South African Airways / FlySAA.com
Reviews and Complaints

Case number: [protected]

Subject: urgent

Description: dear madam, re. Ref [protected]
On the 15th september, (Ie forty eight days ago, i wrote the following to yourselves:
Dear sir/madam, i have received two emails from yourselves to inform me about a scheduled change on at least one of my flights booked. I was instructed to click on a link and enter my booking reference number (80k htp).However: when i type in my user login with this reference number and surname goddard, i just get a message:"please enter the correct pnr number."
I tried going to 'manage booking', but, since i do not know which of the flights is affected, so cannot fill in the 'seat number', this is useless. I have tried to phone, but without success. This is all extremely unsatisfactory indeed.
Please could you urgently email me with the details of what exactly the change or changes are.
Thank youg goddard

I eventually, nearly three weeks later, received a reply to say that my inquiry had been assigned to a customer service agent (Judith toorn) and that i would receive a 'substantive response ' in ten working days.I have received absolutely nothing, substantive or otherwise.
All i want, is for somebody to let me know which flight, (There are four flights involved) has changed, and what the new times are.
Surely this is not too much to ask.
Awaiting your immediate response.G. Goddard.

Ref:_00dw0louw._500w01pvwdk:ref

I have still not heard back from them.

I was booked to travel on SAA this morning, flight SA 322 to Dar Es Salaam through Joburg-booking ref 5EIDXL. I was in time for the flight and my boarding ticket indicated boarding time -9:20am. I was at the gate at 9:00 am but there was no activity. The display screens did not show that the flight was boarding. I sat and waited. I only went up to the lady at the gate when the display screens changed showing that boarding was closed. I explained to the lady at the gate but she was rude and didn't bother to explain anything and only told me lies that they had been calling my name. When I told her I was sited at the gate, she changed her story and said they don't call passengers for boarding. I have had to pay USD 300 for a ticket change. I intend to pursue this matter until I can get all my costs refunded. A note to anyone using this airline please consider other options!

My husband travelled to Congo through SAA. Due to the war that erupted, SAA grounded flights back. They did not refund him for their cancellation but instead rudely treated him as a no show. He was subjected to 2 cancellations which were not refunded and his cash flow was badly impacted. I had to intervene from SA as the SAA Staff in Congo were rude and unhelpful and called the SA call centre. All I wanted from the call centre was for them to book him an alternate flight as each day that he stayed in the country put his life in danger. SAA refused to book him from the nearest town which had flights because it was against policy and all I got from them was he needs to book for himself from Congo. This is a carrier that grounded it's flights because of the danger of war but they want him to go to the very airport that they can't be in. I am DISGUSTED with SAA and its Heartless staff: Lungi let Ngobese, Simon giseni

My name is Ruxanne Dadzie, i traveled to Ghana from Dulles International airport on Monday the 12th of September 2016. My seat numbers were DEF, Economy class.

The cabin attendant who was a tall dark gentleman was the most unprofessional and rude guy i have ever come across my whole entire travel experience.

He doesn't use appropriate phrases, he thinks highly of himself and needs to be grounded.

He literally made me ask severally for food for my one of my sons who was only two, he was very impatient with me and my son, and did not serve us because i was attending to my son.

He rudely communicated with me, and asked me to put the trays down in a specific way, and i asked myself, it looks like this guy has forgotten his role as a cabin crew member.

He is definitely not a team player, and must be grounded. not sure if i want to fly SA airways again but definitely not with this kind of experience.

Just to put on record i didn't fly SA because its cheap, let him know. I travel every year and i always go with BA where i get excellent customer service not crap like this.

Management should take this up, and just to say that, we need to inspect what we expect else our staff will let us down.

Let me also say that i saw the other crew members on the plane that day who were very pleasant. we need to take the weeds out.

Thank you

Booking reference: 6Q276V – Surname: JACOBS
I was booked on flight SA89 to depart Jul 6, 2016 at 08:40 from Abuja and arrive in JHB at 15:35 and had a connection flight to Windhoek.
SA78 to depart Jul6, 2016 19:25 from JHB and arrive in Windhoek 20:20.
SAA decided to change the scheduled departure for SAA89 Jul6, 2016 to 14:00 which means I won’t be able to catch my connection flight.

