Mango Airlines
Reviews and Complaints

Arriving on time at O.R Thambo International Airport on the 10th September the consultant at the desk was having a fat chat with myself and my family and we kept trying to hurry it up. Once he decided that he was done talking and actually decided to do his job, he told me that I was now late for check in and couldn't not board the flight.
When asked what to do he nonchalantly said that we must go to the ticket sales counter that there was nothing he could do about it, and that we cannot get a refund or change the flight.

I booked a ticket with Mango Airlines for my brother to visit me in Cape Town, as a birthday surprise. By mistake I misspelt his name (three letters missing). At check-in, after much pleading, they let him through but asked him to fix the problem before returning home.
The next day, after waiting for 20 minutes to get through to customer care, I was told in an abrupt manner to pay the mandatory R220 to change his name and was given the online prompts to follow. The website link showed a payment charge of R1715.00 to change the name. I called them immediately and again, it took 15 minutes for them to answer the phone. The assistant offered that I pay her an online fee of R300.00 to make the change. I refused to pay more for a service where they, in actual fact had made a mistake. She then agreed to fix the problem. An hour later, it showed that I now owe R750.00. Again, it took 20 minutes for them to answer the phone. This time, after much arguing, they changed the name for the correct amount of R220.00.
Upon arrival at check-in when starting the return journey, as well as at the boarding gate, the Mango staff did not want to let my brother through as his name was still spelt incorrectly. It took an embarrassing battle in front of other customers to finally allow him to fly back.
Of the four days he spent with us, I spent almost two sorry days trying to fix an honest mistake. Every single step of the way we were met with rude, poorly trained Customer Care staff who did not have the capacity to give proper CARE to their CUSTOMERS.
As frustrating as it is, I have the necessary resources to fight such battles. My real concern is with people who do not have the means or time to solve such problems. This is such a great shame, because a low cost airline such as Mango will inevitably fail such customers on a daily basis. None of us deserve such sloppy treatment.

I have been waiting for a refund Ref nr - RFQTPS, for nearly a month now. I have tried to email with no response, phone is never answered by call centre. I tried messenger and at least got a reply but still not able to help me with my refund. It is really the worst service I have ever experienced from any company. Please can anyone of flymango assist me?

I have tried calling numerous times. I am put on hold over 25 minutes each time. Still no joy

I have sent the below email to refunds 3 times. I still have no response.

I tried to book online trip 20 Aug 2018 and the company charged me for 3 return flights that I have never received confirmation of yet.

Why am I getting zero response? Please see email sent to yourselves below.

Dear Madam

I have had 3 flight payments go off my credit card that I didn't book.

On Monday 20 Aug I tried to book. But the Mango site gave me a message after I put in the banking details to say that I should try phone Mango airlines which I did. The operator told me no booking had gone through, and that I should try again.

I tried to book online again, but I got the same message. I then went to Checkers to try and book again, but then the lady told me the Mango system was down.

I then booked my return flight via SAFFAIR.

When I got to the airport I saw a first amount of R1330,.02 was reserved for Purchase on Mango, also another amount of R1525.12, and there is also a 3rd amount, I just dont have the information here with me right now.

I went to the Mango desk to ask what was going on and the lady gave me a cop of the booking and said she was going to put an enquiry and comment on it.

But all these amounts have gone off anyway.

I also havent received to date an email to confirn any one of these bookings.

I would like my money refunded please.

Regards

Charlene Holder/Lubbe
[protected]

Hi Mango,

I went to CPT on Thursday 13th September. This was a work related trip which I assume you can appreciate that it is indeed important meeting if I make the decision to fly to CPT for the meeting.

Needless to say, The flight was delayed from 12h25 and we eventually took of just after 15h00. I missed a very important meeting which may have detrimental consequences for our business. Not only did I miss this very important meeting but also my Alumni function that started 18h00 and I only arrived there 19h30.

Then on my flight back today - JE148 I booked in early and did a seat selection D1 because I wanted to do some work on the trip back home. I was then told when I boarded that sorry we had to move you as this seat was given to someone else.

