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

Last week Tuesday I arrived in Lilongwe, Malawi from New York via Johannesburg. After clearing through immigration, I stood at the baggage claim and after 45 minutes, 75% of the people on the flight were still hanging around. I found out that to conserve fuel, SAA purposely decided to leave most of the luggage behind in Johannesburg. I then waited on line for over an hour to fill out my claim form and get out of the airport.

On Friday, I finally called the airline to find out what was going on, and then said my bags had arrived. So I went to pick them up. While the customs inspectors were inspecting my bags, I inspected them as well. As it turned out, there were a number of things missing from my bag, the handle on the bag had been broken off, and the wheels were all messed up. The amount of pilfered items added up to about $125 USD (~ 1000 Rand). I filled out a form at the airport and they also sent me down the SAA office in downtown Lilongwe to file a report there. The SAA employee informed me it would be *3 months* before I would find out the status of my claim!

John, New Jersey, USA

I suppose that everyone has had baggage lost at some stage in their lives but this story is something for your website.

A few weeks ago I travelled to Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Delhi and Mumbai all without incident – presumably because only one of the flights was with SAA!

On Tuesday last week I travelled from Johannesburg to Cape Town. Upon arrival in Cape Town, a number of passengers on my flight were told that their bags had not arrived. One by one, people were told that their bags were located across the world including New York and Dubai – how is it possible that bags at a domestic terminal find themselves on an international flight?? The mind boggles.

I arrived at 18h00 in the evening, only to be told that my bag could ‘unfortunately not be located’. I was then told that SAA would contact me before midnight to let me know if the bag was traced. I enquired as to what it is I was supposed to sleep in and wear to my meetings the next day and the response again was simply that nothing could be done until midnight.

At the same time, my husband who was in Johannesburg, drove to the airport and enquired from the desk in Johannesburg about the whereabouts of my luggage. The response that he received was that ‘the bag never left the conveyer belt but that it could not be located at this time’. Upon enquiry about what it is I was supposed to do for clothes and toiletries, the response was that an allowance could only be approved at 21h00 that evening.

At 20h00 that evening, I drove from Stellenbosch where I was staying to the Waterfront in Cape Town (as the only place with open stores) to purchase toiletries, pyjamas and clothing. It is not surprising that I received a response from the Jo’burg office advising me that I could spend R560 and that I could claim this back when I arrived in Jo’burg the next day (by the way, R560 does not even cover the cost of my make-up) and despite assurances from the Cape Town desk that I would receive a response by midnight, this was not forthcoming!

If that wasn’t enough, I received a call from the Jo’burg desk on Wednesday at 13h00 to let me know that my bag had been located in Jo’burg and would be waiting for me upon my arrival.

However, shortly before getting on the plane in Cape Town I received a call from the Cape Town desk advising that my bag was in Cape Town and that I needed to collect it. I then sarcastically enquired whether they were sure as I had been told that the bag was in Jo’burg and the response was “Madam, I’m looking at your bag, it is definitely in Cape Town”.

By this time I had already checked in for my 17h50 flight and had to get back out to the SAA baggage counter. After all of this, you can expect that I would not let my bag out of my sight. The crew however would not let me take the bag with me as it was ‘too big for hand luggage ‘ – I continued to refuse to let it go and was eventually allowed to take the bag with me.

Yes, it gets better: when I got to the baggage counter at SAA in Jo’burg to claim my R560 refund, I was told that the cashiers were closed and that they couldn’t pay me out immediately. I then wanted to leave my banking details to ensure that they would pay me but was told that I would need to come back to the airport to claim the money as they didn’t do electronic transfers and that if I did come back, it would have to be during office hours.

One expects that things like this happen. However, if the staff at SAA had dealt with the situation better or offered assistance instead of excuses, I wouldn’t be this upset. I am due to travel to Cape Town tomorrow and to South America in 3 weeks time – all on SAA – I shudder to think what may happen!

