's date of hire (DOH)? No one an predict JNB history. Every day varies and tourism is very active on DL, as well a plenty of business travelers. Ask you employee to monitor flight for a few weeks keeping in mind this is winter and off season. This week has been pretty good to S4s but lots of middle seats scattered in the far back of AC and very few get to sit together.
Suggest you do search here for JNB and read first.
I would never advise our buddy pass riders to attempt ATL/JNB.
Getting back can be such a difficulty. We did have to use zeds to Dubai once and we had 25 yrs and S2 priority. I've been about 6 times and my stomach churns almost every return. Read the other posts first, then come back if you have more questions.

Thanks mrs767er and R.M.Anderson for replying so promptly.
"We" are 2, and his DOH is Apr/2012. :(.
Still trying to decide what to do, we do have some wiggle room on the way in; as the only thing schedule so far is KrugerPark 7 days after arrival (if we get on the 14/15th Aug flight).
On the way back we are flying back to Joburg from Maputo, Moz on Sunday and we may have 1 or 2 extra days to spare if we can get the Sunday flight back to ATL.
But again, looking the current load (Delta.com) for today and the next few days is not inspiring at all.

Love your choice of "not inspiring"! Well, the worst I've seen was 9 days buddy waiting to get back to ATL. Coach this week hasn't been too bad. Like I said, only once did we have an issue. My husband knew the station mgr at the time(he flew DKR/JNB as well as CPT routes for 2 yrs). Mgr chose not to bother w/nonrevs because they might cause boarding delay. We were 17 pax and when called out at front desk, mgr miraculously cleared us all and most of us sat business class. I'm not seeing that now (I ck ATL/JNB RT often). I recommend Sunrock guest house when stranded. RT free shuttle and great hospitality for about $100/nt. Several others slightly cheaper.
Are you driving to Kruger and doing self-catering?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mrs767er

Well, the worst I've seen was 9 days buddy waiting to get back to ATL.

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9 days…. did they swear off passes after that? :cool:


Some of you might remember the misadventures of my D3’s in Spain.
Not one has asked for a pass again. :cool:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Migflanker

Non-Rev Gremlins

Friends had planned their trip to Europe meticulously, but there‘s always Murphy‘s law AND those pesky non-rev gremlins. ^_^
The flights over went smoothly, this is the story of their return.
Now between sightseeing, shopping and trips to the beach, my Spanish adventurers did hear, from me and others, about an impending East Coast snowstorm. But they thought, we’ve always been lucky, we have backups and really, what are the chances of a huge snowstorm shutting down the entire East Coast in October.
So the morning of Oct 29 they headed for the airport for their once a day flight.
At the airport they were hit with the news of ‘Snowtober’ the Qantas and Air France strikes and the revised standby list. Uh-huh what were the chances. http://bestsmileys.com/fainting/1.gif
Surprising not all of this “lucky band” made it out, and so the ‘Picasso group’ began the search for a hotel for the night.
Meanwhile the lucky ‘Goya Group’ has their JFK bound flight diverted to BOS. I get a quick message, (on a borrowed phone because no one charged the phone in Spain) asking me to look into hotels and flights out of BOS.
I message back that the entire East Coast is a mess, and find out that the original message was premature - they won’t be needing anything because….
they can’t get off the plane in BOS……. customs!
Back in Barcelona the ‘Picasso Group’ is having no luck finding a hotel.

Sometime later
On the tarmac in BOS the storm is getting worse, the Captain is giving updates, the FA’s are busy, some pax whose final destination is BOS are asking if they can deplane and “just leave our luggage” and the fuel truck shows up.
Back in Spain the ‘Picasso Group’ finally find a hotel, somewhere between Barcelona and Sitges and see that it’s unlikely that everyone will be going home the next day - so much for “open flights and “never fail” backups.

Much Much Later:
‘Goya Group’ finally on way to JFK, but can’t get out - will be sleeping in the terminal.

‘Picasso Group’ aren't sleeping at all, people are running up and down the hotel's hallway all night.

Day two - the odyssey continues:

The ‘Goya-JFK group’ have hot dogs for breakfast - it’s the shortest line

“Picasso group’ up early want to get to the airport. .
Everyone hopeful.

Sometime later (Day 2)

'Goya group’ splits up and all make it home on various flights.

‘Picasso group’ most make it out - two left behind.

Day three
The last members of the ‘Picasso Group' make it home, vowing never to fly anywhere without checking the 14 day weather forecast again.

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Lesson learned!

I remember hearing about the manager not bothering with nonrevs before. Is that guy still there? That is absolutely terrible and should be cause for a huge reprimand, if not termination. And I wouldn't be surprised if it's happened multiple times. I get that he needs to get a flight out on time, and that nonrevs are basically hitchhikers, but that should be scheduled in to the daily departure "to-do" list, it's a basic task!

Nope, unless he changed his first name to Angela! I guess that's why I'm seeing more nonrevs getting on, even if only coach.

I know the CSS in JNB for DL. When your 2 weeks out I can shoot an email for you.

Thank you all for your help, but I end up getting a good deal trough SA JFK-JNB-JFK for 930 USD/ person.
That's only 100 bucks more that the price I would had pay for for the taxes and fees to issue the nonrev.
The chances of flying Business with my S4 seniority is almost zero; so we decide to guaranteed a "coach" seat :)
Will keep the passes for later on the year see if we visit family in Europe.

mrs767er,

I lived in Mozambique for 7 years in the 90s. So now I'm taking my wife to visit SA and MOZ. We will stay for a few days in J'burg/SunCity then fly to PortElizabeth. Drive from Port Elizabeth to CapeTown(Garden Route) , flying from CPT to Skukuza(airport inside krugerpark) and staying there for 3 days/2nights, we end up getting a good deal on the lodging and the games are included.
Then we will drive from KrugerPark to Maputo and fly back from Maputo to J'burg and back home (miami).
Really happy to be able to go back soutafrica/moz after almost 18 years I left (i was 16 years old).

I think you did quite well with SA airfare. Please pass on the lodge info that include game drives--would love to have those for future. Sounds like you will have the trip of a lifetime!