The overall experience on our return trip was good - excellent take off and landing - but the stewardess serving us was rude and had no people skills whatsoever. She did not smile once and did not greet passengers at all. When offering food choices, she could have been on TV the way she recited, "Chicken or beef." When the one choice of breakfast was finished and I expressed disappointment, she just said, "Do you want the fried egg?" When I asked for Rooibos tea, her response was, "He's going to swear me." She's referring to a colleague and can't even speak English properly. I had to ask her for milk. Her grooming was not great and while serving food, she scratched in her hair - most off-putting! I did not register her name, but we were in flight QF303/SA 281 from Perth arriving at OR Tambo on 25.04.12 and our seats on the flight were 64A and 64C. She was a young white girl with dark hair and dark eyes. This hostess could definitely benefit from further training in how to treat passengers - a little bit of charm would have gone a long way.
Consumer Complaints & Reviews
I flew from Polokwane SA8818 to Cape Town SA357 (via OR Tambo) on 9, March 2012. I collected my luggage and all appeared to be in order but upon my arrival at home I noticed that the loop on the zip through which one puts the lock on the bag had been broken. I opened the bag and found that my iPod Touch had been removed. I am not sure whether the thief was disturbed during the process but the charger was left behind. I not only suffered the loss of my iPod but will never be able to use the suitcase for air travel again as the bag can no longer be locked. I have photographic evidence which I can forward should you so desire.
Service was generally good, but all of that is overshadowed when you arrive in London with Christmas presents for your family. And despite paying to have my bags wrapped, some disgraceful/disrespectful staff employed by SAA see fit to rip the plastic off my suitcase and savagely rip open Christmas presents and steal a full bottle of perfume.
Unless action is taken and this investigated by SAA, ie, by cctv or lie detector tests for those on shift for SAA flight 234 from Joburg to Durban at 20.50 on 23rd of December, I will never fly SAA again!
On Wednesday 23 November, I traveled from DBN to JNB on SAA 566. My luggage was with me at all times from the time that I entered the airport until the time that I checked my bag in. When I arrived home I realized that the lock was no longer on my bag. I opened my bag to find the inner zip was opened, my clothes were ready to pop out and my jewelry was splattered all over my bag. It was clear that someone had opened my luggage. I later realized that a pair of silver, crystal earrings were stolen from my bag.
I do realize and understand that SAA is not liable for any loss or damage to luggage but it is clear that someone had intentionally opened my luggage, gone through my personal belongings and stole my earrings. I have traveled with Mango, Kulula one time previously and my luggage was never tampered with. It is extremely frustrating and annoying to know that we cannot travel with SAA with a clear conscious and knowing that our belongings are safe. Our luggage needs to go from the check-in desk onto a conveyer belt and into the plane. It is no one's business to open and go through our luggage. If the SAA staff cannot be trusted, please provide free luggage wrapping.
Concise summary for air your views: I am a handicapped person travelling alone. Being abandoned and having to crawl on the floor in the New York Kennedy airport greatly overshadows the otherwise kind, efficient, and professional courtesy I received from South African Airlines. This problem could be completely eliminated if you would institute a handicapped passenger waiting area in New York (and other areas that do not have one), as you have done in Johannesburg. Could you band together with other airlines to help ensure that no one else has to crawl to get to a restroom or even their flight? Thank you.
Details: While I can walk some, I have a condition where I dislocate joints very easily. I dislocated my right knee while going through security at Denver International Airport. Thus, I was already in pain starting out on my long journey from Denver, Colorado to Johannesburg, South Africa. When I got to New York, I had to go through security again. I explained my condition, but TSA staff there did not listen, and they promptly dislocated my right hip. Now I was basically incapable of walking at all. The wheelchair attendant, according to SA policy, left me at the empty gate 2 1/2 hours before my flight, with no wheelchair and no way to move from my seat (please note that I do realize that I need extra care and attention in security, and thus I deliberately booked enough time between flights).
I was okay, until I had to go to the restroom desperately. I yelled over to a couple waiting in the next area. Luckily, they did not think I was insane, and they immediately went to find someone in charge. That person said that SA policy is to abandon disabled people at the gate, without a wheelchair or any way to move from their seat. However, they said that just in this one emergency, they would recall a wheelchair so I could go to the restroom.
