1Time: Only One Time!
Two weeks ago I arrived at Johannesburg airport about forty minutes before my midday flight to Cape Town with 1Time. I now know what inspired the name.
At the main entrance to the Domestic Departures terminal, only the 1Time ticket counter was visible, and to the right of the counter one of the only two sign posts to the check-in counter I saw in my whole afternoon at the airport. The sign pointed to the left, and following it and another sign that later pointed straight forward, I found myself walking toward the British Airways ticket counter. The 1Time check-in was behind me, only vaguely in any direction the signs pointed.
At the 1Time check-inc counter the signs above the gates displayed only two flights, a morning flight for Cape Town, and a later afternoon flight for Durban. It appeared to me that I was in the wrong place for my midday Cape Town flight, so instead of wasting time in the very slow moving check-in queue (you can’t believe how slow moving), I mistakenly decided to enquire at the ticket counter, where the queue was just as slow moving.
Let me highlight here that unlike SAA, who had a staff member attending to every person in the queue, directing him or her elsewhere if necessary, 1Time seemed to have an extra staff member who did nothing but stand behind the counter apparently enjoying the low level of work his supervisor status had brought him.
By the time the ticket counter directed me back to the check-in counter for the morning flight (the supervisors were obviously too burdened with standing around to ensure that the time and flight number on the sign were changed in time for the flight), the gate was closed. After waiting an hour or two in vain for a stand-by flight (there isn’t much point when the flight is overbooked. At least kulula.com is honest enough to not offer a standby system), I opened up the wallet and bought a proper ticket on a proper airline, Nationwide.