The fact that an hour of my time during the day to drive to the airport to collect R560 is worth much more to me then what is on offer is probably the main reason why I do not intend to claim the money back. However, I can definitely say that SAA may well have lost a customer. Was it worth R560? One wonders.

Zarina Kellerman

I would just like to add that saa is nogals kak. they have overbooked my gilfriends flight by 36 people…she was not on standby, she did not wait for a cheaper flight…she paid two weeks before the trip and now they tell her its overbooked and she has to wait three hours at Joburg airport! And the reason why I’m pissed at this…it makes me miss the third tri-nations test between us and oz! hav to go and sit at ‘ffen spur in drban airport and watch the rugby instead of being at home wih a cold lager.

Hendre.

Please see the attached letter from SAA apologizing and the refund on stuff stolen from my bag. The total value of a watch, camera and springbok rugby jersey stolen was R 5456 and the refund R 162.47. 2.97% of the value stolen and to me it feels like saa is in approval of the practice by their staff.

This happened on the 25.06.09 and if you go to hello peter and look up theft and saa you come up with 2 cases. One on the 22.05.09 and one on the 15.04.09. Guess which route, JHB to ELS, the same route I flew. Should SAA not have known there was a problem and sorted it out before the theft on the 22.05.09, and now they are apologetic in their letter. The refund would not be enough to buy a fake springbok jersey. I am very disappointed in our national carrier, not only do they screw us as tax payers, but as individuals as well, while their staff enrich themselves by stealing and the practice is not condoned by the carrier.

Regards

M Marshall

—–Original Message—– Sent: 30 July 2009 04:10 PM

Dear Mr Marshall,

Please see the attached letter as discussed earlier today.

With kind regards,

Tony de Villiers __________________________ Baggage Claims Department SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS

img-0730132129-0001.pdf

*From:* Tatiana ] *Sent:* Wednesday, July 29, 2009 10:40 PM *To:* ‘Magda Pretorius’ *Cc:* ticketingsaa@flysaa.com *Subject:* Authentication of payment for sponsored ticket for booking ref 2WGC3J on behalf of Mrs. M.E Pretorius.

Good day

Attached is booking details and credit card details

You guys are so slow that my 78 year old sick mother had to go home on Sunday – Because you can’t authenticate payment with all the modern technology.

It is quite strange that you are not bankrupt yet. We will never make use of SAA again. All the second grade low cost domestic airlines has done a superb job in comparison with SAA

Hope you can sort it out before Saturday 01/08/2009 at 17h00

Authentication of payment for sponsored ticket for booking ref 2WGC3J on behalf of Mrs. M.E Pretorius.

——————————

*From:* Tatiana *Sent:* Wednesday, July 29, 2009 9:42 PM *To:* ‘Tatiana’ *Subject:*

DIS GOED SO EN MOENIE WORRY NIE, DIS DAREM NIE TE VER LUGHAWE TOE NIE. ONS GESELS VRYDAG WEER.

TATTA EN GROETE

XXXXXXXX

2009/7/29 Magda Pretorius

Hello Maatjie

Jammer ek kom maar vrek min by die computer en vra vreeslik groot om verskoning dat julle Sondag verniet gery het. Ek het Saterdag omtrent slange gevang met SAA. Ek moes ‘n “Authentication of Payment for Sponsored Ticket” deurfaks omdat ek betaal het, want die passassier is veronderstel om die kredietkaart te wys as sy by die lughawe aankom. Ek het dit 11:28 aan hulle deurgefaks en ‘n uur daarna gebel om te hoor of hulle dit gekry het. Hulle kon nie bevestig dat hulle dit gekry het nie, en het weer 3 uur gebel. Hulle het toe gese hulle het dit nog nie gekry nie. Dit was so dol met Yvette se matriekafskeid en het 7 uur die aand weer gebel en toe het hulle voorgestel dat ek dit deur e-mail. Ons computer was af en is toe na vriende toe wat dit gescan en ge-email het. Toe ek terug is en bel toe is die call centre toe en maak eers 6 uur die volgende oggend weer oop. Ek was van plan om toe te bel, maar het regtig nie gedink dat hulle nie die faks of die e-mail betyds sou kry nie. Ek sal NOOIT weer ‘n vlug deur SAA bespreek nie. Enige besparing met die vlug het ons opgemaak met die telefoonoproepe.