This is SAA response:
I‘ve been with my boss trying to find solutions for your case and this is what we have come up with:
1. Is to overnight in JNB at own cost and come on the 7th.
2. To reroute the current ticket to have her fly from Lagos to WDH if you are able to get from Abuja to Lagos.
3. SAA can provide you with a letter for your insurance company where you can apply for a refund on the costs you incurred for the overnight stay.
4. I have checked with Air Nam and their flight leaves much earlier than ours 18:20 already, but they have an early flight at 06:40-07:45 but you will have to purchase a one way ticket with them and forfeit the last segment on SAA.

I don’t agree that I should be incurring additional cost as result of SAA changing their flight schedule, I would also expect SAA to do whatever they can to help me arrive as early as possible in Windhoek at their cost (even if it's on another airline), as well to compensate for the incremental cost for one nights accommodation.

Clearly no focus on the customer, and no acknowledgement of fault on their side

March 1, 2016

Dear madam/sir:

Re: travel mayhem with south african airways

My recent trip to south africa with three of my friends turned into mayhem a short time from our departure out of detroit wayne, michigan, u.S.A.

Our flight itinerary was as follows:

October 29 - american airlines - flight 5275 detroit wayne - washington national
October 29 - south african airways - flight 210 washington dulles - johannesburg

We arrived at the saa counter at washington dulles fifty minutes before the ticket counter closed. Upon our arrival the saa personnel informed us that we were recorded as "no shows" and the gates were closed! In the meantime they were busy checking four others in. I asked "where are they going"? I was informed that they were boarding. Seems strange, how could they when the gates were supposed to be closed?!

The saa personnel told us to return tomorrow and see what could be done. This was not an option as we had commitments at the other end and needed to rectify our situation. The personnel left the counter and departed for the day without so much as an apology.

The four of us with our hopes shattered reported to the information kiosk to try and sort out our horrible situation. The lady here was so very kind and told us they had been experiencing a lot of problems with saa lately and was most helpful in assisting us with accommodations and general assistance with our concerns.

We then took the shuttle service for the marriot hotel, checked in and spent four hours on the phone trying to find flights to continue our journey on to johannesburg and also return flights home. This was an additional cost to all of us for approximately $125 per person, including breakfast.

My first phone call was to saa and the gentleman on the other end informed me that there were no flights until november 4th and the cost would be about four thousand us dollars!
Neither timing or cost was not an option for us.

After spending four hours on the phone with cheapoair personnel we were able to obtain tickets with emirates airline for both going and returning.

We presented a difficult case as two were leaving earlier and two were staying an additional ten days in cape town. The two who left earlier also had to depart a day earlier in order to catch their flight in johannesburg. By doing this they lost in their lodging and additional safaris through the chobe national park. In addition to this both passengers had to purchase another ticket from kasane botswana to johannesburg in order to catch the connecting flight.

The two of us who remained in africa for a longer period had additional cost of a hotel room as we had a twenty-one hour stopover in dubai.

While in cape town i heard on the news that south african airways is in financial problems and their chief financial officer had stepped down. With customer dissatisfaction that we experienced as being passengers with saa this is understandable.

As a frequent traveller to south africa i would expect proper remuneration from this horrible event and for the others as well.

We as well had to pay for our luggage as our flights were interrupted, costing us an additional $60.00 u.S.

Our group was just shattered because of this and two were going to cancel out on the tour all together but finally i was able to convince them to stay and enjoy the tour i had planned for them.

We experienced a heavy debt because of the treatment caused by saa personnel who showed no diplomacy, efficiency, assistance, compassion and/or explanation and for no reason referred to us "no shows" when in fact we did arrive within the specified and correct time frame.

Our group feels very strongly that south african airways definitely owes us reimbursement for cancelled flights, lodging, meals and their anguish. We each paid in addition to three thousand us dollars, amounting to twelve thousand dollars!.

