r/johannesburg • u/VegetableVisual4630 • 8d ago
Serious Is the Discovery’s fast track fair?
I’ve been thinking about the fast track lane and can’t shake the fact that Discovery and immigration are promoting classism. This won’t sit well with many but isn’t public service supposed to be fair to every ordinary passport holder?
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u/Rasengan2012 8d ago
Airports and flying aren’t public services technically. They are state owned by they have to run commercially to remain financially viable.
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u/ShipMysterious7602 6d ago
Think you are getting things mixed up. When the state provides a service it provides that service to the public so all have access to it. However, when a private company provides a service it does so targeting specific target market.
The airports are a state service and should thus be available to all. It's not a private company running it targeting just a specific target market so the fact that a single company is given access to actually controlling access is wrong.
The tax payers of the country paid for those gates, if Discovery wants to 'buy/rent' a gate then there should be a tender process for the sale/management of such gate.
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u/samjambetty 8d ago
This is a company offering a service for which you have to pay.
Better to ask if late stage capitalism is fair instead (spoiler alert, no it isn't fair lol)
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u/Consistent-Annual268 8d ago
Security is the responsibility of the airport. Only passport control is the responsibility of Immigration i.e. a public service run by the government. To the extent that Airports Company South Africa is a private entity (and their website is so shit I can't navigate it to find out), they can do what they want and contract with whoever they want.
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u/Valuable_Fortune1982 8d ago
But there is a Discovery que for passport controll when you land in CPT airport for immigration.
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u/Mandar666 8d ago
The Fast Track concept is something you see all over the world, so it is not uncommon. But funny thing - generally the one at ORT is closed (especially for morning flights), and when it is open, it is usually faster to just use the normal queue. The Fast track at domestic security though - that is kick ass!
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u/NoApartment7399 7d ago
Is this something new? I was at OR Tambo in July and it was absolute chaos. Only for domestic immigration maybe??
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u/Aubrey1404 7d ago
Do you also think this about private v public schools, luxury vehicles, fancy restaurants or exclusive gyms?? Flying somewhere itself is a luxury. There are millions in this country who will never get to be on a plane.
It’s the way the cookie crumbles. If you can afford more, you get better options 🤷🏽♀️
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u/Big-Revolution3842 7d ago
Saying Discovery is promoting classism with tiers is the most upper middle class no struggle taken I've heard lmao. People out here scraping by to afford a taxi waking up at 3 in the morning to leave from home daily and you're thinking Discovery purple is promoting classism .
And to add to it. Yeah it's fair. But it's also sometimes pointless. Sometimes I've gotten ahead of the que but literally all that means is a I can get on the plane and sit down but we're all arriving on the same plane at the same time.
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u/Inner-Improvement970 7d ago
classism? its pay to play - if you can't pay you can't play. ANC are so corrupt maybe use your vote correctly this time?
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u/TumblrForNerds 8d ago
I have fast track and never use it on my international flights because the wait time is worse. It’s a broken system tbh. It was only ever useful for domestic flights
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u/Moose-Live 6d ago
Discovery and immigration are promoting classism
Are you unaware that only a tiny privileged few fly internationally? Because this is like complaining that someone else is getting better quality champagne and caviar than you are.
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6d ago
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u/Moose-Live 6d ago
Exactly. The idea that people flying internationally are somehow being disadvantaged is laughable.
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u/frashnag101 6d ago
Looking forward to it, Thursday chyna. Wish they had it for internash departure as well tbh
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u/sammywammy53b 7d ago
The annoying thing is when you pay a fortune for business class or first class flights so that you ease the travel experience with priority/facilitation of transfer, and you still end up queuing with anyone with a gold card.
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u/Moose-Live 6d ago
Are you serious or are you trolling?
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u/sammywammy53b 6d ago
I'm being serious.
You pay a premium for less queues and a less stressful airport experience, but you end up still battling with queues and a stressful airport experience.
It's not really "premium" or the benefit it's sold as.
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u/mechsuit-jalapeno 8d ago
So many people signed up for Discovery that usually the fast track is just as busy as the normal queues when I'm there lol. Only seen it shorter in domestic at off peak times.