The Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) made it clear this month that they would enforce their hand luggage restrictions more vehemently.
In short, this means passengers might not be able to bypass hand luggage restrictions to avoid paying checked bag fees quite as easily as they did before.
In recent years, airlines have used fees charged for checked bags to generate a new revenue stream. Although most allow you to bring hand luggage on board at no extra cost, if you want to put a suitcase in the hold, you'll pay up to R350 more, depending on the airline.