OR Tambo troubles

After 30 hours in transit, I'm finally in Cape Town, getting settled and ready to begin my vacay. I flew from San Francisco to New York to Dakar to Johannesburg and finally to Cape Town.

My 2.5 hour layover in Johannesburg turned out to be just enough time to get through the confusing bureaucracy and to get on the right plane. When I emerged into the customs area, all three lines (South African Passports, Other African States Passports and All Other Passports) had overflowed and it was impossible to tell where the lines ended. Consequently, I ended up in the wrong line for about 15 minutes before finally figuring out where I should be.

Once I made it through the 45-minute line, I collected my bag, went through customs, then went upstairs to check into my flight to Cape Town. At the check-in counter, the lady asked me what time my flight was, so I replied, "7:00pm" as I handed her my passport.

She checked my itinerary and said that I'd been placed on a flight that left at 9:45, but that I could pay to upgrade at the ticketing counter. So, I went to the ticketing counter to find out how much it would cost to upgrade, but they informed me that my flight couldn't be changed because I had used miles to purchase it. When I pulled out my original itinerary that listed 7:00 as my original flight, she acquiesced and sent me back to the check-in counter with a printout where she had underlined the correct flight. After a bit more confusion, I ended up on a flight that left at 6:40pm and was only 2/3 full!

I don't understand why they wouldn't just put me on an earlier flight, but I'm really just glad I got here.