It has been several years but they were not strict
with me when I flew out of IAD with them I used my pack as my personal item.These days I try to cram everything in one wheeled bag and strap my pack to it so I am not charged extra.Delta and Spirit are the 2 pickiest for this that I fly.Spirit even charges for overheads but prices are so good there I suck it up they do let me slide my pack under the seat
in front of me at no charge.

www.onebag.com helps me with packing tips...

Happy Travels!

SAA is very strict with the weight of carry-on bags in South African airports. If you are flying out of IAD, they will not weigh it there, but if you have a connecting flight in South Africa, it will be weighed as many as three times in the airport. I carry a fairly large computer bag/personal item, and it has not been questioned, but they are very, very fussy about the weight of the carry-on. If it is too heavy, they will insist that you go back to the check-in counter and check it. The problem, of course, is that your carry-on probably contains items that you wouldn't want to check. My suggestion is that you keep all this in mind as you pack.

Any bag with metal and wheels is going to weigh much before even packing cloths.

There are a number of back-pack type bags w/o wheels (metal of any kind) that might weigh 2/lbs and then it's all cloths.

There are even carryon bags with wheels only on the bottom(no metal handle... just pull by the end hold of bag) that don't weight much.

Look around at the many e-sites for luggage... you should find something and not all cost an arm-n-leg.

What you might get away with departing the US can change drastically once in Africa... not something you want to deal with then.

We carry-on a lightweight duffle bag (one each) and take one of these:

http://www.brookstone.com/compact-luggage-cart-folding

It is very convenient and lightweight and carries both of our duffles through the airport. (and the really heavy hippo!) We also carry our cameras/binoculars in our small backpacks. I got a nicely padded one at the Sierra Club store for about $12.

I flew SAA to Zambia about 1.5 years ago. Going to Zam they were not strict but coming back they were very strict! They made people gate check carry-ons (mostly backpacks and roller boards) and of course, they didn't treat the bags gently, nor did they come off the plane first...

We also flew SAA within South Africa (twice so far this year), just to and from Cape Town. They were also strict and weighed luggage and put them in the things that measure the size of your bag.

I would definitely take recommendations on here in order to get your luggage under the weight and size limit. You may NOT get stopped but if you do and you have expensive/important items they might not be there when you land...

"put them in the things that measure the size of your bag"

Called: A luggage sizer!

Yeah, i had a major brain fart if you couldn't tell!

Based on traumatic personal experience, make sure not to put a lock on a flimsy duffel zipper since if you have to check it, they'll put it by the lock and rip off the zipper.

Thanks for the info

SAA has some Drakonic laws: they allow max length of 52cm
that means that only 20" are suitable!! other airlines allow not only 21" but 22" some even more
e.g.
http://thetravelinsider.com/travelaccessories/airlinecarryonluggageallowances.htm
quote:"The safe maximum size is 45", in the form of a 22" x 14" x 9" bag. Some airlines allow up to as much as 55", but most do not."

generally speaking, it's not clear what they mean
(they should start by saying 2 items are aloud...etc')
if a person has a trolly + computer+ walking stick she/he should send the walking stick with the baggage??

i'm gettin' to love AIR CANADA allowing 10kg+10kg=20kg on board the plane.... (and their site simply puts a drawing with dimentions...)

The SAA website lists the hand baggage limitations as 8 kg in weight and 115 cms or 45" maximum dimensions. Nothing is listed as to any specific length.

plus
(further Drakonic)
SAA allows 20kg max for luggage, and i'm coming on an international flight allowing 23kg (~50lbs)

that's a pain in the a...

Yes, Aby, but unfortunately you've always got to pack to the most stringent regulations. My neighbors are headed to Europe today and just found out a couple of days ago about the hand baggage regs for Czech Airlines... very similar to SAA and much more stringent than on their other flights. They've been frantically repacking!

Hi ShayTay
i just used the link provided above
http://www.flysaa.com/Leisure_master/Downloads/Baggage_docs/za_baggage_policy.pdf

which seems an official site
and there they specify...

and there they specify lengths