Why I Will Never Fly South African Airways Again

We began our journey, like so many others, with getting on a plane. This time it was South African Airways. I didn't think much of it when I bought the tickets, after all if your going to a country that has an airline named after itself how bad could it be?

Let's start with the seats. They were pretty narrow, and we're pretty big, so right away it was a squishy fit. The fit wasn't helped by the double armrest in the middle of the row or by the fact that none of the armrests closed to be flush with the seats. They all stuck out about four inches and were at perfect shoulder level height. It turned out to be more comfortable draping my arm over the arm rest so it was nestled in my arm pit then in any other position.

There was also a family of 5 - two adults and three children all under the age of 10 - who took two rows to themselves and proceeded to wake me up every ten minutes with their shuffling and horrific body odor. Oh! And the woman who wouldn't close her window shade during the "night" phase of the flight resulting in a brilliant bright sun shining in my eyes for four hours.

The coup de gras was the flight attendants. Now I'm not a picky flyer. Give me a drink, a snack, and a means to throw out my trash and I'm happy. The flight attendants of SAA barely did that, some were so rude that you felt like your mere presence on the flight was an inconvenience to them. 

The lack of order or rules made the flight feel like a long Chinatown bus to nowhere. 

But I did get free whiskey and delicious wine.