I am not sure if I will ever be flying with Mango again. I specifically chose Mango above Kulula because of their bigger seats so more comfortable. I am really disappointed in Mango...

Unhappy Customer
Christopher

Please be advised that the service received from your team for the below special assist request was awful and embarrasing.

To start with, it took the arrangement service 4 days to confirm the arrangement and that was after several emails (as the automated response the mailbox was full with unread mails). The lady that assist rudely answered the call advised that things have changed in the past month and if a person cannot help them selves in an emergency then an able body person must fly with them.

Then when it was time to board the attendee literally runs in front of her and down 3 flights of stairs, expecting her to find her way. Being blind in one eye and having 20% vision in the other. It cannot be understood how could you have expected her to keep up or be safe going down stairs unaided.

To make matter even worse, when she gets to the plane another attendant shouts at the first gentleman and says you must not carry peoples bags and tells my mum to not expect assist assistance when she disembarks and must find her own way.

The entire experience was pathetic rude service that was extremely uncalled for and unprofessional. If this is what you are doing to patrons that need your help - you should call it "Special assist to embarrass you" and rather you stop offering it as a marketing option.

Flight JE275
JNB to DBN
Departure 19:40
Reference number : RGZTCL

Hi Mango i flew to Zanzibar on the 23 august and had a frigile parcel with me even marked as fragile and recieved it broken completely back, i asked that this parcel be taken care off and to no avail. I know accidents happen but this is unacceptable, u can clearly see they have no respect for other people property, it was a sturdy hosing with a very expensive fishing rod in there and all is broken now

Mango Airlines have a very poor method of sending confirmations of booking to customers. I recently purchased and paid for tickets and received no confirmation email or any details for 6 hours now. As a customer I have no idea if my bookings were made. Calling their customer care and on hold for an hour now wasting all my airtime, they don't respond to emails either and when I got through an agent he cut the call, doesn't even have the decency to call back. Very poor service delivery.

Their staff are very rude and not helpfull at all at their customer service.

Arrived at Cape Town International Airport for Mango Flight JE716 departing at 17:55 to be told the flight is delayed due to a broken plane. While waiting for the new departure time the flight was again delayed to depart at 20:04. I couldn't change my flight to a different airline because 'I didn't have a valid reason' and all that was received was an unsympathetic sms. I will also be charged more for leaving my car parked at Lanseria for a longer time. Will not be flying Mango again.

Upon checking my Luggage at Mango airline, my bag was zip-tied to try and prevent any opportunistic theft. I proceeded to the gate that my flight (JE 152 - 27/08/2018) was to depart from and after waiting half an hour after the boarding time, the few passengers at the front of the line were addressed by Mango ground staff, and proceeded to find a seat in the waiting area. No other passengers were addressed by any ground staff, and no announcement was made. All of the other passengers, myself included, had to ask other passengers what the problem was, and it was concluded that a valve on the airplane was malfunctioning and that the flight would be delayed (for a total of 2 hours) in order to fix the valve. I am not upset that the flight was delayed, as I understand that things do go wrong sometimes. I am, however, disgusted by the lack of professionalism from Mango staff, and the way in which the situation was handled.

When I received my checked luggage after the flight, I was extremely disappointed to find that the zip tie had been removed - once again, I do not care that my bag was searched, as I am aware that the airline is allowed to search the bag if they have any concerns. I am highly disappointed that some of my personal belongings (a ring worth R600, a bracelet worth R300 and a watch worth R500) were stolen from my checked luggage. There was nothing in my bag of REAL value, but the stolen items were very sentimental to me, and this upsets me. After the fact, I was instructed by a friend that I should not have put jewelry in my checked luggage, but this was not mentioned to me by the Mango staff member who was responsible for checking my luggage. I feel like that staff member should ask every passenger whether there is jewelry in their luggage, and ask them to rather put it in their hand-luggage.

