It all unfolded slowly, South African Airways was once a decent airline by all accounts, that was some time ago though. Now, SAA is nothing more than a failing airline beset by problems. It was actually sad to watch, such a decline in a national airline that once had a pretty decent reputation.

Unfortunately I had no other choice, SAA is the only possible connection I have. Qantas no longer flies to Johannesburg and as I found out, Virgin codeshares with SAA so I am no better off switching to them. The flight departure was delayed, boarding was slow and this could not be blamed on the late arrival of the aircraft as this aircraft landed half an hour before midday, the scheduled departure was half an hour before midnight.

So into Johannesburg late, even though I had booked onto SAA Express, I knew I would receive no favours. That is exactly what happened, although I had arranged with SAA cabin crew, as I was to find out, they just tell you what you want to hear and do nothing. Stepping off the aircraft, I was able to speak to SAA staff on the ground, but as no messages had been passed on or relayed. They were unhelpful so I didn’t mess around long with them as I still needed to navigate through immigration, pick up my luggage and check-in.

So waiting at the luggage carousel, it was clear that nothing was happening – fantastic. I was waiting with a number of retirees, they had connecting flights with SAA and although they would miss them, they would get later flights. As for myself, I was on the company charter so there were no other flights. So SAA was loading the luggage on the wrong carousel, you could hear them out the back all laughing and joking, there wasn’t much work going on.

Naturally, the luggage came out slow and the way the bags were thrown on the conveyor that they took no pride in their work. My luggage was the last to arrive – of course, so when I finally picked it up I was off racing. I was weaving in and out of slow moving people as I ran between terminals. I needed to change levels and terminals as I navigated through the traffic. As I arrived at the check-in counter it was clear that it closed, I asked the staff at the next counter from a rival airline if they were able to phone the check-in staff. They informed me the counter had just been closed and the staff gone – less than 5 minutes before, I had just missed out.