I waited, in increasing agony and distress, for half an hour, but no one showed up. My dilemma - do I soil the only clothes I have on the inside and thus wallow in my misery and soil for a 15 hour flight? Or, do I make my clothes filthy on the outside by crawling on the ground to the restroom, which was only 200 feet away? Not willing to make other passengers suffer, I asked the couple to watch my bags and started crawling. As the floor tile was slick, I dislocated my right shoulder while moving my body one painful arm length at a time. I was half way there when the wheelchair attendant showed up about an hour after my first frantic call for help. Now I was in the middle of the hallway, with no way to get into the chair. We grabbed a box and I hauled myself up, dislocating my right elbow in the process. Finally, success, I made it to the bathroom and the inside of my clothes were clean for the flight.
Thus, by the time I got to the Jo-berg flight, I had a dislocated knee, hip, shoulder, and elbow on my right side. This made the 15-hour flight almost unbearably painful. However, Thulani ** and Emmanual ** of Swiss port (073-466-8515) met me at the Jo-berg airport. They saw how exhausted and how much pain I was in. They did not abandon me, but they stayed with me to make sure I actually got on the correct shuttle to the hotel. They made it possible for me to recover without their help. I would have collapsed and been vulnerable to any kind of crime. Please thank them profusely and sincerely. They did note that they were not supposed to stay with someone that long. Please understand that their doing so may well have saved me from a prolonged hospital stay and indeed, may well have saved my life. They deserve a special commendation for their initiative and clear thinking and their humanity.
Moreover, the next day I continued my journey to Port Elizabeth. Grace left her post and helped me to the handicapped waiting area, where I got help and I was able to wait for my flight in comfort and in close and accessible proximity to a restroom. Please thank her as well (Grace, last name unknown, manning the premier class ticket line November 23, 2011 at 7:30 am).
Leaving someone abandoned at an airport gate may be your policy, but it is truly unconscionable. Please work with other airlines at other airports to institute a handicapped waiting room for all flights at all airports. Thus, we can check in electronically, the airlines know we are there, and we can meet basic human needs. You can even charge an extra fee for this. I'll gladly pay it!
I flew on SA224 JHB to Rio (GIG) via Sao Paulo (GRU) on Nov 18. Upon check-in the SAA check-in desk asked me whether they could book my bags straight through to Rio, saving me time to collect my bags is SAO PAULO as our flight was delayed and it will save time and ensure I makes it to my connecting flight. Needless to say when we arrives in Rio, my bags were not there and they told me it is common knowledge that Brazil Customs does not allow bags to be booked through! It was still in Sao Paulo, we will have to wait for the next flight to collect our bags which was 12 hours later. I had to incur extra expenses (R835) in taxi fees and toiletries / clothes to see me through the day. I want to claim these expenses back from SAA. Please let me know how to claim these expenses!
I flew to South Africa on South African Airways in September, they lost my luggage for 3 days, requiring me to "re-purchase" all of my essential supplies (having literally nothing but the clothes on your back before you head into the jungle will teach you a lot about prioritization) before heading off on Safari in Botswana. I received my luggage back 9 days later when I was in Germany. The total cost for the supplies I purchased was $575 (I really purchased only the minimum amount of things for a week and a half in the rough).
Two months after I returned, I finally received a reimbursement check for my purchases in South Africa of only $375, citing that according to their "system" my luggage was only lost for 5 days. I was shocked at how unconcerned and irresponsible one company could be towards their customers. So now I will be wandering the internet looking for any forum to tell my story and warn people about the evil ways or South African Airways.
Also, I should mention that on my flight, they forgot to bring headphones on the plane. Anyone who did not bring their own was not able to watch the in flight entertainment. They also did not bring enough food so instead of having your choice of a meat or vegetarian dish, you got whatever was left over. Altogether a pretty disappointing experience.
We booked 2 flights from Johannesburg to Accra on 22nd September 2011. Flight booked for 02nd January 2012. We paid in full. Due to circumstances outside of our control, we have had to cancel these bookings today (31st October 2011. 2 months before the flight). We have however been informed that these were non-refundable tickets! If this is not daylight robbery, then I do not know what this is!
