I am flying SAA from Kinshasa to Cape Town with a stop in Joburg. I presume I will have to get my bags and go through immigration, right? How long do I need to plan for that? The ticket I plan to buy on SAA gives me a 1:35 layover. Not enough?

thanks!

NOT ENOUGH - definitely!

You might be lucky if you can check through to Cape Town. But let's assume you can't and have a delay........

Don't put yourself under pressure creating a artificial stress.

I would at least go for a 2,5 - 3hrs layover and enjoy some very good food at the food court and the new terminal/shops etc.

thanks spassvogel. It looks like the longest connection I can get (without staying overnight in Joburg) is 2:25. I really don't want to overnight in Joburg... Is 2:25 enough?

Can anyone comment on whether it's usually possible to check bags all the way through to final destination? If I could avoid getting bags in Joburg that would make life much easier!

Your bags can be tagged "thru" to CPT, but on arrival any country where you have to go thru Immigration, you also have to collect your bag/s and re-check them for the ongoing domestic flight. The 2.25/hrs should be sufficient to accomplish this.

Funny- ! have the same exact time on my layover from the states (September 9th). I called SAA Friday to check this for myself. The rep from SAA told me not to worry one bit, they do it everyday with minimal problems. We will go through a special "traveler's" customs. They'll look in the bags and then get them onto a conveyor belt to your next flight. I'm traveling alone and this is only the third time I've ever flown so I was kinda getting very anxious about it. Plus, he said, flights go from JNB to CPT every 45 minutes or so, worse comes to worse, you just get onto the next flight

Go for the 2:25 connection time. That should be good - as long as there is no delay coming from Kinshasa.

In case you realise late departure from Kninshasa make sure the flight attendant knows you are connecting in JNB! That way they can prepare the ground for swift connection!

Happy travels!

Just returned! Great trip... this connection was no problem. The hour 35 minutes was plenty of time to make it through customs and passport control and I even had time to stop and set up a Vodacom account before boarding the plane to CPT. Hope this helps!

Thanks for the followup.
Happy you had great trip.

regards - tom