I recently posted the below complaint on the hellopeter website and emailed it to 4 voyager email addresses. Doubt I will get a reponse:
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I had miles about to expire so I redeemed a Voyager award certificate which is valid for six months. I tried to book a flight via their website but booking a flight is impossible as the ‘mileage keeper’ seats are always sold out. I phoned the call centre explained that I would like a ‘mileage keeper’ seat from Jhb to CT any weekend, departing late friday afternoon and returning late Sunday afternoon. Is this an unreasonable request? Seats sold out even 6 months in advance.

So I asked to have my air award exchanged for a non-air award. I was told that I should have changed my award within the first 3 months of issue? I read their terms and conditions on their website and this is not stated.

SAA is unreasonable and do not have enough ‘mileage keeper’ seats available on their flights. Surely they should release more ‘mileage keeper’ seats for Voyager members especially over weekends?
My miles have now expired as I could not book a flight or exchange my award. I will never use SAA again.

Virgin Airways offers a far superior miles program and so does BA. I will use these airlines in future

I am currently in Botswana and actually still to fly back through Johannesburg this coming Tuesday August 17, 2010. My experience and that of many other colleagues that came with the airline are all regrettable. SAA can assume that they are , . They may be winning now, but let’s see how they survive in another few years to come.

I will describe SAA as follows: Indifferent, Non-chalant, Ineffective and Pathetic Airline. We should actually call them SAD AFRICAN AIRLINE. They have a mission to make passengers sad and I have joined others on your website that never again will I agree to be booked on the SAA. let me be brief about the injustice we experienced.

I was missed the connecting airline when I landed on Johannesburg from Nairobi on August 14 and after several pleas, I was just ignored and asked to pay 550 rands. After I paid, I was booked on another SAA 1765 for the same day only to find that my luggage was missing on arrival. The SAA express immediately told me that nothing can be done and they have no responsibility to bear, not even the courtesy to drop the luggage for me if found. I finally met my colleagues who came on an earlier flight and they were all lamenting about their missing luggage and our Botswana host clearly stated that it was the usual and that we may never see the luggage again. whatever happens, as a frequent traveller, I will use all avenues to discourage my friends from flying the SAD Airline. The exploitation can only continue for awhile, time will judge.

I will like to however celebrate Kenya Airways and Egypt air for their excellent customer service. Keep up the good work.

Yet again another customer complaining about tampered luggage.

Sometime this year I visited Zimbabwe, transit though South Africa from Swaziland. I found my luggage was tempered with and a perfume (Davidoff 100 ml) stolen. I seriously didn’t know what to do/ where to complain. Just yesterday I was coming from Switzerland, bought the most expensive gadget lock (hoping I have the best security gadget). To my surprise, this time my zipper was completely destroyed because they couldn’t temper with the gadget lock. When is this going to stop, should we stop checking in our luggage?

Angry customer.

I am a South African born with Greek descent, Love my South Africa. I was so disgusted with the SAA ladies that work at the customer service and check in bays. My friend was flying too Nigeria and because of our traffic problem we were late. She had too go and pay a difference as she changed her flight a day later, the lady that helped her was as rude as they come, no tact what so ever.

Where does SAA find these rude woman who are suppose too be there too help the passengers and not make them feel like they doing us a favour. This passenger flies SAA very often and told me that it is always like that. Then we go too check in luggage and we find another rude lady, I did not think too take names as I was very very angry at the way my friend was treated. I would suggest that SAA gets some training for these ladies that are behind the desks if we want too have International standards.

Please do something about this problem, why must we have a problem in the first place we are a great nation and country. Big Bosses go down too the Airport and have a look for your self what is happening there.

Many Thanks
NIki
Proudly South African

For the last few months the postings on SAA Sucks have been a little quiet. This is partly due to my time and availability to posting to the website but I was also questioning the real viability of the website.

That said, yet another incident of baggage theft has left and a lack-lustre response by SAA has me more committed than ever to taking on the SAA plight. So from this point onwards you’re going to see an increased posting of horror stories and anyone who has sent me an article that hasn’t made it on to the website will soon be seeing their stories go online.

I’ve also noticed that this website is now ranked #6 on Google for the search term “SAA” (click here to see the results or check the screenshot below). What really amazes me however is that from the inception of this website SAA have chosen to avoid it and refuse to attend to basic consumer problems that have been highlighted here over the last year.

