Due to unforeseen circumstances we regret that last night’s flight VS601 from Heathrow to Johannesburg was delayed overnight. The flight has departed this morning at 0930 and is scheduled to arrive in Johannesburg at 2035 this evening.

This will have a knock on effect on the departure of VS602/27August, which will now depart at 23:15 (Total delay of 2hours 45minutes)

Check-in will open as normal at 16:30, and we will keep two counters open until 22:15.
Passengers should check in at the airport at least 2 hours prior to the new departure time. Virgin Atlantic apologises for any inconvenience this delay has caused.

Reubens’s appeals to the culinary side of the soul and will be enjoyed by young and old.  Reuben’s at One&Only Cape Town will open on Friday 1 October and reservations can be made by calling 021 431 5222 or e-mailing restaurantreservations@oneandonlycapetown.com

Folk hero – Swat team arest for swearing at a plane full of people.  “To the passenger who called me a mother f*****, f*** you. I’ve been in the business 28 years. I’ve had it. That’s it.” Guess this is far better than emptying a 9mm on the plane – looking @ 7 years in prison.

Please note the City of Cape Town project below, i.e. demolition to Athlone cooling towers. This will impact on passenger arrivals into the airport as the N2 will be closed for about 2-3 hours.

We will be part of the overall project plan and will share details close to the time. In the meantime, please manage information to passengers booking for this day for flights in and around the affected time slot.

On Friday, July 30, the FAA announced that Mexico does not meet international safety standards and as a result has downgraded the country’s status from a Category 1 to Category 2 rating.

A major impact of this ruling is that U.S. carriers must immediately terminate all codesharing with Mexico-based airlines, including American’s codeshare flights operated by Mexicana.

Therefore, until these flight numbers can be removed from GDS publication, American has “zeroed out” availability on AA* flights operated by MX.

Passengers booked on an AA*/MX flight will be contacted by Reservations and given the option of being rebooked on the same flight, but with an MX flight number, or receiving a full refund.

We are currently assessing how this might impact corporate and agency agreements, and will advise of any required contractual changes. Updates as available.

Air Mauritius was using counters 1-7 in Terminal B while Cathay Pacific was still operating from Terminal A. Air Mauritius received late notice from ACSA that Cathay Pacific was moving to those counters on the 03 August. Therefore they have requested that we use counter 8-13 for the first two weeks of the move to give Air Mauritius time to advise their passengers of their counter changes.

Counter Allocation:

03-15 AUG: Counters B7 – B12

Counter 12: First Class
Counter 11: Business Class
Counter 10: Marco Polo
Counter 9: Self Check-in Bag Drop
Counter 8-7: Economy Class

16AUG-onwards: Counters B1- B7

Counter 1: First Class
Counter 2: Business Class
Counter 3: Marco Polo
Counter 4: Self Check-in Bag Drop
Counter 5-7: Economy Class

British Airways, American Airlines and Iberia have received the regulatory green light to operate a joint business on transatlantic flights. Following European Union approval on July 14, the airlines have now been granted anti-trust immunity from the US Department of Transportation.

British Airways chief executive, Willie Walsh, said: “This final approval is fantastic news for all three airlines and the oneworld alliance. We’ve waited 14 years to bring the benefits of the transatlantic joint business to our customers and level the playing field with the other two global alliances.  As we have argued all along, the EU-US market is highly competitive and Heathrow’s liberalisation in 2008 opened it up even further. We are delighted that the US and EU authorities have recognised this.

BENEFITS

COMPANION CARDS

As a Lifetime Platinum member, we would like to reward you for your ongoing support. You can now nominate a companion – who will automatically achieve Gold status, on condition that you maintain at least the equivalent of Gold Card status yourself, in terms of miles & sectors flown. This will mean that you and your companion can fly together, both have access to Voyager lounges & enjoy other special benefits for a whole year.

CHAUFFEUR SERVICE

The chauffeur service is still available to all Lifetime Platinum members. Platinum members will now only be able to call for a car when flying on First Class, Business Class or upgradeable Y, B, M and K Economy classes.

LOUNGE ACCESS

Silver Voyager members will in future only have full access to South African Airways operated lounges.

MILEAGE PURCHASE OPTIONS

If you don’t have enough Voyager miles banked, you can now buy up to half of the total miles needed to redeem a flight.

BOOK BY MILES

As a further enhancement on our website functionality, all members will be able to redeem awards, make Voyager award reservations and issue Voyager redemption tickets online. This is just another way we are making your award request process easier.

EARNING MILES

SECTOR TIERING

Sector tiering has been reviewed. This enhancement will benefit our members and will now also enable members travelling on regional routes to obtain a higher tier status.

THRESHOLD BONUS MILES

To allow our valued elite members to obtain additional bonus miles, every time you up-tier you will receive increased bonus miles.

SPENDING MILES

UPGRADING FROM ECONOMY TO BUSINESS CLASS

To improve seat availability for all Voyager members, only Y, B, M & K classes of Economy ticket can now be upgraded to Business Class.

USING VOYAGER MILES FOR VOYAGER SERVICES

All members can now use Voyager miles to pay for more than just a plane ticket. You can use your miles to redeem for car hire, health spa treatments or for a stay at Sabi Sabi Lodge.

UPGRADE AT THE AIRPORT

As a further benefit for our Lifetime Platinum & Platinum members, airport upgrades for Business Class can be done at the airport prior to departure, depending on space availability. This is valid for regional & international flights out of OR Tambo International Airport on a one-way basis only.

CHARITY DONATIONS

For those times when you’re feeling generous towards your fellow man, you can now donate Voyager miles to certain charity organisations.

BOOKING FEES

Members are advised to plan their trips and book earlier, as the expediting fees for Voyager late bookings have been adjusted. For bookings within 14 days of departure, R175 will be charged; within seven days R300, and within 24 hours R500. If you book online or do a telephonic award ticket there is no charge. Note: These charges are waived for Lifetime Platinum & Platinum members.

ONE-WAY AWARDS

To ensure that your miles can be used more easily, we will be implementing one-way awards.

SAA AWARD CHART

Certain changes have been effected on SAA awards with regard to the Miles required for redemption. Details of this will be available on www.flysaa.com and will be included in the Member Programme Guide.

COMPANION AWARDS

As this award has not generated significant interest, it has now been discontinued.

COMPANION TICKETS

This benefit is allowed to Voyager credit cardholders who reach the prescribed annual threshold of R80 000 and R60 000 on their Gold and Premium credit card respectively. Although this is a Voyager benefit it does not have any link with the above “companion award”. Visit www.flysaa.com and click on the Voyager Credit Card for more info on this benefit and classes that qualify for such bookings.

Johannesburg – Five plane-loads of football fans headed for the World Cup semifinal between Spain and Germany suffered severe delays on Wednesday at Durban’s King Shaka International Airport, forcing some fans to miss the match.

Source

This seriously is shocking news to hear for the WC – surely the airport were aware when the slots and schedules were booked? This really smacks of incompetence.

The comments below the article sum up what I am sure the fans are feeling:

first you greedy profiteers charge us R 5000-00 for a return ticket to DBN, you let us take off knowing full well that you have no parking space for the flight in DBN ,you then take us all the way back to JHB misplace our luggage. we not only loose the opportunity of a lifetime to watch our match, the loss of our accomodation , car hire , gautrain ,taxi’s . you don’t posses the common decency to appologise and even to reimburse us our direct cost!

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