I booked a flight with SAA airline on July 24. There seemed to have been an error (either done on purpose or not) on their airline's website in processing my payment and two different credit cards were charged for the same passenger traveling on the same airline, on the same dates. Two different reservations were created for the same passenger traveling the same airline on the same date. How can the airline allow this?
Is there a loophole in the SAA website in presenting the consumer an error when submitting the credit card payment and allowing them to try another credit card yet in the end charge both credit cards and create two separate reservations for the same person? When a complaint is submitted, they end up trying to keep part of the money, in my case $300. When I contacted the airline refund department immediately after the booking, they refunded $1,059 of the $1,359. I m still missing $300.
After I questioned the additional $300, the response can be found below. Note that I am not cancelling one reservation for personal reasons; it was a duplicate error. I am still keeping one reservation.
"The refund amount of $1,059.22 is correct, and no additional refund is to be refunded. Please allow me to explain our position regarding canceled reservations and refunds. Promotional tariffs require approval by the governments of countries to which they apply. To advertise and market these airfares, an airline must enforce the rules or face discipline or fines by the regulatory bodies. Consequently, by cancelling this ticket, we are not able to counteract the rules and the cancellation penalties applies. A wide variety of fares were available for the journey planned, the discounted one chosen had a cancellation penalty. So that there could be no misunderstanding, the tickets indicated that restrictions apply. Additionally, it is for situations like these that we recommend all our valued passengers to purchase travel insurance.
Having traveled on mostly Asian airlines these past five years or so, I've been used to a level of service that is not easily comprehensible to others who have not. The service that such airlines like Emirates, Singapore, Cathay Pacific, etc. provide is bar none. So when I boarded my flight on SAA flight SA203 from JHB to JFK, I wasn't expecting those kinds of service levels, but neither was I expecting the kind of apathy and total lack of regard for the customers on the flight that was given.
The SAA staff really were the biggest bunch of lazy staff I've ever came across. Not only would they answer any question in a brusk and downright rude way, but they were also nowhere to be seen on the entire flight. No one came around with a drinks tray asking if we'd like something to drink or snack on. If we did use the call button, the attitude was just so unbecoming that my neighbor next to me, who was a stranger, and I would look at each other wondering if we were imagining the displays of apathy and rudeness.
Also, the toilets. Oh my. For staff who don't seem to be doing anything during a 10-hour flight, is cleaning the toilet once every few hours too much to ask? It was disgusting. Worse than a public toilet in a public park in the worst neighborhoods of South Africa. I am so disappointed that this is the level of service SAA provides and that they are totally okay with it. Now, I have another return flight which I am really not looking forward to. Next time, I will just pay that extra few thousand rands and fly Emirates. What I would really like is to complain directly to SAA, but there doesn't seem to be a medium to this online? I guess I will have to go directly to their offices when I am back home.
South Airways still has a lot to learn from global carriers and I still don't understand how they managed to become part of the Star Alliance network. My flight to Accra (SA 052) was just a statement that SAA's service is of a two-star airline and not a four-star as they claim to be.
Check-in Online: Why does SAA offer online check-in if there are no special drop-off luggage counters at the airport? I almost missed my flight because even after performing the online check-in procedure, I had to be in the same line at the airport as all the other passengers. I asked the attendant why they don't have special drop-off counters as all other airlines and she said that she had no idea that such counters existed.
Seating: I chose my seat online while checking in (45 K) and confirmed this when I received my boarding pass at the airport. I got to the boarding gate and the attendant told me that the seats were canceled and no passengers were allowed to seat in the 45 row. I asked the reason and she had no answer. I was allocated a different seat at the back of the aircraft and to my surprise when I boarded the flight, I saw passengers seating on the 45 row. Why was I bumped off my seat if I carefully selected 45 K on the online check-in and was confirmed on my boarding pass?
Special Meal: As usual, with all my trips in many different airlines, I always request a Moslem Meal (MOML) well in advance. I did for my SA 052 flight as well. The hostess served everyone a meal and I asked for my special meal. The answer was, "no sir, you didn't request any special meal". I showed the confirmation and she insisted that "no sir, you didn't request a special meal otherwise, they would have loaded on this flight" (typical SAA). I'm looking forward at SAA's response.