A site like this will damage SAA’s reputation as people from all over the world will stumble upon when searching for the National Carrier’s website. To be honest, if this was my company, I’d be very worried about this but I guess it just goes to show that SAA really couldn’t be bothered.

Dear SAA Sucks,

Please see below emails that I have sent to SAA and replies received so far. I would be obliged if you would post these on your site for the information of others who may contemplate flying with SAA. I only wish I had found your site before booking my flights with SAA.

Perhaps others who use yor site should also bombard Mr Smyth’s office with emails of their complaints and let his office share some of the pain and frustration that his company causes their customers.

Best regards

R G Morrissey
Read the rest of this entry »

Herewith a letter I have just mailed to SAA customer care!

Sir

We have recently returned home to Zambia having spent a week in South Africa flying SAA from Lusaka to Durban.
Yet again our luggage was tampered with, on flight SAA 555 from OT to Durban
This is the 5th time in 18 months that this has happened to us
It is totally unacceptable.

My daughter has lost school stationary and jewelry, my husband expensive perfume he was bring home and several other personal items.
If I were to start on all the incidents our friends have experienced it would take a whole page, often the locks are broken and cable ties cut but with nothing missing.. That too is a crime. I suspect many such incidents dont even get reported, lots of your “valued customers” have given up complaining,we just shrug our shoulders and accept it as part of life in South Africa, “at least nothing is missing” but we must fight against the eroding morals of our country and her people.

We reported the most recent incident to the baggage desk at Durban international where a very helpful lady listened to our frustration and anger and seeing how incensed we were suggested that, at our convenience, we take our luggage to Frasers to be repaired.
On business trips we do not build in time to run around putting right your problems so she willingly arranged to have my husbands luggage collected from our hotel to be repaired. I have to commend how efficiently Frasers repaired the suitcase as it was collected and returned within a couple of hours..no doubt a at handsome cost to SAA ,
A sad inditement that you have a standing arrangements with Frasers for what is a far too common occurrence of interference by airport staff to your passengers personal effects.

What are you doing about the source of the problem? namely thieves stealing and criminals looking for valuables at OT?
It is all very well to throw money at fixing the results of their crime but what of the criminals themselves?
I suspect the whole outfit, like our country is rife with crime and corruption.

Woe to the many many unsuspecting tourists soccer fans coming for the world cup.. easy prey and soft targets. The baggage handlers must be waiting with delighted anticipation at the easy pickings they will have then.
And you ask us to fly SAA and be
Proudly South African
There is increasingly little to be proud when we are reduced to being relieved if our luggage arrives at its destination without being interfered with..
Oh sad and sorry South Africa and it lack of morals.

Where is SAA’a commitment to putting a stop to all this.
In my husbands place of work you are fired for theft………….
Carte Blanch have investigated it exposed it and yet it continues.
A disgrace for our country and SAA

I await your reply
Sincerely
Jenny Strathern

We are incidentally still waiting for settlement from a claim for missing goods since July last year Claim reference DPR LUNSA 42976

CC to Carte Blanche and
Proudly South African
SAA Sucks

On our way from Washington DC to Namibia via Johannesburg on SAA all 3 of our bags were lost. We were assured they would be on the next flight the next day. Not only was that a joke, other passengers that overheard this promise said “yeah that is what they told us 2 days ago.”

We then flew to another area of Namibia and were told our bags would be sent to the post office in a day. Instead, 2 of the 3 bags were sent to the airport in the new town we were in. It was a nightmare to call to get information. 80% of the time nobody picked up. Half of the vacation was worrying about calling. Finally we got 2 of the bags at the airport. When we would call, sometimes they would say it was lost, sometimes they would miraculously have information that it was sent. We then went back to the airport two more times over the next two days. No bags. We would call and they would say it was still lost in the initial airport. We then left that town to fly to another town. Once we got to that town, they told us the bag was sent 4 days earlier and sent to the post office, not the airport. I heard the supervisor (Sally) who was apparently out of town yell at her co-workers saying “Why didn’t anybody update the system and call the travelers with information on where the bags were sent). So they forgot to call and tell us this information and they forgot to update their computers so that we could find this information when we called 15 times. Meanwhile my wife’s medicine was in the missing bag. Great! Fun trip to Africa with NONE of my luggage! (I only had 1 bag).