En ek het nou gebel (wat ek al moes gedoen het) om seker te maak dat hulle die e-mail gekry het van Saterdag en raai wat – HULLE HET DIT NIE GEKRY NIE! Nou gaan ek die goed weer deurfaks en sal jou laat weet. Die meisie het wel vir my die bevestiging van die nuwe vlug deurgestuur en sal dit vir jou apart aanstuur.

Ek laat weet jou later.

Groete

Magda

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*From:* maatjie minnie *Sent:* Monday, July 27, 2009 9:45 AM *To:* Tatiana *Subject:* Haai

Ek wou net sê, toe ons gister op die lughawe is, het hulle baie stories gehad oor “signatures” wat glo nie deur is en “approved” is nie, want julle het die kaartjie met die krediet/visa kaart gekoop, en die bank moet glo eers die goed “authorised”. Ons het toe gesê dit word altyd so gedoen, maar nou ja, hulle wou niks weet nie. Ek sal in elk geval eers die lughawe bel hier teen Vrydag en hoor of alles nou fine is, voor ons weer gaan. Sy is nou op die 5 uur vlug Saterdag bespreek. Sal seker so 7 uur daar by julle wees.

As ek gebel het sal ek weer laat weet. Magda sal seker in elk geval van julle kant af ook kan uitvind of alles nou reg is of hoe?

Tata en mooi bly

Hi all,

This is the e-mail I send to SAA with my story on it (bear with me. It’s a long one!)…

To whom it may concern,

Before I explain exactly why I will NEVER fly with your airline again, I thought it best to highlight the statement you have describing your customer service on your website…

“South African Airways strives to inspire our customers with African hospitality in every detail, every time. Commitment to our passengers is key to our brand and we strive to get it right, first time, every time. Contact us should you have any customer care related queries.”

I am contacting you. Here is my story…

I flew to South Africa on business in late December 2008. My company has decided to outsource some of their work to Cape Town and I was the first of a number of staff members that will be flying over to get this project off the ground. Our company found good fairs on your website and thought it would be a novel idea to fly the South African national carrier on these trips. The flights were booked on the company credit card (in my MDs name) and I sent through all the relevant information needed. The flight was very comfortable and I don’t have a bad thing to say about the experience.

In my last few days in Cape Town it became apparent I would need another week in the country before coming back to London. I called your call centre and explained that I would need to change my ticket to the following Friday (6th Feb ’09). This is where all the trouble began. They explained to me that the changes would cost me R3100. When I had booked the flight online the website stated I would need to pay $175.00. I was told that the hike in price was due to the fact that there were no more tickets available within the booking class I has previously booked on. Needless to say this “Upgrade” as you termed it held no benefits to me. It just meant that you charged me more money which is a disgrace. I cannot believe that you have different classes of booking that mean the customer pays more and doesn’t get anything in return. Despite this I asked to change the ticket as my MD graciously agreed to pay the extra amount and I had important business to attend to in London the next week.

Once the change was requested I was told that I would need my MD’s credit card to pay for the booking. I said I would call back with the information. I spoke to my MD who told me his credit card had been stolen the day before and that he would need to apply for a new card (I know this is not your fault but bear in mind that this was no fault of mine either). I called SAA back and explained the situation on Friday the 30th of Jan ‘09. I was told that you accepted no other form of payment for a sponsored ticket than from that of the sponsor. I asked if you could hold the booking until the Monday to see if the card had come through the post by then. You said this was fine.

I woke up on Monday to find the news of the worst snow storms in London in 20 years. When I got to the office I spoke to my MD who explained that due to the weather the card would not be delivered for a few days. I spoke to your call centre and explained the situation. They said they would hold the booking until Wednesday but I would need to purchase a new ticket if I wasn’t able to get the details. I asked if I could pay for the change but you would not allow this, despite the circumstances I was in which were beyond my control.

