Pit stop in Ilha do Sal

Trip Start Apr 28, 2004

Trip End May 05, 2004

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Flag of Cape Verde Airport, Cape Verde
Wednesday, May 5, 2004

Our SAA Flight left J'burg at 5pm, flew 2 hours to Capetown, sat on the ground for 1 hour before spending 8 hours in the air again before refueling for 1 hour on Sal Island. Then took on a new flight crew and flew 9 more hours to Atlanta when we de-planed at about 9:15 am. We were slightly delayed on Sal Island and then by Atlanta flight control but even if we were right on time, you are talking about 21 hours straight on the plane without being allowed to get off.

The plane was an Airbus 340-600. I think they only started using them about 2 or 3 months ago. The seats are probably the most narrow we have ever sat on and the reports that you almost need to walk slightly sideways in the aisles is partially true. The leg room in economy is pretty tight as well. I was lucky and did not have anyone in front of me to recline the seat. Otherwise it gets really cramped. I have no idea how some of our fellow passengers could have sat through that flight given the size limitations.

As far as how full it was from Cape Town to Atlanta I counted about 5-10 empty seats out of about 100 in the back third of the plane. Some people just lucked out with an empty seat next to them.

The one nice thing about these modern planes is you have your own personal LCD monitor in front of you. You can pick from about 15 relatively current movies and start and stop anytime you want. There are also some simple games to play. There was even a live camera shot called "taxi cam" which you could view anytime from take off to landing.

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