Then they were going to route the bags back to the main capital airport in time for the END OF OUR 12 day TRIP to take them home with us. That of course didn’t happen. Now they are supposed to be delivered to the USA. Fat chance of that.

Oh and their reimbursement program… they are supposed to give you up to $75 a day after 24 hours of your bags missing. Nothing is given to you in writing, so you have to trust the already incompetent people that you aren’t going to be missing some fineprint exception to that reimbursement. Also I think maybe you have to have receipts for what you purchase. The problem is 1) if you request a VAT tax refund… they keep the receipts! 2) The level of incompetence is so high, how in the world can I justify paying $75 a day up front in hopes that SAA will pay me back. Yeah right.

We were then told to get our refund and reimbursement in Johannesburg. But with our connection flight 90 minutes later, and the place to go being BEHIND another level of security, that didn’t happen. And at the gate I demanded to talk to a supervisor, and I was promised one would come before the flight would take off… of course, that didn’t happen. I was given the phone and 4 numbers to call. Nobody answered.

Oh and on the way back… all 3 bags (we bought a new bag) were left behind in Johannesburg. Finding who to call is a nightmare. The numbers they give us go straight to voicemail with no indication of what hours they work. When I call their partner airline United, I get routed to Manila. Each time I call they have a different set of information. Oh and there is no human that answers the phones at lost luggage to confirm if the bags have arrived. Yet they expect the customer to drive back out to the airport to pick up their bags. Do you see the flaw in this circular logic? 1) we can’t confirm where our freaking bags are 2) nobody answers the phone 3) nobody returns voicemails 4) we are expected to pick up the luggage.

Not only should the airline pay to have the bags delivered to our door (which is what the lost luggage lady said when we were in JFK) we should be compensated for the nightmare that they put us through.

Sure, I have no problem with an airline occasionally losing luggage. But at least have a system to make it as painless as possible.

Oh yeah, apparently our bags might have actually gone on the plane from JFK to IAD. Even though we stood at the baggage carousel waiting for the bags from Africa, as instructed by the flight attendants. We waited so long , we lost our connection.

My suggestion: 1) If you have a tight connection, go DIRECTLY to lost luggage and see if they can track your bags. 2) DO NOT necessarily believe them. They might say they are still in Africa, but they just haven’t been scanned in yet in JFK 3) Get a phone number for whom to call (and post it here). 4) Try “Traveler’s Aid” at Dulles. They were helpful. They walked over to lost luggage and checked to see if my bags were there (they saw only 1 of 3) 5) 703-572-7643 is supposedly the secret number for Washington Dulles lost luggage. But you have to let it ring forever. I could never get anybody to pick up. 6) Email their management using the pattern FirstNameLastName@Flysaa.com with no spaces, no dashes etc.

Here are some nightmare numbers you can call and fax: Kareen Degraff (hopefully that will make for good google juice for this person to get motivated to implement a better system) 954-769-5025 or fax them at 954-769-5026

Don’t fly SAA

Frank

Dear Saasucks,

My sad story begins on 28th June 2009 in Saa office Dar es Salaam. I had a trip to Capetown and opted to travel with SAA. I went to their office in Dar es salaam to buy my ticket and wanted to use my credit card to pay. I was told that they dont accept credit cards so I have to use cash but I found it difficult because it meant to get euros from my account change into local currency and buy USD so that I can pay for the ticket. I then asked if it was possible to buy the ticket online and they said yes but after getting the ticket I must go with it to them so that they can confirm it. I bought the ticket on 28th and took it to them on 2nd of July. They took my ticket and requested to see my credit card, I gave them and they looked at it, after searching on their computer they told me that my ticket was invalid because my credit card was suspected for fraud and therefore the saa would not accept the payment. They asked me to buy another ticket by cash, but I asked them what will happen to the other ticket, they assured me that they are going to cancel it and so nothing will be deducted in my account. They made a copy of my credit card though I was reluctant they insisted that it was their policy and it will help them to make follow up and cancel the ticket. I paid for ticket by cash and left after a long conversation with them.