I have also been made aware of the web site for the ministry of transportation for the us where dissatisfied consumers can make public their travel mayhem.

I request a response from you within thirty days or i will then reach out to social media and the ministry of transportation explaining our dilemma.

If you wish further information i would be pleased to submit any necessary documentation to you.

Regards,

Joan gerber

[protected]@sympatico.Ca
Www.C-africatours.com

[protected]
London, ontario

We, my 14 month old son and I, where booked on flight to Stuttgart from Cape Town on the 10th of March, flight number SA 352 & booking reference 8JFXPZ, via JHB and Frankfurt.
The engine of the machine to JHB did not work and we all had to leave the plane, since there were no spare parts available, after collecting our luggage again, we were re-booked on another flight. I had to queue for 4 hours before anybody attended to us, there was a long queue and I was the only person with a small child and there was no help from any of the SAA staff, it rather felt like the stranded customers where a burden.
After 4 hours we were re-booked on an Edelweiss flight the next evening via Zuerich to Stuttgart. I had confirmed bulkhead seats with SAA and the customer attended ensured that we will have the same seats available on the Edelweiss flight. On check-in, we were given a seat in the middle of the plane in a row of four, after again waiting for over 30 minutes finally an aisle seat was found, but again not a bulk head seat. The SAA staff the evening before, forgot to give us our actual tickets, luckily they were found at the Edelweiss counter, but when we got to Zurich they were busy unloading our luggage to Stuttgart as there wasn’t a valid ticket and we had problems checking in on our flight back to South Africa, too.

I was on a business trip to Germany for an event which has started on the Saturday and had to take my son to my parents, so the delay has caused a lot of hustle for us. We went back on the 10th of March to come back to the airport the next evening, we have not made any use of accommodation or food voucher and only after 4 hours SAA brought bottled water to the waiting customers.

I am a frequent flyer with SAA and I hope we will get a better service in the future. Furthermore I had requested special meals on both legs of the flight and did not receive any of them.

I feel the service we have received from SAA was very poorly and we should be compensated for the waiting times and delays, the same way as when flights are overbooked.

I have logged a complained with SAA beginning of April, after numerous e-Mails & holding at their helpline, the only thing I have received was an apology, which I feel is not good enough for all the inconvenience and a 24h delay!

I have never flown with South African Airways internationally before and now I know why. Firstly we get to the airport to fly from Johannesbrg to Mauritius for our honeymoon and see that the flight has been cancelled. No messages have been sent by the airline to inform us of the cancellation we had to see it on the board upon arriving at the airport. When asking why it was cancelled at the check in counter we were casually informed that the flight wasn't full enough so it wasn't worth it for the airline to fly so they merging it with a later flight? We have now had to check in online for our return with the website only showing 19 rows and we cannot get seats next to eachother even though it is a package deal and flight times seem to have changed to half an hour later without being notified once again. Thanks for putting a damper on the honeymoon. This is my last flight with this incompetent airline!

Dear SAA
You really do put the cherry on top when it comes to the ladies you hire for your check-ins. Naledi, thank you for the disgusting backchat we received when we asked you a simple question. I really don't know how you managed to get that job with that horrible mouth of yours. Perhaps it was that cheap red lipstick of yours.

Thank you for making it easy for us to decide to never fly with SAA again. If it wasn't for your colleague sitting next to you on a personal phone call, yelling her lounges out like a Sat afternoon at Panyaza, or your other colleague who refused to work with her horse weaved hair, we may have reconsidered our decision.

Yours Truly,
Business Class Customers — at O.R. Tambo International Airport.

I bought 2 tickets to cape town in NOV 2015. On arriving at the check in counter, i realised I had made a typo on my wife's name. Since it didn't match her ID or marriage certificate, I was forced to buy a new ticket for R4000. I was assured i would be refunded, and they whisked us onto the flight.
No one gave me any information about possibly forfeiting the refund, and feel I was unfairly exploited and treated as a loyal seasoned international traveller with their Voyager programme (Gold member).

