Kulula
Reviews and Complaints

I had flights scheduled during lock down level 5. When I wanted to use the tickets for flights in December 2020, I was told I can only use the tickets from February 2021. I had to pay for new tickets for my December flights and were told that the money of the first tickets can go into a kulula credit account (tbcredit). I applied for tbcredit, received a response with a kulula tbcredit number. Since February I'm enquiring about the funds in the account, the response I received thus far is: "there is not an account", "the funds were paid out, I will follow up and call you back".

🙄 Still no response from Kulula.

Is this an airline or a new scam company?

Regards
Raymond.[protected]@nokia.com
R Williams
[protected]

To whom it may concern;

It is with utmost disappointment that I write to you today. On thursday 13 february 2020 at 15:37 I called your call centre on behalf of my son. I called to enquire about costs if I changed his flight from durban to lanseria from friday 14 february 2020 to a later date as he had come to johannesburg earlier and was no longer in need of the flight. As my conversation with the agent proceeded he deliberately asked me... Will your son still be utilising his flight from lanseria to durban sunday 16.02.2020? To which I clearly responded yes and reiterated at a later stage as well that I was only calling about the one flight and not both. To which my understanding the fact that I only enquired about changing one flight and not agreeing to the ridiculous suggested amount that he had to pay in to change it was not acceptable, was the end of the supposed "enquiry".

What a nightmare I was not aware what was about to unfold on our arrival at lanseria airport on sunday for his return to durban. Only to be told at check in his flight was cancelled. An absolute joke. My son was told by the assistant that his flight was cancelled due to the fact that he was considered a "no show" which apparently automatically also cancelled his return flight never mind the fact that we called in to verify 4 four days prior to this flight that he was still flying to durban as he booked and paid. Only to be advised that there is a loyal note on the system that the airline tried to call him after the call was cut but conveniently did not get an answer. I am telling you this is a joke and I am livered to say the least and will do everything in my power to expose this bad treatment to every possible extent.

My son was forced to buy another ticket hence the fact that we made an effort to call and advice / confirm that he would not be utilising his flight to lanseria but will still be using his ticket on return, however your agent neglected to make the sufficient and correct notes on your system which reflects to only one thing, insufficient training!

I now in return request the following:
1. Proof that the airline attempted to call either him or myself on thursday 13 february 2020 to confirm his flight as they suggest is noted on the system.

2. Proof that his seat was filled by another person and that is why he could not utilise his paid in full seat as confirmed by myself via telephone on thursday 13.02.2020 at 15:37. As I consider this as fraud. You cannot sell a seat two times. And if his seat was not filled then I demand a sufficient explanation as to why when sufficient notification was provided he was still prevented to access his paid flight ticket and why no notes were made on the system? We have done the relevant arrangements by notifying the airline firstly that he would not be utilising his seat from durban to jhb but will be using his return ticket. Your agent had neglected to make correct notes on the system. Result is my son had to incur unnecessary and additional petrol costs to the value of r400.00 as well as purchase a new ticket. Both the agent at the office as well as the agent that took my call was unable to assist in an efficient manner. The agent at the office simply said she cannot help as she has to work according to the notes on the system... What notes? An absolute joke! The agent in the call centre advised on my instruction they will have to listen to the recording... And added repeatedly if I am correct and if what I am saying is true. What an insult to my intelligence! If this agent was properly trained she would have advised me of the following. That the procedure is to listen to the recording, not me insist on it. Also not once did she tell me it would not happen straight away I guess I would have to assume this will only happen in and during office hours, however gladly offered a supervisor would contact me, which also has not happened so that too probably only happens in office hours.

3. A copy of the recording of the telephone call of thursday 13.02.2020 @ 15:37
4. Reimbursement of his ticket that was forfeited due to neglect on kulula's behalf as well as the r400.00 petrol that he had to lay out.
Have you ever taken the time to think of the implications of your negligent actions? What if my son had to urgently get to durban, what if his job depended on this flight. Not everybody has the additional r900.00. What a disgrace and absolute disappointment.

not anywhere on the checking list or forms off Kulula do they say that golf balls are not allowed in hand luggage.
my balls was confiscated on my flight the 7/11
please send me a document of some kind were it says no golf balls in hand luggage.
also the person checking in should see you are checking in a golf bag and tell you that no balls are allowed in hand luggage.

Good day

For many years I was part of the Comair (BA/Kulula) family whereas I worked for them as a Flight Attendant. I was extremely proud to be part of this company...until I travelled as n passenger 3 weeks ago.

