Flying Without Feathers Made Easy

Stopped in Dakar, Senegal, for some gas. I’ve done this many a times like that gas stop in Delaware on 95 on the way to Philly. The gas price is always right and so it goes repetitively. I have never gotten off in Dakar, but for some reason my heart pines for this country. The people of Senegal epitomize the height (pun intended) of Black beauty. All around me I’m hearing Zulu, Xhosa, English and French. The flight attendants are gossiping in Zulu and Xhosa about the problematic passenger who was anal about everything from the seat, leg room, overhead cabins and food while the E.A.S. security officials (local) walking through the cabin were greeting passengers in French and speaking to each other in Wolof. The door was opened and humidity seeped in not so slowly so there were clouds of condensation forming as the air conditioning was working double time. The flight attendants were freshly perfumed and whether it was some of the new ones who had come on board or the original ones who’d decided to pull out their little discounted duty-free bottles after what is already a full shift (8 hrs flight time) I’m not even mad! I would probably do the same thing. The women must have heard about Senegalese men – wink wink! Whatever it was it all smelled lovely J

My inflight entertainment was all very interesting and fitting for mental escape and remotivation leaving the country always serves. It included:

• MTV Base interview with Dangote where several selected young African future leaders excelling in various fields (a lady singer from Liberia, a Zimbabwean women working at the Tony Elumelu Foundation and a Kennedy School grad student, a Nigerian photographer/hustler…)
•  Inside Africa special on Victoria Falls as Africa’s adventure capital ß although at this point a trip there was castles in the sky, when I DID go there is all was sooo useful J
•  4 episodes of Mad Men
•  Top Gear where Rowan Atkinson was the celebrity guest and the souped up Jaguar XKR-S was pitted against the new Nissan GTR < - - #thisislife
•  Think Like a Man…had watched in theaters with friends so I eventually fell asleep on this mostly because I was thoroughly exhausted

Food consisted of curried basmati rice and a stew that looked like a cassava leaf or a variant of it, cheesecake, crackers with medium cheddar cheese from Oregon, Stonecross (Chenin Blanc and Chardonnay blend), and salad. The other option was meatloaf with mashed potatoes.

All in all, South African Airways’ branding is immaculate. Everything that can be streamlined and seamless is so. The emergency safety video is cartoons and features passengers not only of all races, but shows their African identities through the features and clothing they wear. That shows they didn’t just buy a generic video, but produce their own material.

                                          

-       The water  and the wine are South African and even the paper cup to drink tea or anything had a message written in Xhosa and the English translation underneath. Deliberate, mindful, informative messaging - branding at it's best.


Having flown a great number of African airlines (Air Afrique, Air Zimbabwe, Kenya Airways, Ethiopian Airlines...think that's it), South African is has the hardest working marketing/advertising, branding and PR team in my humble opinion. As far as travel to Africa I've flown other international airlines British Airways and Delta mostly, and I remember being most impressed with SAA's efforts and feeling a sense of pride because it is proudly African.

my travel buddy (baby cousin) <3 p="p">

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*@afropolitaine*