Then my sister in law just rubbed salt into the wound, when her and her fiance could not fly to cape town due to a sprained ankle on the way to the airport, and SAFAIR refunded both tickets without question within 10 days. I at least honored the tickets and proceeded to take the flights, so its not like they lost 2 flights like SAFAIR did above...and STILL i was not refunded. How does this sound remotely fair to anyone reading this.

Its my right as a human being to make honest mistakes, and if you knew my wife's name in Polish, and how we 100% user her shorter nickname, and shes still users her maiden name as she is a Dr, and her married name for other things but not all things, you would understand how the confusion came in. She also ACCIDENTALLY left her marriage certificate at home. It was a total shambles on our part,

Finding it very difficult to lodge a complaint, I've been on hold for 27 minutes. I flew from Cape Town to Johannesberg on my way to London with a valid UK visa, after waiting at the airport for 7 hours I was told WHILE BOARDING that I will not be able to get on the plane because I could not provide my exit ticket out of the UK. Firstly, the ticket cost me R14500, secondly it is my 4th time in the UK on this visa, thirdly, I had an exit ticket on my phone, the official or whatever he was, had no clue what he was doing he would not even let me charge my phone to show him my ticket. I then had to purchase another ticket for the next with Emirates, I am currently in London, went through custom hassle free and after chatting to them they agreed that whoever told me I couldn't get on the plane HAD NO RIGHT seeing as though my visa was and is VALID. Can someone PLEASE tell me who to contact regarding this ? I spent the evening at Johannesberg airport crying with nobody willing to assist me, and after emailing and trying customer service theres never a response!

I received a case number and a reference to Vaneshree Naidoo to whom I have emailed several times and get no response.

I flew on SA 9203 January 17th, 2016 on a business class fare. My check-in
was done online 16th when I was assigned a seat and a boarding pass
provided.

At the Premium bag drop off on the 17th, I was told that that my seat had been changed due to reconfiguration.

On the flight we were told by the captain that the flight had been changed
from SA 203 to SA 9203 and would be landing at Dakar and would therefore
delayed arrival in New York by 2.5 hrs. He apologized for passengers not
being advised by check-in staff.

All of this clearly meant that I would not make my connection to Washington as booked by SAA on Jet Blue departing at 9:18.

There was no SAA agent to meet the flight (as promised) and we were told to go to Flight Connections where I was told that SAA had booked me on the Jet Blue flight to IAD Washington at 5:00 – a delay of 8 hours!

In desperation I called SAA in the USA and they arranged for me to get onto
a Delta flight at 3pm, thus reducing my delay to 6 hours!

I would like to complain about the following:

1. The fact that I was not informed about the delay – either, when
checking in online, dropping my bags or boarding the flight – particularly
as a GOLD Voyager and the fact that I was travelling in the Business cabin.

2. The fact that no attempt was made to provide me with an
alternative than an 8 hour delay for a flight between JFK and IAD.

This experience really left a bad taste as I feel that SAA took the easy
option to book me on the next available Jet Blue flight which happened to
be in 8 hours The entire customer service was nothing less than appalling.

In view of the above, I believe that I should be compensated in some way
for this delay caused by SAA and handled extremely poorly. I missed my
business meeting .

