I'm here in Brussels Belgium at Brussels International Airport. Now if you want to get a flight down to South Africa from in Europe there's loads of great options . You can go direct with South African airlines, BA. Lufthansa even have direct flights down there as well. You're just spoiled with choice for direct flights down to South Africa. But of course I'm not gonna do it the easy way. I'm going to be taking the long way down to Johannesburg stopping in Kigali Rwanda. And Lusaka in Zambia with Rwandair. Who are a small Rwandan airline who operate a couple of A330s on their long-haul flights to here in Europe as well some other destinations. So let's go and head inside and see what Rwandair have to offer on tonight's flight to South Africa via Rwanda and Zambia let's go. Before we go any further I just want to say a big thanks to Surfshark for sponsoring today's video. More about Surfshark and
they're excellent privacy services later in the video. Once inside the terminal it soon became clear that this trip wouldn't be getting off to a great start. So not even checked in for the flight and already we have a few issues. Their flight tonight is delayed. The inbound flight from Kigali still hasn't landed here it's still got go to London and back here before it takes me up. And it's not going to be a getting here until 4 hours after it was scheduled to arrive. So fingers crossed we may make it. My issue is of course I have a connection down in Kigali about three hours. Kigali not particularly the place I want to be sorting for connections to. So let's see. Staff: 1 hour One hour from the delay time ? Staff: Yeah delay included. Ok , Right ok So I have boarding pass in hand. They said that even with the delay there is still an hour between our arrival and departure which apparently is more than enough time. I admire his faith and I will put my faith in Mr check in guy and hope that an hour is enough time to connect in Kigali. I headed off to the lounge Rwandair use in Brussels. The Diamond lounge Right there goes the plane back to Gatwick So it's now 10 past 8. We are due to be leaving in two hours from here now orginally. Which actually could work out with us not being too delayed after all. I've just a notification for another hour till our flight now. We're now delayed until 1:00 a.m. Chances of making this connection looking slim. The plane has just left and Gatwick it's on its way over here to Brussels now to pick me up and take me down to Kigali. As it stands we're about 2 hours 40 minutes late which leaves me 20 minutes to make my connection in Kigali down to Johannesburg. What our connection is like in Kigali I have no idea I'll find out but I really don't think that's optimistic at all. Finally there was some movement on the ramp and my ride Kigali pulled into view. It's the sole A330-300 in Rwandair's fleet delivered to them brand new 3 years ago . In addition to the A330-300 they operate an A330-200 and even have an A330neo on order. I boarded into a dark cabin. The aircraft had arrived in from Gatwick and many of the passengers were still resting. So on board with the Rwandair A330. And first impressions are WOW This thing is incredible look at the seat. Full lie flatbed in little and suite at the side of the cabin. The seat controls are incredible look at this. You've got a massage function you've got a mood lighting. Press that. Your little mood lights go on there. This looks amazing. While the cargo was loaded amenity kits were handed out. Everyone seemed to get a completely different style presumably from different variations. I've got one of the nicer ones which have the usual eye mask , toiletries, a brush and toothbrush. The crew handed out a glass of orange juice while we waited for the last passengers to board. So we're now three and a half hours late. We've been sat on the plane for about an hour now here on the ramp still that Brussels. Had to wait two passengers who were late. So waited for them now we've missed our slot. So now got another half an hour wait so. At some point tonight I think we'll be taking off but no idea when. Finally we started to move and our engines powered up for our flight into the heart of Africa. So we're just lining up on the runway and some
been no safety briefing. No safety demo at all. Our route this evening took us across Germany and down over the Balkans to cross the Mediterranean. We entered Africa crossing Egypt , Sudan , South Sudan and Uganda. Before descending into the tiny country of Rwanda. Flight time tonight with 7 hours 59 minutes at a cruising altitude of 35 and 37,000 feet. Finally airborne from Brussels and I have to say my biggest concern so far , aside from the massive delay we've had. Is the fact there was no safety demo whatsoever. Not a manual one or even a video one for that matter . And I don't really understand why . We were on the ground, we boarded and we sat for about an hour before we pushed back from the gate. And then we had what a lengthy taxi to runway. And no point was any sort of safety demo by the crew or on the video. So here's a little tip for you when you're flying on an airline that doesn't give you a mattress topper which is actually most airlines in business class. You don't get a mattress topper. If you don't want to just lay on the hard seat Ask the cabin crew for an extra blanket , then you fold it lengthwise and shove it down on the seat and it makes a really comfy mattress topper on top of your seat. Tonight's service started with a dinner service. I opted for the scampi to start and the chicken curry for the main course which was spicy but delicious. The food tasted lovely but the presentation wasn't the best. It was very filling though and very tasty. After dinner I put the bed down to try and get some sleep. Right so I've had my dinner it's now time to get my head down and try and get some sleep. Bed is actually really comfy plenty of room for me to lay down straight which is always a bonus. So I'm going to get the lights turned off and get some sleep now so. Good night. So we've got about another hour and a half until we land down in Kigali. We currently overhead South Sudan at 385000 feet. Got a good night's sleep actually. The bed is really comfortable , plenty of room. Legroom is just incredible again I can lay flat out on this bed. It's really nice and private as well . It surprised me very much the seat actually. I have to say I wasn't expecting anything as good as this. According to the flight map we're gonna be touching down about exactly the same time as my next flights due to leave . I'm trying to think how else I can get to Joburg from Kigali. If I miss that connection . No point worrying about that until we actually get down there on the ground. Breakfast was a little bit less just say lacking on this flight with just a small bowl of fruit. There's Wi-Fi on both of Rwandair's A330s. You get 15 minutes for free or you can pay up to $30 for the entire flight. On the subject of Wi-Fi .Thanks