On the Tuesday the weather in London was still bad and there was no sign of the credit card. I spoke to a very helpful lady based at the SAA offices in America who told me it might be better to go to the airport and so I drove for half an hour to speak to someone in passenger services. After explaining the dilemma I was in and producing a great wad of paperwork substantiating all of this including e-mail upon e-mail between my MD as well as copies of his passport, old credit card and the Fax Authentication Form, and I was told that no-one there could help me and that I would need to follow the procedure set out by the call centre. I said that I would happily pay for the change as I had important business to attend to in London the next week but they told me this was impossible and that I would need to buy a new ticket if I couldn’t get the new credit card details in time. I was astounded at how unhelpful they were and I was beginning to think that you were trying your very best to get me to buy a new ticket and extort even more money out of me.

On the Wednesday the card finally arrived and I was able to get these details to you. At this stage I was told I would need a letter from the bank stating that the old card had been cancelled and stating the new details. By the end of the day I had this for you along with the new Fax Authentication form. When I called to check I had everything I needed for you, you explained to me that the letter had to be stamped by the bank. I HAVE NO IDEA why you didn’t tell me this in the first place. I called my MD back, who is a very busy man and was in and out of meetings all day, and explained this to him. He told me this would be impossible to get before my flight on the Friday considering the weather and the backed up business it had caused. I called SAA back to tell you this and another agent told me that the stamp didn’t matter so I sent through the information and they told me it would be fine but I should call back the next day. I was fuming at this stage. I had spent at least an hour a day on the phone with your call centre and I was still having to call back AGAIN.

On the Thursday I called back and I was told the payment hadn’t gone through and I should call back in an hour. I did so and was asked to call back in an hour again. This happened a few times and while I was waiting for another hour to pass I got an e-mail from Shirley Nsimbi in Ticketing saying this (referring to the new Fax Authentication Form and the back of the new credit card)…

Dear Sir/Madam

Thank you for your email

However we’ve noticed that the back of the credit card doesn’t match the form please sign the form as you did the credit card.

Kindly email the following documents to SAA: Authentication for sponsored booking, Back and Front of credit card and Id copy of the credit card holder. Or scan the originals and email to *ticketingsaa@flysaa.com*

I couldn’t believe it. I was being told, after having been assured that everything was fine, that my MD, who finds it difficult to find time to eat lunch, had to take time out of his busy day to re-sign and fax this form through when CLEARLY the signatures matched. I phoned back virtually in tears and asked them to have a look at the form again as it was very obvious that the signatures were the same. I asked to be put through to a manager, which by the way I had done on numerous occasions previously, and I was put on hold. The call cut off after half an hour of waiting on hold, which by the way had happened to me every time I had asked to speak to a manager prior to this. I called back and spoke to another person who said that everything was fine and the payment had gone through. I received my confirmation e-mail and assumed it would be fine to fly the next day, in the nick of time.

Considering all of the issues I had with this ticket change I decided to give SAA one last call on the Friday of my flight. I spoke to someone who assured me everything was in order. I left the for the airport with a smile on my face, looking forward to coming home. I arrived at the check in desk, my bags were taken and tagged and I had given my passport in when I was told by your man at the check-in counter that my ticket change had not been paid for. I was absolutely astounded. After the HUGE rig moral I had gone through that week and the countless hoops I was asked to jump through I was speechless. I was told to go to passenger services desk to pay.

I walked up to the desk and the same lady I had spoken to on the Tuesday helped me. I explained my story and she said she would check the system. To my astonishment she said the booking had not gone through. I burst into tears. I just couldn’t believe that after I had made all the effort to check in advance that all was okay and done everything in my power to follow all of your lengthy procedures I was standing at the ticket desk in the same situation I had been in a week ago.