Quite disgusting that I get no response

I arrived well in time for my first flight of the day, SAA SA 1460 departing PE at 06h10 and arriving in JHB at 08h00. I was held up at the check-in counter at the PE airport for more than 40minutes, during which my mother had to push my active infant around the airport and I was informed that the reason for this was that too many infants had already been booked onto the flight. In absolute disbelief, I was informed that my son would be booked in as a toddler and seated 7 rows behind me! Apparently they could not permit more infants onto the flight - how could the airline allow these bookings? Nevertheless, I was escorted through all the gates and to the plane to ensure quick boarding and ultimately avoiding a late take off. I was given no assistance whatsoever with folding up my pram and collecting my bags etc that I needed to take on to the plane! Flying alone with a 12 month old is nerve wrecking at the best of times and the idea of missing my first flight of the day did me no favours. On previous occasions when I have flown with my infant (also with SAA & SA Airlink - to Nelspruit), I was given boarding passes for both flights. Please note - I have NEVER been asked by SAA or SA Airlink for a birth certificate for my child. Obviously in the rush that ensued at the PE Airport, I was not issued a boarding pass for my flight from JHB to KMIA (SAA SA 8843). When I arrived at the JHB airport I went to check in and only then did I realize that I was not issued a boarding pass in PE so I went to the SA Airlink counters and requested a boarding pass. And this is where the rest of the day's events unfolded. I was informed that I would not be allowed to fly with my infant if I could not provide the birth certificate or a certified copy of it. I then called my husband and requested that he take a photo of the birth certificate and whatsapp it to one of the SA Airlink ladies (which is what one of the lady’s suggested). After a few minutes the photo was received but I was then informed that the 'Supervisor' would not permit a photo of the certificate. I was then told that my husband would have to email a photo to the office email -this was done multiple times but because the SA Airlink email server was down the email was not received. After a great deal of time spent doing this, I was informed that there would not be enough time and that I was to miss the flight. My 11 month old active infant was certainly very unhappy about being confined to a pram for hours on end at an airport! But worst of all was the financial burden of having to pay for another flight out of my own pocket. I was then taken to the ticket office and given the price of the next flight from JHB to KMIA. As it so happened, it was the busiest flight of the day and the cost of a one way flight was R1399.00. I paid for the flight and was then taken back to an office where I sat with my son, waiting for the emailed birth certificate to deliver. The boarding gates for my flight had been opened and we still waited…. I was eventually informed that I would be escorted onto the plane through the crew/staff boarding gates as they did not want me to miss another flight. I then enquired if the email had been received and was told that the email had not been received as yet but that they did not want me to have to miss another flight so they would allow us to fly. My question is, why did I have to pay for ANOTHER ticket if I was allowed onto the second flight with a whatsapp picture of the birth certificate and not the first flight? I was deeply emotional as a result of the day’s setbacks and would never want to endure such an unhappy experience again. My reason for flying back home to Nelspruit, instead of driving, was because my family had insisted that after the emotionally and physically draining drive to the Eastern Cape with our infant in December, they would financially assist us in purchasing a flight ticket. My experience on previous flights with your airline has been most pleasant and certainly a great deal easier and less stressful than a 1500km trip with an infant who does not like to be confined to a car seat. But after this experience I, sadly, will certainly not fly with your airlines again. Please confirm in writing how you are going to address this confusion with regard to the original birth certificate and if you are prepared to at least offer me either a reimbursement or a discounted ticket should I choose to ever use your airline again.

Our children were suppose to return on the 9 january 2016, their flight from brisbane to perth had to do an emergency landing in adelaide and for this reason all passengers on sa 281 missed their flight home. They have now been sitting in perth awaiting a flight home for two days, saa is overbooked and only available flight is on the 18 january. Have phoned multiple times since the 9 january with regards to getting our children home but no-one is willing to help. Due to the time zone their saa centre is already closed and saa in south africa does not answer their phones or you sit for an hour waiting for a response - virgin australia has accommodated them for two nights but now says it is saa responsibility which in turn saa says they passengers are look our for themselves - disgusting how no-one tries to help out. Virgin is willing to fly passengers to their families in brisbane but saa is to change their tickets for another day - would help if anyone at saa would do something about it - have left numerous messages with reservations for someone at saa to call no one has - have been fighting this for two whole days and since 5 am this morning - extremely disappointed at the service