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away from the city but in a common theme for airport development. It seems is running somewhere behind schedule. And has had to be redesigned to bring it up to international standards. There are no jetways at Kigali and with no bus either , I had the amazing opportunity to walk across the entire apron to the terminal building. This is great for an aviation geek like myself but I imagine in the African rains it could be an unpleasant walk. Once inside the terminal it was a quick dash to the gate for my connecting flight to Johannesburg. Johannesburg ? Thank you Hi Johannesburg ? yes, thank you Attendant : Yes go through here. Hello That was close. You hold the flight for us . Attendant : Yeah we held the flight for you . Thank you Merci thank you. Thank you very much. I was left out to a bus for my next flight as the passengers from my inbound flight was still walking across the apron. The bus had to be one of the most elaborate airport buses I've ever seen. I rolled across the apron in my armchair before walking the last bit onto Rwandair's other A330, an A330-200. Hello . Good morning thank you for waiting. Hi Thank you The business class cabin on the A330-200 is identical to the A330-300 just with a few less rows. Right I made it . And relax. Pretty soon all four of the passengers from Brussels are on board and we pushed back for the next hop on my African adventure. This time there was a safety briefing and it turned out to be pretty cute. We had a pretty short taxi and backtrack out to the runway at Kigali. The Johannesburg flight stops at Lusaka in Zambia on the way. Our route to Lusaka today took us South out of Kigali to cross eastern Congo into Zambia. Flight time today was two hours and one minute cruising at 40,000 feet. So airborne from Kigali on the Rwandair A330-200 this time. Breakfast today was a fruit starter followed by the sausage, scrambled egg and fried motoki. A type of East African banana Rewandair's magazine is called Inzozi. Their route networks pretty extensive across Central Africa. With some long-haul routes to Brussels , London , Dubai , Mumbai and Guanzhou. When they take delivery of their A330neo they plan to serve New York as well with a stopover in Accra Ghana. The magazine has some interesting parts for instance a section on what it's like to fly on a plane and this crossword which seems to have a pretty clear theme. We soon started our desent over the next country on my trip, Zambia. Zambia is a lot drier and looks a lot dustier from above than Rwanda. It was pretty bumpy on approach to Lusaka to. As we came in over the outskirts of the city. We touch down into Lusaka and taxi into the small terminal. Lusako airport is having a brand new terminal built by a Chinese company. Which is due to open by the end of 2019. For now though we headed to the older terminal which was first opened in 1967. On the ground then here in Lusaka Zambia. Pretty cool really. So that's Rwanda and Zambia on this trip is so far and next leg is down to Joburg. This next flight actually is quite special to me because the next leg is my 500th ever flight. So wow it's a special one coming up and I'm really looking forward to it. Pretty soon we picked a few more passengers and fired up the engines for the last leg the short hop down to Joburg. A short taxi to the runway and we were on our way. The last leg of my journey to Johannesburg took his directly south from Lusaka crossing Zimbabwe and into South Africa. Flight time was 1 hour and 39 minutes cruising at 40,000 feet. There isn't a great choice on the in-flight entertainment just a few TV shows and movies. The last leg down to Joburg. I have to say after a bit of a bumpy start
back in Brussels I'm actually really impressed with Rwandair so far. They've been absolutely amazing the service has been great. The seats amazing and I've just loved my flights. It's so cool actually seeing a little bit if only the airport of these are the cities that you'd usually fly over in the middle of Africa. And actually seeing them up close it's really cool. And you know what journeys like this are why I love flying so much. Sure I might not have seen much of any of the countries I flew into , but to get a taste of life in these places onboard an airline from the heart of Africa on what would otherwise be spent 7 miles above on a British Airways plane. Is what flying is all about. Rwandair impress me so much. The seat was incredible , their service fantastic and their attitude to disruption of simply making sure everyone got where they needed to be going , was a breath of fresh air. Sure the meals weren't great and we did have
that delay and the missed the safety announcement . But when you get to fly through places like Rwanda and Zambia for a fraction of the price of the major airlines. You can't really go wrong with a little trip on Rwandair. My flight today cost me just over a thousand pounds for a one-way ticket. Or just under thirteen hundred US dollars giving a cost per mile of just 18 pence. Here then at Johannesburg OR Tambo International
Airport. After a great set of flights down with Rwandair. As always if you've enjoyed the video please drop me a like or if you're not subscribed already have really appreciate you hitting that subscribe button. In the meantime thanks for watching take care and I'll see you next time here on in flight video.
