Those who have been following this site will know that I started SAA Sucks as a result of this incident. After trying all my efforts, including this website, I figured that SAA would simply never refund me my money nor bother communicating with me about the matter again but I was wrong.

On the 2nd of December 2008, some two months after my initial experience, I received the following email.

Dear Mr Hartman

Refund has been finalised with an amount of zar1590.00

Regards

South African Airways
Duduzile Mnguni
Dep :Refunds

What this effectively means is that SAA have given me a full refund less a small administration fee of R285.00. So, my next thought is that if they have indeed issued me with a full refund then what was the reason for this as they made it very clear that I would not receive one.

Well, the answer lay in an email correspondence directly below the above.

From: Kgomotso Matlala
Sent: 23 October 2008 14:25
To: E-Commerce Online Refunds
Subject: Name change mistake.
Importance: High

Dear Refunds,

Please see the tkts below, and assess a full refund at least charge
administration fee. The customer mentions that he made a mistake on the
website and booked in his surname instead of his father in law’s
surname. Please see the first two tkts. And due to the name change
policy, no refund is due. Can you please advise me if it is psbl to
view this differently, so I can revert to him in writing. Customer
thereafter rebooked and paid.

Kgomotso Matlala was the manager I dealt with on the phone at the time of my original incident and it would seem that this email from him was the catalyst for a full refund. So while this website has been important to expose the consumer injustices I don’t think it helped in any which way to me getting a full refund. I think I got a lucky break with SAA and I’m certainly happy to see that policies can actually be changed.

Last year during June, I decided to go back to my home in JHB for the June holidays. I arrived at Cape Town International Airport a little bit late, but on time for check-in and boarding and when I got there, there was an extremely long queue. I thought that since my flight was about to depart in about 40 minutes. I went to the front counter and asked if I could check-in. The person at the counter told me not to worry and that they will announce a final boarding call, so I thought what the heck and I waited in the long queue. As the time drew closer and closer to my flight’s departure, I began to worry and so I went to the counter again. The person then told me that my flight has already stopped boarding and was about to depart.

 I was absolutely furious since they didn’t announce the final boarding call and I was listening to the announcements very closely. they told me they had made the announcement but I sure didn’t hear anything for SA324. They told me to go to the counter at the end and the lady there told me to upgrade my flight for R2000. I was absolutely SHOCKED as I was just a student and I didn’t carry R2000 on me and besides R2000 for just an upgrade for the next flight to JHB was way too much. I then called my father and he phoned SAA main call centre and he also told me to find the SAA supervisor for CPT. I found the supervisor and my father was complaining to her and asked her to help me as much as they can since I absolutely needed to get back to JHB on that day for appointments. The supervisor was not a very friendly person, not to mention she most probably had PMS that day, she was extremely impatient and she got sick of hearing my father asking her to help me and so she slammed my cellphone on the desk and broke it. The supervisor told me to go back to the counter, she said that they had another ticket for me at the counter but when I got there, I was confronted by 2 extremely extremely rude SAA check-in ladies, who called me a LIAR and used unprofessional words such as “eish” “boy, you are a liar” and “wena” and “don’t lie to me now”. They called me a LIAR many times that day and they wouldn’t even hear my side of the story, I mean they didn’t even let me speak for goodness sakes. The supervisor was a liar, she lured me to the counter by saying she had another ticket there for me. SAA didn’t pay for my broken phone, neither did they give me another ticket.

 They lied to me and used rude and unprofessional language at me. They called me a liar which made me furious. I had to call my friend to pick me up at the airport and I bought another ticket for the next day which was way cheaper than R2000. SAA tried to rip me off and they picked on me because I am a minority in this country and they saw an opportunity to make a fool of me. The worst part of the whole experience was the impatience, rudeness, inappropriate language and unprofessional service that is coming from SAA. They need more training if they are to be representing SA in the airline industry. SAA still has a long way to go if they want to provide excellent service, not to mention in time for the world cup.