How are we supposed to place our trust in the airline to make sure that our things will be safe in their possession?

I know we live in a country that is riddled by thieves and liars, but I would like to believe that an airline would monitor their people, or put measures in place that would prevent theft. Even though there is some negligence on my part for packing my jewelry into the checked bag, I believe that mango is responsible and I would like to be reimbursed for my belongings that were stolen from my bag. Mango should employ responsible individuals that can be trusted, and if they are not able to do this, then there should be more strict control of their employees that work in the security department.

Flight JE265 was supposed to depart at 17h40 on 26/08/2018

NO information regarding the delay was communicated.

Upon arriving at the airport after returning our car we were told "we should have known" and we will now depart at 19h10.

Now we see on the board that it is delayed to depart at 20h43 with NO REASON.

Another friend on a flight that was meant to depart at 19h40 has also been delayed to depart at 20h43 ... are you trying to combine flights that are not full?

Mango should get us onto earlier flights (with any other airline) or provide a refund due to the lack of communication and the terrible service at the desk.

I am a paraplegic passenger, booked on a Mango Airlines flight from Durban to Cape Town on Saturday, 25 Aug at 17:05. I have traveled with Mango before unassisted for business from Durban to OR Tambo with no issues with the only difference that I did not before bother to complete the medical form. I - unfortunately - decided to complete said form in preparation of my flight to Cape Town, indicating that I can manage unassisted in the cabin only to receive feedback that I am permitted to fly only if accompanied by an able bodied person.

This is ludicrous! I am a business woman who is completely healthy and despite my disability, as independent as my disability allows me to be. I have traveled abroad extensively and have never before had this issue to deal with.

I have requested a full refund from Mango Airlines to enable me to make alternative flight arrangements but await a reply. My ref nr for my flight is RFQHGJ. I attach a copy of my completed medical form for your information.

I am awaiting Mango Airlines' response. Any assistance to resolve this issue amicably will be appreciated.

Wanda Boshoff

I arrived early and told my flight is delayed by 30 mins at check in. my 14:30 flight is not delayed by 2 and a half hours and the Mango crew can't answer any questions as they also don't know what's happening.

I Now need to pay an additional 2 and a half hour wait to the transportation I have arranged ahead of time to wait for me at Lanseria.

This isis unprofessional and poor.

Good day

I arrived 30 min before my flight. Due to unforseen circumstances. Only to get told that the gate is closed nothing can be done. Really frustrated . Went to book a later flight and it cost me and extra R600 . Im sure that sometimes people do have emergency situations why is the regulations stuck in your face. To top it off i arrived for my late flight and it was delayed 45mins. Guess what if you make us wait we must just be ok with it, When im late 10mins it costs me R600. Where is the justice in that? Im sure this complaint will fall on deaf ears. Really upset and disappointed.
Rasheed
[protected]

6 & 7 August
Booking Ref: RCSFPF

I have been trying to add excess baggage to my booking since yesterday. I received an error message when trying to check myself in stating that my booking reference was invalid. I then eventually managed to check myself in after about 3 hours of trying. I am now not sitting in my desired seat as I had a delayed check in. Due to this I decided to rather book excess baggage this morning before my flight at 14:05. I have now been on the telephone for over an hour, I tried to book excess baggage online and I received an error stating that the price was incorrect and that I needed to restart the process. After restarting the process about 7 times I eventually phoned the call centre.

I first spoke to a lady named Lulu who was absolutely useless, she gave me the email details of Ronald Cloete, who she said would respond to me, but she certainly did not seem enthused to help me. She sounded extremely irritated by my query and it seemed as though I was inconveniencing her by asking her questions.

I then asked to be put through to a supervisor. After about 45 minutes on the phone I eventually landed up being put through to a lady named Shabnam. She said she would email the airport and I would need to go to the guest services counter to pay for my excess baggage there. However I will need to be at the airport much earlier than I had anticipated to do this at the airport. I was then told by Shabnam that because it is such late notice they cannot forward the error to the IT department because the turn around time is 48 hours and so the issue cannot be rectified before I fly.