Unfortunately, due to traffic/parking set-backs that early Friday morning, I arrived few minutes late @ check-in counters - for my Kulula flight to CPT.

At Check-in counter, I was informed that gates are already closed and then he referred me to the Ticket Sales counters. The lack of assistance/help from the Staff member was not impressive. (Because of my flying experience, I knew that gates were not closed at that time. I only had hand luggage, and therefor I could've run and still made that specific flight in time) Got to Ticket Sales, there was only myself and another person waiting in row. Waited about 30 minutes for assistance. The person in front of me, almost walked away out of frustration. Staff member who eventually assisted me, was also very unapproachable - I was informed to pay additional R1017.00 to get on next available flight. (After she originally informed me to pay R1700.00 and I said I simply cannot afford it, she started - with an attitude - to look for other options)..

I am extremely disappointed in Ground staff's assistance as well as the fact that Kulula passengers must pay so much extra fee's - specially if they know that there are definitely available seats on next flights?

Regards
Amanda

Reference Number for my holiday booking is 391981. It was an advert which came through my emai from KULULAl. I made reservations for myself and my son. My son can no longer traveland I requested a refund of his share, they said they cannot i forfeit the whole money. I then asked if I could transfer his share of the package to someone else, they said not on flights. I feel that I am getting a raw deal if there is someone who is willing to travel on my sons package.
Kindly advice

What is the point of paying and reserving seats on Kulula airlines via discovery when making a booking only to discover upon check in that the seat you paid for has been given to someone else not the first time this has happened either - something needs to be done about it. we pay for a seat and then the airline gives it to someone else, this service is not good enough!

I had the misfortune of dealing with one your supervisors on while checking in my family from Cape Town to Lanseria on the 13th of September on the 12:15 flight. A man by the name of Faeeq who was called to assist me because I requested a supervisor. My wife and my 3 young daughters were travelling together and between them had an allowance of 80Kgs. It just so happened that one of the bags was over by 3kgs while the other 2 bags weighed less than 15kg. We asked very nicely if he could overlook the 3kgs since we were not even half of the weight allowed on this trip but he aggressively and very rudely said that they are not allowed to compromise in any way. He said "we are here to implement the rules and not allow any compromise". He repeated several times "we dont compromise". I asked him if he understands anything about customer service and customer retention and he insisted "i am here to enforce the rules". I have clocked well over a million miles travelling domestically and internationally and have never been treated with such arrogance and lack of concern. He kept on arguing and repeating himself in a very aggressive manner. The other customers were quite shocked at how this man behaved and another customer even suggested to have some compassion for a mother travelling with 3 little girls who has not even violated the weight restrictions but this supervisor kept on saying "I am not here to make compromises, I am here to enforce the rules"
I asked him if he cared about retaining a client that travels on Kulula at least 24 times per year and his response was exactly the same. At this stage i raised my voice to see if there was anything else he would say and even asked him if he had any suggestions to help us with our predicament. He insisted that we open our bags and squeeze the excess stuff into another bag and insisted we pay for 1 overweight bag which will now weigh 27 kgs. He then had the audacity to say " you are holding up the other passengers so move out of the way!" I reminded him there were 5 other counters and only 2 passengers waiting to check in! After humiliating us by forcing us to open our bags in front of everyone he had to have the last word and kept arguing very aggressively and simply said again "you are holding up the queue and left" without every offering any words of compassion or empathy or any courtesy whatsoever. How does a joker like this receive a promotion? why don’t they have a supervisor with any sort of communication skills? this man should either be in the police force's criminal investigation unit or at a toastmaster's point raising contest, not at the head of an airline that promotes its friendliness and free spirit.

The ironic part about this is that i had a similar situation when boarding a flight from lanseria and was 3kg over on Kulula. The wonderful man at the counter said" since you are 2 passengers and the bag is not over 32kg don’t worry about it". What a human being and a rational thinker and he wasn’t even a manager! Someone give him a raise for using common sense but that sort of behaviour seems to be frowned upon by Kulula. they prefer the drill sergeant who treats their customers as if they are soldiers and he is doing them a massive favour by allowing them to fly His airline.

I am sick and tired of suffering horrible service, high prices and a total lack of understanding of customer interaction skills, conflict resolution or compassion from South African companies and i'm quite certain this awful human being will remain where he is, if not promoted, as he knew when talking to me in this derogatory way that it would not reach the right people who can do something about this. Why else would he be so bold to be so rude and arrogant in front of so many people? I will not stop talking about this until someone from Kulula contacts me and apologises for his actions

Being a director of a company and having many staff that travel domestically I would never allow a man like this to be anywhere near customers, let alone work for my company.