I don’t understand why it is so difficult for SAA to change bookings.

We regularly fly a whole lot of people from around the continent to JHB. Sometimes, they need to change flights at the last minute. In each instance, we have to cancel a ticket and pay for a new one and then wait for three months for a refund less the cancellation fee. (more…)

Here is a copy of the complaint that Kate B sent in to the MD of the Western Cape department of SAA. Kate B received NO response…

14 Novemeber 2008
To Whom It May Concern:

I would like to formally make two complaints, which I believe are unacceptable!!!

I have just spoken to a man name Alfred and although he was very helpful gave me 1000 excuses as to why SAA was not at fault. I was already aware of your policies, but still find your service UNACCEPTABLE and your customer service more than DESPICABLE. (more…)

My wife flew from Johannesburg to Accra during August. Her flight left Johannesburg on the Wednesday. Her baggage was lost when she arrived in Accra. 8 days later, 36 phone calls and 17 e-mails, the bag arrived in Accra.

The incompetence of the SAA people to track the bag is mind boggling. The absolute inability to get the bag from lost and find to dispatch is pathetic. I had to navigate them through the process to ensure the bag is ready to go onto the flight to Accra. The dispatch papers where not forwarded with the bag, but no one follows up to get the papers. I though someone wanted the bag to stay behind again to disappear again, this time for good. Is this a way to get hold of passengers’ bags which is perceived to be valuable??

I have now subscribed to BA’s Executive club and have already used four flights which could have been SAA flights. I have done the same with Kenya Air. They provide me with better service but a bit more expensive. No problem for me, as I have a trouble free flight.

SAA will NEVER get it right. Their staff is not capable of delivering good service to clients.

Ben Botha

The following contribution was sent to us by Justin Harris.

I was one of the unfortunate passengers on flight 204 from Dakar last year on Thursday 8/11/2007 delayed for 2 days until Saturday 10/11/2007.

The flight from New York via Dakar was delayed indefinitely due to a faulty rudder which needed a replacement part to be sent from Johannesburg before the flight could continue.

This experience really destroyed my trust in SAA as an organization despite being a voyager card holder for some 15 years.

We waited at the airport 24 hours ( without access to our luggage ) for the rudder part to arrive from Johannesburg only to be told the next morning after 1.00 am that the technicians had arrived but without the part! (more…)

I am a platinum voyager member, which means I spend well over R250,000 pa with SAA. Usually I book through my travel agent, but when urgent trips come up after hours, I book online which I did late on Friday afternoon, a simple trip from Durban to Johannesburg on Monday 03/11.

Soon after booking online I received a sms from SAA informing me that credit card payment for Ref 46MSOY was unsuccessful, and that I must please contact SAA urgently on 0861 359 722 or +27 11 978-5313 , otherwise I cannot fly on Monday. (more…)

Hi, have just come across your website and feel I need to vent my anger at SAA too.

We booked our plane tickets from Durban to EL over 2 months ago. We had booked a Starlight cruise to the Portuguese Island leaving DBN at about 2pm on friday the 31 oct 08.

We dutifully got to the EL airport, check in and boarded the plane on the 7:50am flight to DBN.
My husband happened to glance out the window & noticed that one of the tyres was smooth and had a very “bald” patch with metal sticking through. (more…)

The following contribution was posted by Galen Schultz and the original can be found here.

Dearest SAA

I have only flown about six times in my life, each time having been enjoyable and hassle-free. It was now time for me to fly back to varsity to write my final exams and enjoy my seventh trip in the air. I decided to go for the cheapest flight, which so happened to be South African Airways. I booked a ticket online at and all seemed to be in order. I only awaited my email to confirm the booking. (more…)

The following contribution was sent to us by Floh Thiele.

Many thanks for your initiative “SAA Sucks” – let’s hope it will get change going.

My story of continuous bad service started with a ticket purchase and promise for re-fund on 28 July.

Despite a number of follow-up calls and emails I never received the refund. (more…)