Ronald has subsequently responded stating that I will be paying the online price for excess baggage at the airport. Ronald did not even apologise for the inconvenience in his email. I do not see why I should have to pay for this at the airport and why someone could not have just sorted out the issue online.

This is not my problem. There should be easier ways of sorting this out. I should not be inconvenienced even more because of issues on your website, if anything the customer service agents should be trying their utmost to assist me instead of just stating that there is nothing more that they can do. Which they said to me on the phone.

I will now be paying the R525 for my excess baggage of 15kgs at the airport. Which just adds even more inconvenience to my travel.

I would expect better customer care and a refund of the amount of R525 for my inconvenience. I should not have to even pay for the excess baggage after almost a day of hassle. I have now wasted my entire afternoon, evening and morning being on the phone to the call centre but to no avail.

Please find attached the error message and email correspondence.

I would expect to be contacted and for this to be rectified with a refund.

Regards,

Jamie Money

Good day

I Dhesan Redhi have booked a flight from OR Tambo Durban from Mango Airlines for 2018/08/06 at 19:40 departure time. We got to the check in at 19:05 and the Mango Team refused to check her in as they say we need to check in 40 min before but we arrived at 19:05 and they refused to assist us. The supervisor just sat in her chair and told us that we should learn to be early. She is the worst person i have ever dealt with. She just told us sorry there is nothing we can do for you book the next flight which is tomorrow. After telling her we where stuck in traffic she still says i cannot do anything for you. As a supervisor she refused to even say let me see if i can assist you but she didnt. The most terrible service we have ever received in our life. We understand if we where very late but they say 40 min before and we where 35 min before. Any other airline would of assisted as we have checked in before 30min before even with previous mango flights. But this time they just did not want to assist us. I demand a full refund. I will take this matter higher if I have to. We require urgent response from this useless airline or maybe the staff is giving this airline a bad reputation

[protected]
[protected]@gmail.com

Good day,
I flew from Lanseria to Cape Town on Wednesday, the 1st of August 2018, flight JE709, Reference number: RCQPSZ. Check in was fine, as I arrived early. The only boarding incident was when a fellow passenger, vomiting and feeling poorly was offloaded (before closing of doors) after much convincing by staff and fellow passengers. However, during the flight the airhostesses congregated in the front galley. They talked so loud that my fellow passenger (seated on 1C) was woken by it. Their conversations were of a personal matter which should NOT be shared with passengers! When the senior hostess eventually exited the galley to check on the passengers, I called her (I occupied seat 1A) and asked her to inform her colleagues that they should surely not chat so loud that passengers can hear their every word! My fellow passenger confirmed this, adding that he was not interested to know how big their bellies should be when they expect (a child), one has a birthday close to Xmas and the comments made were "Nice, then you'll get two presents", etc. She apologized and said she was under the impression they were whispering. When we relayed some of the things we heard, she believed us. Eventually the two other airhostesses (serving the rear of the plane) emerged to go and check on their passengers. I am aware of the fact that not much happens on Mango routes as food, etc. are paid items but surely staff should still act professionally at all times as I am sure THAT is not negotiable. Kindly inform your staff on this issue. Best regards,
Wilma Booysen (Ms)

Where shall I start... I booked a urgent flight on mango flight je709 for business to leave lanseria 02/08/2018 to cape town. My flight was supposed to leave at 15:10. I checked in 90 mins before the time, asked for emergency exit seats / front row seats as I am a very tall and big man. I am 6 foot 3. I do not fit in a normal seat. Oky, that went well... Then the lady asked if I would like to make my return booking the same? I first thought wow great service! And agreed to it. When arriving at gate 3 where we were suppose to board, we all where sitting there. 14:50 they said the flight is delayed with 10 mins. As they are waiting on the aircraft. At 15:10 (our time to take off actually) we where informed that our flight is delayed with 1 hour and 50 mins! We even got a sms from mango to confirm that. I immediatly went to the mango customer care desk, and said we have to make a plan as I am going down for urgent business and I am supposed to be at a function at 18:30? So I will not be able to make it due to the delay? The supervisor said to me what would I like him to do? I said oky well, I am supposed to return the following morning at 6:10 on the 03/08/2018 flight je702 and now I will have to re-schedule my meetings to the morning, so he must please move my tickets to the afternoon flight. He agreed and appologised and gave me a r60 voucher for the inconvience... I thaught he could take that r60 voucher and shauve it up as I could lose quite allot due to missing a meeting. But okay, got on my flight and arrived in cape town.