On Tuesday the 17th of September I purchased an airline ticket from kulula.com This ticket was purchased from the kulula.com website. However I never received my ticket. The money was instantaneously deducted from my bank account and the kulula.com website merely stated the transaction was not processed. Note at this stage I have already entered my details on their system. At this point Kulula Airlines already had my email, phone number and more.

Upon receiving this message I called the Kulula.com Call Centre, this turned out to be a nightmare, after 3 calls and holding on for 5 minutes plus on every call I finally got transferred to a Kulula.com Call Centre Agent. This is where all things started to go horribly wrong. The Kulula Airline agent kept on making feeble little jokes about the situation I found myself in. Almost as if his dream was to be a Kulula Air Hostess. He did not answer any of my questions, neither could he provide an answer and said that the money will be returned to my account in 24 hours up to 5 days, this has still not happened.

I was not happy with the above answer and was put on hold for more than 10 minutes only to be cut off. Determined to solve the mess I called again, this time the Kulula Agent was more professional due to an obvious good upbringing. She was however helpless in solving my problem and I suggested that she gets a superior Kulula employee contact me. I almost thought things are going to be ok.

Within minutes I received a call from a lady by the name of Maureen, she was extremely professional but also helpless in the situation saying that the money will be returned to my account. I asked her to please keep me a seat on the particular Kulula Flight and that I will pay in cash once I arrive at the airport.

Once arriving at the airport I paid my Kulula ticket on the same flight that I paid for online.

On arriving to my final destination in Bangkok Thailand I emailed [protected]@kulula.com who was of very little help, they said I should sort the matter with my bank. Actual email: Thank you for your email. may we please request you to contact your credit card provider to find out if the funds are in ‘authorisation’. If the funds are being held they will be reversed back to the card account.

My bank in Thailand has asked me for more information including receipt of purchase etc. As it is obvious that Kulula did not give me anything and just said that the transaction was not processed I have nothing to provide the bank.

I sent a further email to [protected]@kulula.com and no reply.

Also note that Kulula.com can not be reached by phone from abroad.

I demand my money back, the money got sent into cyberspace by your incompetent company and company website.

I am currently planning a trip back to SA and will be laying criminal charges against Erik Venter and Kulua Airlines on my arrival should this matter not be resolved in a timely manner. I will furthermore ensure that it gets the right media exposure it deserves. I urge all others who have been scammed by Kulula Airlines to do so also.

21.09.2011
Good day,

I have got a problem with 2 .
I will start with the first one, Kulula.

When my mum arrived in OR Tambo Airport (we are from France), she went to the Kulula counter to check-in to go to Durban. When she got there, they told her, sorry but we don’t have your names (she was together with my youngest brother) under the e-ticket reference you bring to us, you have to purchase another ticket. The thing is that my mum printed out the wrong e-ticket. But they never checked with her name nor phoned me as there was my cellphone number linked with the e-ticket.
She then went to SAA to ask for a ticket as there was no seat available anywhere else and they charged her: ZAR 1.993 per ticket to go from OR Tambo to Durban Airport.

When she arrived in Durban, she went again to the Kulula counter and with her name, she found the tickets but it was too late.

I then claimed to Kulula for ZAR 1.993 x 2 = ZAR 3.986 as it is from their mistakes that my mum had to buy that ticket. My first claim was issued on July, the 21st, 2011.
They then studied the case and agreed for the refund. On the 09th of August they told me that the refund will arrive on our bank account between 4-7 business days.
The 02nd of September, the Kulula Refund Administrator was taking over the case and asking me again for the bank account details and the currency in which I wanted the refund. I then answered in Euros because our bank is in France.
The 09th of September, the same person was telling me the payment had been proceed and I have checked my bank account since then and nothing has been credited onto it.
I then asked for a proof of payment, which I only received yesterday (20th of September 2011). This morning we phoned our bank to ask if they received something to which they answered Kulula tried to pay something but in ZAR, currency they obviously don’t accept!
I then sent again an email this morning telling them I asked in Euros and now the bank refused it because it was in ZAR, what next? And they didn’t answer.

Altogether, I have exchanged 71 emails with them but I’m going nowhere!

What can I do?
Thanks very much for your help.

SebastianGood day,

I have got a problem with 2 airlines.

