How do I get out of JNB alive? [JNB Airport Help]

[Skyring]

I'll be transiting JNB OR Tambo in April. I'm looking for recent advice on conditions there.

I've been reading a few threads, some online reviews, and JNB sounds pretty dodgy as an airport. From the website, from Google Maps, it looks like a good, modern airport. Some refurbishing for the recent World Cup, apparently. But the online reviews age pretty quickly - a page in and I'm looking at reports from 2009.

Take away points:
The terminal is badly signed. Terminal A is International, Terminal B is Domestic. Loud and confusing announcements greet arriving flights.
Luggage, no matter how well secured, is likely to be interfered with and electronics etc pilfered.
Immigration can take a long while - an hour seems to be a common wait.
The porters will attempt to seize baggage, run off with it and demand a tip for helping.
Police can not be relied upon - they may delay passengers, inspect documents and just be a nuisance until they are bribed.

I've downloaded a bunch of PDF maps from the airport site, but I'm not entirely clear about the procedure. I'm intending to arrive on a different ticket to the DONE4 I'm commencing there, so I'll be arriving from Australia (or possibly somewhere else, not sure yet) and leaving for Heathrow on BA56 in the evening. I'm assuming I'll have to collect my bags, exit to the public area, check in with BA and head for departures. Or is there some sort of transit system for international to international flights?

 

[kpc]

Re: How do I get out of JNB alive?

In October last year, I transitted through Jnb 5 x in the space of 2 weeks:shock:, including one night stay at IC Jnb airport (PS very nice hotel 5mins walk from international arrivals). I found immigration to be fast and friendly, and whilst ths signs are reasonably helpful, if I was uncertain, a quick query, often put me on the right track. I was a bit nervous when I asked for directions to the ATM, this guy took me there himself, but he kept his distance when I used the ATM, and it was in a very public area. At no times did I feel my life was in jeopardy!! I used both the domestic and international terminals which are co located, which is very convenient. Domestic departures and arrivals are separated physically, so if you are transitting through Jnb on domestic flights, you still need to clear the domestic terminal and then go through security to get airside again (no ATMs airside btw).

Jnb airport has a reputation for baggage theft, so under no circumstances check in anything that you might be very upset about if you never see again. I think my checked bag was cut whilst in transit through Jnb, but they had a choice of my or my +1s soiled clothes so they took nothing! Some people recommend the luggage wrapping service but I didn't bother as I had nothing valuable in my checked luggage.

I did not do an international to international transit so I can't comment.

You will find that Jnb is a very modern, efficient airport (from my recent experince)!

 

[tgh]

Re: How do I get out of JNB alive?

I found jnb perfectly acceptable , a large, very modern airport with great facilities.
Had an overnight and a transit over a couple of weeks late 2012.
Friendly and fast immigration , bags out fast and untouched, no problems at all.

 

[JohnM]

Re: How do I get out of JNB alive?

I found jnb perfectly acceptable , a large, very modern airport with great facilities.
Had an overnight and a transit over a couple of weeks late 2012.
Friendly and fast immigration , bags out fast and untouched, no problems at all.

Exactly my experience in August 2012. A bit slow getting through immigration but I probably hit the early morning rush. Once through, grabbed bag and straight to rental car desk and off to Kruger. Seamless. Same on return.

 

[docjames]

Re: How do I get out of JNB alive?

Are you inbound on QF in which case couldn't they give you forward boarding passes, check-through luggage and then you just transit?

 

[bigjobs]

Re: How do I get out of JNB alive?

JNB is fine. Last time I checked, the bikies that killed each other at SYD are probably more violent than what has happened historically at JNB.

I have stayed at the InterContinental at JNB. It is located straight across the road from arrivals. Immigration was a breeze. Borders in Africa don't mean much to many people and are just geopolitical lines on a map with little relevance to them personally.

The airport facilities are great, plenty to choose from and the viewing level is pretty good too. The domestic & international terminals are in the same building. ATM's are fine, just use one in the main concourse area.

there are a few other hotels a few mins walk further on from the IC. you just take the walkway to the car parks and keep going about 800 mtrs.

Like a poster above said, we hired a car and went to Kruger and into Jo'burg itself.

I had my luggage wrapped and it was a hard samsonite case. nothing was touched.

If you leave the airport, arrange a car from a reputable company prior. Don't go getting in the taxi's (what we call a taxi) or the vans that they call taxi's. Don't accept any help from anyone who approaches you. There are official airport porters and also an airport help desk. You should approach them, not the other way around.