Today uppon returning from cape town to lanseria, on flight je712 not 702 anymore due to the change from the morning to the afternoon at 14:30 I arrived at 12:55 at the airport. Went to the check in department and wow they exceeded my worst expectations! I was busy checking in, and I asked they guy behind the counter to make sure if I am sitting at the emergency exit as agreed on yesterday and organised? He looked at me and said no, there is no more space there I am in the middle somewhere... I explained on a very nice manner that I am too tall and too big to sit in the normal chairs, my legs does not fit and especially not for a 2 hour flight. He said there is nothing he can do. I got upset and told him to make a plan as explained I can not sit at a normal chair. Where he again said he cant do anything. I was quite upset on this moment and asked him so whose fault is it that there is no space at the emergency exit as I actually booked it yesterday already and when the supervisor in lanseria changed the flights, he did not change it correctly? He looked at me and said its my fault! I vot cross, and said I would please like his name as I am going to report it? He refused. I mean really? I am the customer here.. The one that pays your sallary? I walked over to the desk where there is supervisors or some sort. Amd explained my sittuation, they refered me to his supervisor whom was standing right next to him! I thaught mmm a suoervisor syanding right next to all of this and cant do a thing? Well done! I also would like such a job! And she listened and saw the whole thing and dont say a word? Well done once again! Next moment the guy next to him started to lay a egg on the situation, where he actually has nothing to do with and have a client standing right infront of him! I thaught wow how is that for customer service! Asked for their names, they refused so I took pictures of them! I took my ticket, and walked straight to the mango customer care desk once again where they gave me a number to call for guest relations and complaints. However I phoned them, after a 23 min talk the answer I got where, "we appologise for the inconvience, how ever there is nothing we can do" I mean realy mango? I did not ask you to refund me, give me thousands of rands or free meals, all I wanted is a seat where I shall fit. And you cant even do that? Went to my boarding gate c9, and supprise! Flight is delayed once again with 40mins! And boarding gate changed to a10!

Never in my whole life I will fly with mango again! Flysafair / kulula here I come!

To Whom It May Concern

I boarded the JE 245 flight from OR Tambo to King Shaka on 02 Aug 2018, where I checked in my luggage with three locks on my suitcase.
Upon my return to Durban, I noticed my combination lock was missing, my zip was broken on my suitcase.
I opened my suitcase to find my entire suitcase had been turned upside down, all my compartment zips inside were open and the luggage straps inside were undone.
I am missing items - socks and two tops from my suitcase.

This is a violation of my personal space.

Looking at this website, theft seems to be an ongoing occurrence.

I would like to know what Mango intends to do about this and what liability does the airline share for loss and theft whilst luggage is no longer in the care of passengers

I am unable to get hold of customer care.

I trust that Mango will take this customer complaint seriously and advice on the necessary process to claim my losses suffered at the hands off Mango staff.

Unhappy traveller
Avika Somaroo
[protected]

I was at the checkin line 40 min before my flight, I stood in line and when I got to the front it was 30 min before my flight, the lady at the counter told me they were boarding already and I asked her what I had to do, she referred me to another counter and I stood there in line for another 5 minutes just to be told I need to pay another R700 for a standby ticket. I didn't hear them calling for the Durban flight as I have a hearing problem and none of the staff approached me in the line to ask me personally if I am on the Durban flight which is about to board. I missed my flight and lost the money I paid for my flight.