And so my dealings with SAA continue... After several frustrating phone calls, I managed to change our flights to Cape Town from Mon to Sun. This was done the evening of Sunday 10th December. Booking ref. 3UMZXR. Firstly I was told it would cost R950 to change the 3 tickets. When I had to call back ten minutes later "to confirm the calculations" because the operator I spoke to couldn't do the calculations herself, and to then be kept on hold for another 10 minutes before even speaking to anyone, I was told R880. I confirmed the changes, gave my credit card details and assumed all was ok, as we'd received the email confirmation. Come Saturday evening, we can't do our on-line check-in. Arrive at the airport 10.30, check in and we're told there are no tickets for myself and my 2 children! We're then sent to another counter to have the tickets issued. Wait for it...at the cost of R3060! Unfortunately and I have to suspect very cunning tactics by SAA, because I now have to get back to Cape Town, therefore have to pay the charges. And of course, the assistant was less than helpful and extremely unfriendly! My attempts to then contact SAA to deal with this issue was shocking! When I did get through, I was sent from pillar to post, or given a client services number to call. On both occasions that number was not valid! 2 hours and R67 later in phone charges, still no contact with client services! Another attempt to make contact in the afternoon...I'm on hold for 29min, 52 seconds listening to awful music, intermittently being told someone will be with me shortly etc, and I haven't even spoken to ANYONE yet! How long is too long to wait to speak to a representative of SAA? Almost 30min is ridiculous! SAA was then contacted via their Facebook page, giving them my email address as per Booking ref no 3UMZXR and mobile number. And of course, no reply from SAA. As at 25 Dec…Still no response to Dec 23rd post re the Johannesburg to Cape Town flight? The nest day I try again and managed to finally speak to a rep who, again kept putting me on hold to deal with the query. At one point Sibusisaw (sp?) comes back on line to tell me to phone the client services number, not him, as he only deals with the overflow calls! This is after he's kept me on hold for almost 10 minutes. To which I ask the question, what number must I call? Needless to say it is the very number I'd been calling all along! I then ask to speak to a supervisor, am kept on hold for a further 8min, for Sibusisaw to then tell I can't speak to a supervisor, the one I must speak to is away till Sat. He takes my mobile no and a family's number as a back up he says, for a supervisor to ring me on Saturday. I'm then promised and assured that someone would call me on Saturday to resolve my claim. He took both mine and my sister's mobile numbers to confirm they were correct, to ensure that they would get hold of at least one of us….”promise promise Mrs Adams” from Sibusisaw. This has now cost me almost R200 on this phone call. Come Saturday afternoon, allowing a grace period for SAA to do as was promised. It's 3.54pm and no phone call from FlySAA as was promised on Thursday. I've tried calling FlySAA and been on hold for 43min52 seconds and still no one has answered my call! Still Sat afternoon, 2nd attempt to get through...on hold 38min28secs and still on hold ! I haven't even spoken to a representative from SAA! 3rd attempt to make contact – on hold for 62min10secs – appalling! Another attempt on Sunday to no avail…repeated time and another R120 waisted just s per the previous day. Monday is our day of departure…and guess what, we get a phone call from Busi during our flight to Johannesburg, and then on to Perth! WHICH OF COURSE I MISSED AS I WAS TRAVELLING!, , , , Funny that, finally trying to make contact when they knew I'd be travelling! My sister was advised an email would be sent, and of course, it's now Wednesday, and still no email or further contact. This is shocking/appalling/disappointing service from a well known International Airline! One of which I have used many a time! Certainly no more if this is what I have to deal with. I fly regularly to South Africa, am a frequent flyer/voyager member, and this is my reward? No way!

SAA business lounge in OR Tambo airport is a bad place. Services are going down day after day. Last Monday while picking up my coffee a worker in the lounge hit me and spilled the copy on my hand, shirt and suit. An SAA attendant was watching and to my shock she walked away. More depressing, the guy apologized and rushed to just clean the floor. My hand was burned and no body cared until I shouted for help. Reaction from the attendant was very negative. I also discovered that the lounge didn't have a standard first aid kit. I asked for the manager and no body appeared so I went to the reception and asked for a cream for burns. The receptionist said he has to go and buy it and wanted me to pay. At that moment I became very angry and raised my voice so they took me to the manager who had some medical aid stuff that took her about five minutes to find a cleaning fluid and a cream to treat the burn.

