Talk:South African Airways

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Contents 1 Service in Afrikaans at SAA 2 Alliance 3 Longest Nonstop Flight? 4 Washroom Amenities 5 Incidents: more information needed 6 Pic of Ndizani 7 Is SAA really profitable 8 Afrikaans 9 Aircraft, number of

[edit] Service in Afrikaans at SAA

Does SAA have Afrikaans-speaking flight attendants to serve Afrikaanse speakers ? Are announcements given in both Afrikaans and English, or in English only ? 161.24.19.82 18:05, 8 June 2006 (UTC)

The primary language of the airline is English, but very often the South African crew can speak Afrikaans as well. Announcements are generally in English. -- Chris Lester ^talk 20:11, 8 June 2006 (UTC)

To my experience, the "standard" announcements (flight security, welcome and so on) are usually made in English and in the language of the destination country. The goodbye announcement is usually also announced in some other South African languages (Xhosa, Afrikaans), if I remember correctly. --80.139.178.28 12:02, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Alliance

I have removed the link to Alliance as part of a disambiguity repair sweep. Ultimately, if this link needs to be here, it should point to an article on Alliance, the airline, not the disambiguation page. Anjin^talk 21:32, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Longest Nonstop Flight?

I have heard that South African Airways' nonstop flight from Johannesburg to New York JFK is the currently longest nonstop flight in the world. Can anyone confirm? Quacks Like a Duck 20:32, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

The flight is not non-stop; it operates via Dakar. Therefore that claim is false. A while back (2000), the longest flight in the world was operated Atlanta - Johannesburg direct by SAA, but that has been discontinued. -- Chris Lester ^talk 11:08, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Washroom Amenities

I was just on a website that had a picture of the first-class washroom amenities on SAA, and I noticed a bottle labeled "shower mist". Does this mean the plane has showers? Naj 16:40, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

Nope...no showers. -- Chris Lester ^talk 19:15, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Incidents: more information needed

This page is generally well written and non partisan, however I feel more information is needed on "incidents".

The first was the "Gemsbok", a Vickers Viscount that went down off the Transkei coast (ca. late '50's, early '60's). The second was a Boeing 707 that crashed shortly after taking off from Windhoek airport en-route to New York (1967?). The cause was determined to be due to the pilot retracting the extendable flaps too soon after take off. The accident led to major revision in take off procedures of all airlines. I also remember a TV documentary on SAA where it came out that an attempted hijacking of a B 727 some time in the '70's occurred. The hijacker wanted to fly to Maputo, however the flight crew pursuaded him that there was not enough fuel and landed safely in Jhb. (Don't know what happened to the hijacker). 82.205.219.195 14:20, 6 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Pic of Ndizani

Anyone got a picture of the Ndizani plane to upload? I remember seeing it before and after the Olympics; should defintly be up there with the other (less colourful!) planes. Shado.za 10:04, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Is SAA really profitable

In recent years, SAA has been known to be very unprofitable, only carrying on due to government handouts. Thus the claim is that SAA is Africa's most profitable airline is, in all likelihood false. If you want evidence look here Pure_Oxygen

[edit] Afrikaans

If you didn't notice almost everybody speaks English in South Africa. But most people speak Afrikaans as a first language. (Especially by the white and coloured population.)Then why does South African Airways only have a website in English and one in German. They do not consider thinking about the wide Vareity of cultures and languages in Republiek van Suid-Afrika. I am here to Commemorate a small section of this page to Afrikaans, South Africa, and to Afrikaaners.(and I didn't want to make a whole new Wikipedia account for Afrikaans.) Hallo. Hoe gaan dit? Wat is jou naam? My naam is Brian. Ek kan nie goed Afrikaans praat nie. Praat jy Engels[1]? Praat jy like Suid-Afrikaanse Lugdiens[2]?Baai. Hello. How are you? what is your name? My name is Brian. I can't speak Afrikaans well. Do you speak English? Do you like South African Airways. Bye. (I put the word like in the sentence "Praat jy like Suid-Afrikaanse Lugdiens[3]?" because i didn't know how to say like in Afrikaans.

(The above post by User:Bbudik1001 was transferred here from the main page)

[edit] Aircraft, number of

Can someone please clarify - there is is contradiction in terms of the number of planes. The table at the top gives a different number than the breakdown. -- Chris Lester ^talk 12:39, 17 March 2007 (UTC)