My journey really nice and enjoyed through out. I kept on checking my account and it was ok until 28th of July when I found deductions on my account and I called my bank and asked where they took my money, just to be told that it had been paid to saa. On 31st I went back to their office asking them why they charged me twice for one trip and requesting for my refund. They told me that they cant pay me back because the transaction was done online, it was hard to understand but I didnt want to quarrel much with them, they gave me an email address to use for requesting the refund. The same day I wrote an email and todate I have not gotten any response. I wrote a demand letter and sent it to Saa Dar no response, went back and talked to the supervisor who was working on my complaint she promised to call me back on friday to inform me on the progress and she never did. I feel robbed, much humiliated and mistreated wit the Saa staff in Dar. I would really wish to get my money back with no charges after the disturbance I have gone through, I really hate their attitude and un professional way of handling customers

Emi, Dar -Tanzania.

I went to Kruger National Park on August 2nd and returned to Australia on the 14th with a tour group. The staff on the aircraft thermselves were OK with me, apart from being perhaps a little more aloof and formal than we are used to in Oz.

Some of our group referred to one hostess on the flight to South Africa as “the blonde Nazi”, but I didn’t meet her.

The fun started at Johannesburg the next day when our flight to Mpumalanga failed to appear on the boards long after the alleged boarding time. There had been no announcement, and our first two enquiries were met with only shrugs. The third time we approached the staff – after scheduled departure time the woman rang somebody, then, about 15 minutes later, made an announcement that the flight was delayed due to “technical issues”. Boarding was estimated to commence “in another 20 minutes”. I made the effort to chat to that staff member casually and in a friendly, non-confronting, manner and found out the aircraft had been delayed leaving its previous destination, so it was not a sudden problem they could not have advised us about earlier.

A little after the estimated new boarding time, we were ushered on to the bus to take us to the 20 seat turbo-prop, and then after several minutes asked to go back into the terminal because the plane still needed to be cleaned and supplied.

We eventually had an uneventful flight, but on arrival discovered that 9 pieces of luggage had been arbitrarily unloaded at the last minute. Three of our group were left with nothing, and had to borrow clothes from the rest of the group for the overnight stay at Pestana. The airline could not tell them when it would arrive more precisely than on one of the next few flights. They got their luggage next day about 9am only because the tour guide sent to drive us from Pestana to Crocodile Bridge Gate at Kruger had been tipped off by us the night before and rang the airline in the early morning and made an extra trip to Mpumalanga and back to pick it up for them.

On our return to Johannesburg we had a considerable wait for the flight to Perth, and some went shopping leaving two of us minding the bags of 5 others. Well before official boarding time we were approached and told to get into a queue to have or hand luggage inspected as they had decided to inspect all hand luggage in detail for this trip. We declined to leave our friends’ baggage unattended, or open it for inspection before the owners were present, and I asked each of the two attendants to make an announcement so the rest of the group would know to curtail their shopping and return to the gate. They just shrugged and tried again to budge us. Eventually, when we did not give in, they agreed to help us carry the baggage of the whole group to an area near the end of the queue where the other member of the group could mind it while I tried to find the others. I found two and sent them back, then approached another staff member at an office asking for an announcement to be made and got the shrugs again. When I asked if there was some reason for refusing to make an announcement he just shrugged and said, “I dunno.”

I returned to the Gate where four of our group were now assembled, and eventually decided to go through the checking process so I could talk to the grey haired man of European descent on the other side who was obviously supervising the process. While I was in the queue I talked to a South African passenger who said they had done this on other occasions, and had even closed off boarding early when at the end of the line when some passengers had not yet arrived to take part in the inspection, leaving them unable to board. So, once I was through, I approached the Supervisor and explained the situation and asked him if an announcement could be made so that the rest of the group and any other passengers could be made aware they needed to return early. He said. “No, there is no need, they should be waiting here already!” I explained that as Australian Airports always announced such events, and boarding of previous flights from that airport had been delayed, they would not be aware of that expectation, so would they please make an announcement – he refused again. I said I would post about the events on this site. He said, “Please yourself.” [The rest of the group did turn up and get on board in the end, but no thanks to the system at the airport.]

From what some South African traders later told me of their banking system and taxation system while I was there, this sort of authoritarian behaviour appears to be common in the lower areas of mangement of government enterprises in South Africa. I suspect that those lower down the hierarchy use “Dunno” to avoid getting caught between unhappy customers and the bully boys.

Ray Taylor Adelaide South Australia