 

[casanovawa]

Re: How do I get out of JNB alive?

Transited OR Tambo a couple of times in 2011 and it was fine, first time arrived from MAD and got a taxi to hotel, next time was flight up to Vic Falls (so Int), then flew back down transferring to a Dom flight down to Cape Town and finally back up from Cape Town transfer to International side for flight to SYD...

All transits from what i remember were relatively quick and easy, airport seemed pretty safe, like most places just don't leave your bags and know where to ask about a taxi if you want to leave the airport (think i read up that there is an offical place to go and ask about taxis so that's where i went and booked and paid for it)

Lounges seemed quite nice, i think it was the SAA one on the domestic side that i liked the most which i stayed at for a number of hours before flying down to Cape Town, the lounge that Qantas use on the Int side was not as good...

But anyway, airport was fine, so don't worry about it just for a few hours transit...

 

[drron]

Re: How do I get out of JNB alive?

Thanks Skyring.Mrsdrron is already worried enough with our trip to Africa and really didn't need this to add to it.We arrive at JNB in a little under 3 weeks and transitting there twice in April.

 

[Skyring]

Re: How do I get out of JNB alive?

Thanks Skyring.Mrsdrron is already worried enough with our trip to Africa and really didn't need this to add to it.We arrive at JNB in a little under 3 weeks and transitting there twice in April.

I'd be very interested in hearing your experiences!
I am reassured by other posters above, but some people posting in older threads and on other sites such as TripAdviser or AirlineQuality have some negatives. SA police reports about seven crimes daily at the airport, most of them theft of one sort or another, but murder, rape and kidnapping are there.

 

[Flying Fox]

Re: How do I get out of JNB alive?

We have done the JNB international transit about 5 times in 4 weeks as we did various safaris around Africa.

I thought that the airport signage was fine.

Immigration could be slow at times but nothing worth getting upset about.

I found the airport porters very pushy and quite scary as they would run off with your bags (not in a theft way but more a follow me really quickly so I get money from someone else as well).

We stayed in hotels that had free airport shuttle buses (clearly branded by the hotel and approx 20 seaters) so we never used a taxi & hence felt safe. It was an easy walk to the mini bus terminal where all the hotels do the pick-ups/drop-offs from. One of the hotels was The Garden Inn (if you were interested).

My personal warning was with the airport money changers. Whilst changing money and having papers and receipts going back & forth the money exchange person 'forgot' to hand back my passport. Realised this at my hotel and the reception desk called and confirmed that the Forex desk still had it. Courtesy bus took me back to get my passport but they commented that this is the 4th time it has happen to one of their hotel guest in the past few weeks. At the Forex desk the person who served me refused to hand me back my passport but asked someone else to do it. Anyway, genuine mistake or not, I feel it was a scam.

I can highly recommend the Gautrain to the airport. Get onto one of the Airport only carriages and its very safe (6 armed officers per carriage) and doors were sealed from Nelson Mandella Square & only opened once at the airport.

Have a great time. Africa is beautiful as are the people in general.

 

[sweens]

Re: How do I get out of JNB alive?

JNB is now a very modern airport, dependent on how long you are transiting there I would consider storing your luggage...there is a luggage-storage depot on the upper level of theunderground parkade, near the main lift lobby in International Arrivals. Youcan leave any baggage at a cost of R50.00 ($5.50) per item for the day.

The Gautrain is the best and safest way to leave the airport to travel to Sandton just 15 mins ride. (upscale hotel and shopping area.) The Gautrain terminal is in the upder deck of the International terminal.see www.gautrain.co.za/

Immigration ques are normally fine and luggage collection is pretty simple...never had an issue with my bags being tampered with but i would keep all valuables in my hand luggage.

Warning the BA lounge does not open until around 3pm so while there are alternate lounges you would get a bit bored hanging around the airport all day. Having said that if you arrive from SYD on QF 63 at around 4pm it would only be a short transit time for the BA flight that evening.

 

[flyingfan]

Re: How do I get out of JNB alive?

I went through JNB twice a few months ago, doing SYD-JNB-CPT and NBO-JNB-SYD. Very expansive, multi-level airport and the signs didn't flummox me. I'm pretty sure i haven't traveled as much as you Skyring and even I've been to many much worse airports. I didn't feel unsafe and I wasn't molested by porters, then again much of my time there was spent airside trying the lounges There was a bit of a queue for immigration but nothing worse than MEL / SYD in the mornings and far better than LHR (oh the horror).