I will start with the first one, Kulula.

When my mum arrived in OR Tambo Airport (we are from France), she went to the Kulula counter to check-in to go to Durban. When she got there, they told her, sorry but we don’t have your names (she was together with my youngest brother) under the e-ticket reference you bring to us, you have to purchase another ticket. The thing is that my mum printed out the wrong e-ticket. But Kulula never checked with her name nor phoned me as there was my cellphone number provided for the booking.

She then went to SAA to buy a ticket as there were no seats available anywhere else and they charged her: ZAR 1.993 per ticket to go from OR Tambo to Durban Airport.

When she arrived in Durban, she went again to the Kulula counter and with her name, the Kulula agent found the tickets but it was too late, as she was already in Durban.

I then claimed to Kulula for 415 (Four Hundred and fifteen) Euros which is the equivalent in Euros of the two SAA tickets purchased (ZAR 1.993 x 2 = ZAR 3.986), as it is because of their mistake that my mum had to buy these tickets. My first claim was issued to Kulula on July, the 21st, 2011.

They then studied the case and agreed for the refund. On the 09th of August they I was told by them that the refund will arrive on our bank account between 4-7 business days.

The 02nd of September, the Kulula Refund Administrator was taking over the case and asking me again for the bank account details and the currency in which I wanted the refund. I then answered in Euros because our bank is in France.

The 09th of September, the same person was telling me the payment had been done but I have checked the bank account since then and nothing has been credited onto it.

I then asked for a proof of payment, which I only received yesterday (20th of September 2011). This morning we phoned our bank to ask if they had received something and they answered that Kulula tried to pay something but in ZAR, currency they obviously don’t accept, so they refused it!

I then sent an email to Kulula telling them I’ve asked the payment to be in Euros but it has been done in ZAR, so the bank has refused it. So, what’s next? But I didn’t get any answer back from them.

I am also asking 120 (Hundred and twenty) Euros to Kulula for the damages and problems we experienced with them. I spent many, many hours fighting with them – claiming again and again, sending again the same papers to the same or different people, etc. – instead of achieving the goal for which I’m here in South Africa for almost 1 and a half year, which is to freely help other people as I’m a volunteer.

The total amount we are then expecting Kulula to refund us is:

535 (Five Hundred and Thirty Five) Euros.

Altogether, I have exchanged 71 emails with them but I’m going nowhere!

What can I do?

Thanks very much for your help.

Sebastian

My Kulula card is currently under debt counseling. Despite fact that all my creditors were informed of this as early as the 9th of Febuary 2010 and have subsequently been informed on a weekly basis of this fact via fax, email and phone calls, Kulula maintains their debit order on my cheque account that is also part of the debt review. As there is no money in this account the debit order bounces and FNB chearges me R 175 for the return. As my payment to Kulula is R 500 per month, I could just as well have paid them despite the debt review. It is apparent to me that despite my best efforts and those of the debt reviewer, these companies such as Kulula either are to incompetent to note the debt review or are simply not interested in conforming to it. This has been an ongoing problem since the debt review order was instituted. We have not been able to make any payments into the PDA as all our creditors have been maintaining their debit orders. I wonder if I might get any joy from the National Credit Regulator.

I had to call Kulula 3 times today, because of 1) A payment they have not deducted from my credit card in June and 2) Because of a change on a booking. For every single call it took Kulula between 15 and 21 minutes before a call centre agent answered the phone. AND THE SERVICE WAS PATHETIC - they sent me back to my bank twice about the payment I already confirmed to be through my bank account. I might add too that they ran a special last week and their servers were not properly, if at all responding for most of the day, with the result that I missed out on the specials (I was online from 06h15 that morning).

My mother passed away on the 28th January 2010. On the 28th January I tried to book 9 return tickets from CT to Jhb for my brothers and their fam to come through for our Mom’s funeral. We tried to book online on www.kulula.com but the site had problems. My husband phoned to do the bookings and even the lady helping us was having problems to book the flights. She phoned my husband back to get all the details but miss spelled 5 of the names. We phoned again and the lady told us we need to change the names on the Kulula Web on the booking otherwise they will not be able to fly - ID presented at the airport to pick up the tickets must be the same. We changed the names on the website and had to pay another R600 for name changing fees. This wasn’t our fault. The original amount was R11 324.00 and then on top of that we had to pay R600 for miss spelled names. Flight Number: ABBXFE Amanda Labuschagne Tel: [protected] Email: [protected]@plasticomnium.co.za