Reference tickets [protected] / 615 ref 2vk78t [ref:_00dw0louw. _500w0wnlgc:ref] ‏ depart 5 jan 16 - return 7 mar 16 1we cancelled our reservations within one hour when realising that our bargain flight of £492-76 had escalated to over £700-00. 2 saa online refund services offered "total amount of the refund: £131.26 per person. " 3 this is totally unacceptable when they want to hold onto all of one's monies tantamount to daylight robbery? (a hyperbole) 4 we accept that a cancellation fee is applicable with 10% a fair charge. 5 this is an unfair practice and should be investigated by the financial ombudsman and / or the office of fair trading when a draconian clause reads:"i would like to clarify that they we are not able to cancel the tickets once you booked them ticket online... " 6 why not? when they are able to refund taxes and airport charges. 7 any online system is subject to human manipulation and customer care and satisfaction should be a priority. 8we shall submit above complaint to the relevant authorities for investigation as we are very unhappy with the status quo should an equitable resolution not be found. cyril w jacobs ph 0044 [protected] email [protected]@hotmail.co. uk and that you have requested this refund. fare nonrefundable refundable taxes gbp156.26 (71.00gb/42.06ub/2.70ev/28.30za/3.30um/8.90wc) less admin fee gbp 25.00 total refundable value gbp131.26

I booked an emergency flight from Adelaide, Australia to South Africa on the 28 September 2015. The aircraft was very old, unsafe and cabin crew very untidy and not well presented at all. I then needed to make changes to my return flight and had many battles with the call centre to make these changes. I was sent on a run around for 2 days, making over 10 calls to the call centre, driving to the airport twice and still not assisted. My patience ran our and I demanded to speak with the manager whom I begged to assist me with changes. The service is atrocious and customers should not use this airline. It is better to pay the extra and fly with Emirates or another reputable airline.

Good day,

This was my first time flying with SAA and it wasn't a good experience at all.
I always fly with British Airways or Kulula and have always had the best experience and service.

We were suppose too fly board at 20:20 and there was no one, at about 20:45 most of the passengers were already in line waiting to board and no one had the decency to come and explain the delay.

Only at about 21:00 (after a passenger went to the front and asked what's happening) one of the ladies said there is a delay, but not sure what the reason was.
At about 21:15 there was an announcement made that there will be a delay of 15 to 20 minutes due to flight preparation, but the board (with the boarding times) said that there is an indefinite delay.

We started to get on the busses at about 21:25, an hour later that was announced. We only got onto the plain at 21:40.

The pilot this made an announcement and explained the pilot that was assigned to fly the plane was sick and they were struggling to get a replacement pilot.
The only thing is, we were scheduled to fly out at 20:50 and a hours delay without any explanation is ridiculous and unprofessional.
The problem was that I have arranged transport from the airport to Uvongo (where I am having my holiday), and it was extremely frustrating not knowing what was going on or been given an estimate of when we will board or even arrive. I only reached my destination at 01:30, that's a bit unsafe.

And as stated I have never experienced this situation on British Airways or Kulula. I would think twice before I ever have to fly SAA again, as flight SA585 wasn't the only SAA flight that was delayed on the evening of 27/9/2015.

Should you need any more info my number is [protected].

Regards,

Maritsa Swart

Dear SAA, i would like to formally complain and will continue each and every day until you guys respond with a reasonable reply.

I booked a flight from Johanneburg to Dublin for my wife, infant & myself.
My infant's name has a spelling error on the booking where an E was used instead of an A, not an incorrect name, a spelling error a very human thing to do .

The connecting Air Line got my request and could see ticket was booked via SAA and gladly fixed it . I did report this within 24 hours .

This is the reply i got from YOUR people :

Thank you for your email
Kindly be advised that we are unable to assist with the below query as the passengers name cannot be changed after the booking is completed. South African Airways requires traveller names to be entered exactly as they appear in the Passport/Identity document including spaces, if any. Failure to comply with this will result in the traveller being denied travel or having to purchase a new ticket at the applicable fare available.
Thank you for contacting Reservations Service Recovery.
Kind regards
Maxine Motsoari
Reservations Service Recovery Agent
Reservations Service Recovery
Phone: +[protected]
Fax: +[protected]
E-Mail: [protected]@flysaa.com

I did not pay a small fortune to be treated like this!