If I have a piece of advice it would be to exchange money landside - there seems to be some competition there but once airside there are only two booths and they're both Travelex.

My personal warning was with the airport money changers. Whilst changing money and having papers and receipts going back & forth the money exchange person 'forgot' to hand back my passport. Realised this at my hotel and the reception desk called and confirmed that the Forex desk still had it. Courtesy bus took me back to get my passport but they commented that this is the 4th time it has happen to one of their hotel guest in the past few weeks. At the Forex desk the person who served me refused to hand me back my passport but asked someone else to do it. Anyway, genuine mistake or not, I feel it was a scam.

... Or on second thought, maybe give the airport money changers a miss...

 

[Skyring]

Looking at the airport on Google Maps, especially with the street view and Panoramio features, I've got a reasonable feel for the place. It looks pretty much like every other airport in the world. I doubt I'll get lost. Well not more than usual, anyway.

So long as I don't go wandering around in dark corners, I should be all right. Queues and surly officials look to be the greatest problem.

I do want a stamp in my passport - my brand new double-wide passport - so I'll go landside for a bit. I'll be taking the QF flight from Sydney, in the back of the bus, so I should be able to get my bag(s) checked straight through to Heathrow and won't have to worry about them too much. They'll only be there three hours, and I'll make sure that they don't have anything too much worth stealing inside. Anything expensive or electronic or irreplacable will travel with me in my bright yellow carryon, and that won't leave my side.

I won't bother locking my checkin. It's another bright yellow LL Bean rolling duffle, and it has a big long zip which any fool may penetrate with a ballpen. It won't have anything inside to show up in a scan, apart from clothing, books and TimTams, and it is sufficiently scarred and scuffed and knocked about that it doesn't look worth looking into compared with just about any other luggage.

I won't hang around too much landside. It's a long flight from Sydney, and I'll be wanting a shower. My DONE4 starts in JNB and I'll have lounge access.

I do, however, need to have a cup of coffee in an African cafe. For this trip, somewhere airside will have to do.

 

[drron]

Well we had no problems.Signage is good.Long line when we got to Immigration but through in less than 30 minutes-we were on QF63.Not a worry with our baggage.Nothing touched and had no problems with porters.
We stayed overnight at the Protea off airport(there is one airside as well.Small rooms but comfortable and quiet and about 25% of the cost of the IC.

 

[dot]

Don't sweat it - JNB is a nice airport with good signage, great shops and good lounges (dont bother with the QF lounge, go past it about 20 meters to the BA lounges (F and J) - theyre much better and with showers for a refresh on your stoppver. I transited there last Monday - in from PER on QF303/SA to a SA flight to NBO which meant about 6hrs in JNB. I used the SA lounge for most of that time as the shops werent open at 2am when I arrived. I also had a trip to JNB in January (used the hotel car pickup on arrival and Guatrain on departure for tranport to and from the airport) and immigration was no sweat (arriving on QF63) it took 10-15 mins. I don't normally check bags but I did last week and my bag arrived at NBO just as it was suppoed to without any interferance.

 

[Wezza]

I'll be transiting JNB OR Tambo in April. I'm looking for recent advice on conditions there.

I've been reading a few threads, some online reviews, and JNB sounds pretty dodgy as an airport. From the website, from Google Maps, it looks like a good, modern airport. Some refurbishing for the recent World Cup, apparently. But the online reviews age pretty quickly - a page in and I'm looking at reports from 2009.

Take away points:
The terminal is badly signed. Terminal A is International, Terminal B is Domestic. Loud and confusing announcements greet arriving flights.
Luggage, no matter how well secured, is likely to be interfered with and electronics etc pilfered.
Immigration can take a long while - an hour seems to be a common wait.
The porters will attempt to seize baggage, run off with it and demand a tip for helping.
Police can not be relied upon - they may delay passengers, inspect documents and just be a nuisance until they are bribed.

I've downloaded a bunch of PDF maps from the airport site, but I'm not entirely clear about the procedure. I'm intending to arrive on a different ticket to the DONE4 I'm commencing there, so I'll be arriving from Australia (or possibly somewhere else, not sure yet) and leaving for Heathrow on BA56 in the evening. I'm assuming I'll have to collect my bags, exit to the public area, check in with BA and head for departures. Or is there some sort of transit system for international to international flights?

The bolded part is the worst part of the airport. Everything else was completely fine.