The lady was very helpful but it took her an hour to sort it all out and she had to go through the same process of sitting on hold to speak to one of your agents in the call centre. It turns out the person who was supposed to process the payment forgot to do so. Eventually I was given the go-ahead to check in. After all the trouble I had gone through with your airline all I was offered was a cup of coffee while I cried at your passenger services desk.

Once I boarded the plane it was apparent that due to my late check-in I was given the very worst seat on the plane at the very back of the aircraft. The only entertainment on the flight was shared TVs in the middle of the aisle, your flight attendants were rude and impatient and two passengers directly in front of me decided they wanted to have a fist fight half way through the flight. A wonderful cherry on top of this rather rancid cake.

So, there are a couple of things I would like to suggest to perhaps better the way in which you operate…

· Your call centre staff are friendly and helpful but are not allowed to move away from procedure, even in circumstances where this needs to happen. Your call centre staff need to be able to handle different situations and not just regurgitate the same script over and over again.

· When an agent is unable to help a customer, that customer should be able to speak to a manager or someone of authority that can consider their case. If circumstances make it impossible for the customer to follow your procedures you should have someone available to at least consider an alternative.

· If a manager is unavailable your agents should not put customers on hold until the call disconnects. This is the most frustrating thing in the world for a customer.

· Your agents need to be trained properly. I cannot explain to you the amount of inconsistencies I came across when trying to change my ticket. I am also amazed that I wasn’t told exactly what I needed from square one. I spent hours on the phone with you trying to figure out what it was exactly that I needed to give you and you seemed to add more things to the list or change your requirements every time I spoke to someone new which was ALL the time as the calls kept getting cut off while I was on hold.

· If you can see that you have brought a customer to tears perhaps that customer deserves something extra to cheer him / her up. The girl at the passenger services desk made a lot of comments about the length of the history on my booking reference, apologized over and over again for the hell you had put me through and she could see how upset I was but all I was offered was a coffee.

In terms of the statement on your website quoted at the top of this e-mail, I have not been inspired. Your attention to detail is disgraceful and I have failed to see an iota of your commitment to me as a passenger. You failed to get it right the first time. In fact you failed to get it right the 10thtime to be honest.

I would like to acquaint you with a website I encountered while trying to find your customer services e-mail address: http://saasucks.com/. Perhaps you should take a brief sojourn amongst the many pages of terrible tales people have to tell you about you. It seems I am not alone. I wasn’t able to find the equivalent for any other airline and I can tell you that you are losing a lot of business by the looks of things. I am booking my tickets to fly back next week with Virgin Atlantic. They have told me that changes to tickets are easy and I can pay for it myself if need be. You have lost out on a lot of repeat business from myself and my business and I will be sure to tell everyone I know about the emotionally draining week you have put me through.

What I would like from you is an apology. I would like something besides a short note via e-mail with an insincere “sorry” in it. If I don’t receive this I will ensure that this letter gets to every newspaper in South Africa and if I can manage it, any publication that will print it here in the UK. I know that others have done this as I have read letters in the South African press recently with similar stories in them, and I know that in general you have not responded by the looks of things. Perhaps when you lose all of your business and you aren’t receiving those massive bonuses any more you will sit up and take notice.

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And this is the brilliant response I got…

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*From:* Customer Care [mailto:CustomerCare@flysaa.com] *Sent:* 10 February 2009 18:38 *To:* Sarah *Subject:* Acknowledgement of Receipt

Welcome to South African Airways Customer Care.

WE ARE CURRENTLY EXPERIENCING A HUGE BACKLOG AND HAVE MEASURES IN PLACE TO CURB THIS, PLEASE BEAR WITH US AND WE ASSURE YOU THAT YOU WILL RECEIVE A RESPONSE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. WE APPRECIATE YOUR UNDERSTANDING.KINDLY NOTE THAT IF YOU HAVE SENT YOUR E-MAIL PLEASE DO NOT RESEND IT.

Post departure complaints and compliments.

Thank you for sharing your travel experience with us, your feedback is appreciated. ——————————

I’m not surprised there is a backlog!

Kind regards,

Sarah