The South African Competition Commission have indicated that South African Airways and Singapore Airlines will have to pay penalties of R18.8 million and R25.1 million respectively because of illegal price fixing of flights between Johannesburg and Hong Kong.

The investigation began in January 2008 after Cathay Pacific had applied for leniency (so they were clearly better behaved, but not innocent).

Other anti-competition cases were settled by SAA without a formal finding being made. These further matters related to allegations of collusion in cargo surcharges, 2010 Soccer World Cup pricing strategies, and pricing on domestic routes.

low vision

Everyone worries about the absolutely blind and those in a wheelchair.  Not many in the aviation industry give much concern to those who have some vision, say enough to get around without a guide-dog.  This could be travellers with low vision, or simply someone who needs glasses to get around, but may have had them trodden on by an elephant in Thailand.

People with any sort of sight problem may largely have to take care of themselves!

The first and very useful thing to know, is that most airlines offer what is called a ‘meet and assist’ service.  This is often free and is available for check in, transit and arrival at the final destination.  You would have to provide certain particulars about yourself and why you require the service.  If you’re legally blind or partially sighted, it would be very unusual if they did not confirm your request.  Some airlines don’t offer this and it would be best to check, before paying for your ticket.

Now that we’re on-board and seated, what next?  Entertainment provided on-board helps pass the time on a long flight and has us feeling much more relaxed on arrival.  How can you make this more enjoyable, with low vision?  By making sure that the airline you’re travelling with provides you with your very own screen.  Not one of those flights, which I recently experienced, where there is one screen up on the bulkhead.  The Middle Eastern carriers, like Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways, have state-of-the-art entertainment systems, where you have access to video channels, music channels and flight tracking.

Some South African Airways long haul flights have one tiny television-style display at the front of the cabin.  Frankly, the chances are that if you are not already visually impaired at the start of the flight, you will be well on your way by the time you land.

The following advice may sound totally arbitrary, but it really works.  An airline with a logo that is bright and can be seen clearly, is a help.  This makes it easier to find the right check-in counter more quickly.  If you wish to ask for assistance, that is fine, but if you don’t, this is just one of the ‘tricks’ to travelling by yourself, independently.

Reading the departure boards (which in some cases is the only way you can find out the departure gate) can also be a difficulty for low-vision travellers.  The suggestion given by one observer, “use binoculars”, though maybe useful in other contexts is just going to mark you as a potential mugging victim.  You may need to swallow your pride and ask for help.

A320-200 seating configuration. Copyright United Airlines

One might instinctively phone one’s travel agent and insist on being seated in a favourable spot.  “The airline charges for that” we will be told. “What?  But I’ve already paid for my fare!…”

The good news is that one can often get that coveted pleasant seat with better leg-room, at no extra charge.  This can be done as a DIY Travel Expert, without having to use a travel agent, if you follow our guidance.

Loyalty programme

Firstly, sign up onto the loyalty programme of the airline you are flying with.  Yes, do it even if you anticipate that you will likely only fly with them just this once.  The reason is that in order to get you to sign up right away, frequent flyer programs often offer immediate benefits.

These may include:

• pre-seating at no extra cost
• a bigger luggage quota. e.g. Qatar Airways offers 10kg extra to their frequent flyer members.

Once you have signed up you can phone the carrier and bargain for favourable pre-seating. I recently did this for a passenger flying on Singapore Airlines and it worked wonders. This is not going to work every time, but is well worth the try.

Get the timing right

Then, there are some airlines, who although they don’t generally permit pre-seating on their so-called ‘entry level’ fares, will allow pre-seating twenty-four hours prior to departure. South African Airways is one of these.

Check-in online

The final and BIG pre-seating trick, especially on those nasty long-haul trips in economy is to check in on-line, as soon as it opens.

See our article on Online Check-in and use our Online check-in resource to go directly to the right online check-in page for major airlines.

Online check-in usually open twenty-four hours prior to departure.  On Singapore Airlines, and others it is forty-eight hours. It is very rare to find no decent seat available when you do an online check-in: Airlines always block an unspecified number of seats from being allocated before check-in.  For instance, in many cases, seats in the emergency exit row can normally only be booked at check-in.

The obvious boon is that you spend less time queuing, so at the airport you get to waft past those less-prepared, even if you are seated in “coach class” and they are in first-class.