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Part 6 -- Nice and not-so-nice airports
The airports used on this trip were at Phoenix, Atlanta, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Nelspruit, and New York (JFK). The new Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport (KMIA) facility at Nelspruit was one of the most beautiful we had ever seen, and is currently underutilized. The new Jo'burg airport is in the finishing stages of construction and will be a superb facility when completed. The Cape Town airport is slightly older, but a perfectly adequate airport that we could not fault. We also made fuel stops at San Island on the incoming leg, and Dakar on the return, but didn't go inside to see the terminals there. The deteriorated condition of the US airline industry is reflected in the condition of the JFK airport at New York. The place was run-down and dirty and nothing seemed to work right. The arrival of our SAA flight was followed by our having to wait for a half-hour on the taxiway before the ground crew got us into a parking bay. Then it took nearly an hour before the baggage was off-loaded and sent down to the baggage claim area. Everyone applauded when our bags started arriving. Because we had already lost more than an hour of our 2-hour time allowed to get to our connecting flight (minus the 30-minute closing at the America Worst check-in counter) we were in a hurry to get from terminal 4 to terminal 7. This is not an airport to be in a hurry at. Because the TSA regs require the claiming of all checked luggage prior to the Customs check, we subsequently had to haul all our luggage a sub-freezing half-mile to the intra-terminal Air Train -- which was malfunctioning (the doors refused to open at terminal 7, so we had to get off at the next terminal stop, catch a different train, then make another time-consuming round of all the terminal stops). This delay resulted in the losing of my seat on the Phoenix-bound flight. When we commented about the mess we encountered at JFK, a local assured us that New York's La Guardia airport was in far worse shape. Happily, our home airport here in Phoenix is a nicer facility. I suggest that you try to avoid going through New York. Atlanta is a far better connection point with a modern and efficient well laid-out set of terminals connected by a subway train. Arriving flights from outside the US go through the Immigration-Customs-TSA screens at the first airport landed at. Similarly, the first leg of an international departure gets the super-security check at the start of the trip (in our case, Phoenix) despite the fact that we were only going to Atlanta on that leg. But we were kept within a security zone inside the Hartsfield-Jackson airport at Atlanta while waiting for the departing SAA flight. Interestingly, we went through successive careful SAA ticket and passport checks before being allowed onto the plane. It appeared that the airline was taking the South African Immigration requirements seriously. But upon arrival at Jo'burg, the Immigration formalities were quick and cursory, as predicted by people in this group. Because the International Arrivals terminal was some distance from the Domestic Departures terminal at Jo'burg, and the path was through a long street-level construction zone, we felt a bit exposed to the obvious pickpockets in the area (one of which successfully lifted a cell phone from a fellow passenger). We personally had no trouble. Violent robberies seemed unlikely at this airport during daylight hours due of the large number of security people thereabouts. But being alert there is highly advisable. Cell phones can be rented at the International Arrivals terminal, by the way, and luggage porters aggressively seek your business. Luggage trolleys are provided at all South African airport terminals we saw -- free of charge. At US airports travels are charged $3 or so for the use of a trolley; and you had better bring USD with you on the airplane because there are no money-changing bureaus between the arriving airplane and baggage claim -- at least not at JFK. The Cape Town airport didn't seem at all threatening despite the fact that I had a quarter mile hike to do outside the terminal to get to the rental car office. My wife waited in front of the terminal with all our luggage until I brought the car around to pick her up. All that went well (once I got the hang of driving on the "wrong" side of the road-- heh heh). Departure from Cape Town was crowded, but went fine. Back at Jo'burg on the return leg, the path between terminals was on a higher enclosed level and we felt perfectly safe. We lounged in a secure area and dined at a restaurant called The News while waiting for our flight back to the US. Nice place with typically sumptuous South African meals, reasonably priced, and magnificently presented. We will miss that. |
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