Mango Economy Review Cape Town (CPT) to Johannesburg (JNB) and Bidvest Premier Lounge Review

Mango is the low-cost South African Airways subsidiary that serves mostly Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban. The Cape Town to Johannesburg route is highly competitive and there are several airlines with a regular daily service right now. I paid $70 per ticket for the one-way flight with Mango.

As at Johannesburg Airport, I used the Bidvest Premier Lounge at Cape Town Airport's domestic terminal, which wasn't as good, but almost had the same offerings of food and drink. The WiFi was very shaky here, though, and the connection kept dropping every few minutes. This Priority Pass lounge was really crowded, but it was rightfully popular for a domestic lounge.

We boarded right on time. In South Africa, passengers in the rear area of the plane actually exit the jet bridge and walk over the apron to the rear door.

The Mango aircraft exterior made a much better impression on me than my experience with Kulula - and the same on the inside. The plane was squeaky clean and featured slim seats with decent legroom (surely helped by the slim seats).

The plane was full to the last seat and there were plenty of crying babies on-board. We got off quickly, turned to an easterly direction and flew over Stellenbosch towards South Africa's biggest city.

The plane has on-board WiFi, but I did not have the chance to try it. Nobody seemed busy enough to actually do any work on this plane (something that is the most normal thing on most US flights now). Most people were just relaxing or trying to sleep at 8PM.

Our bags came out right away after landing and we were spewn out into Johannesburg Airport.

This was a flawless domestic flight with no drama. Check-in agents were quick and easy to deal with, boarding was on time and the landing went perfectly so as well. Given how disorganized South Africa Airways can sometimes be, the Mango subsidiary seems to run things smoother.

You can book your Mango flight here.