Happy To Be Home

This morning we touched down in Johannesburg after travelling for a good 32 hours. We got lucky with the first flight out of Faro by being allocated the safety seats so leg room was not an issue. I need to remember these seats and pre book them as they make a world of difference even on a 3 hour flight. I noticed two guys in the other safety seats and they were so short there legs barely touched the floor when sitting and definitely did not need the leg room.

The main flight from Heathrow to Johannesburg was on the giant A380 and the plane was only half full. I tried sweet talking the check in counter for an upgrade to business class, but they were adamant on payment of an extra $1.5K each which I was not remotely tempted. I would just have to suffer in silence and go walk about later in the flight.

At around midnight I took a stroll into business class and poked my head through the curtain that hides how the other half live. Those in this section were already fast asleep on their flat beds and I was about to join them as I spotted at least 6 vacancies. I was not going to push my luck and head in to first class as any flat bed would be just fine or should be fine considering the price. Looks are deceiving however and I was about to find out why this world is ideal for midgets.

I grabbed the first empty seat and worked out which buttons to push to get my bed and it was not that obvious at first. The cabin was dark and I was not about to turn the lights on so I fumbled around and finally had a flat bed in place. The other passengers had scooped the extra blankets and pillows which I though was a little inconsiderate. I lay down expecting comfort, but it was a tight squeeze with my head wedged in a the top part and my legs flopping over the sides. This was British Airways and comparing this to my lavish treat a few years ago on Emirates this was definitely not worth the extra bucks.

I guess if you are under 6 ft like a @blanchy type build then this would possibly seem comfortable. I was dead tired so I gave it a go and it was a partial success being able to get a couple of hours sleep trying not to turn too much as the knees even touched a few buttons causing the side dividers to drop down making the ones who were once sound asleep wake up. This was a nightmare trying to make this work and during those few hours my snoring woke me up a few times lol. As hard as I tried I kept waking up and gave up on the business class bed idea. I am just too tall and 6ft 5 does not fit into a 6 ft cavity no matter how much you crunch yourself up.

I returned to my seat around 3 am not really feeling refreshed and should have checked in on first class instead. Maybe next time, but I will never pay for these seats and at least I got to test out the product for free. Overall the flight was great and cannot complain because normally I do end up standing for half the flight. Tonight I will sleep in my bed at least and wont have to worry about balancing whilst trying to sleep.