I used to prefer using flight SAA when going for business meetings since I started working on November 2006 for the Department that I am currently working for. On my first business trip on November 2006 we took a flight from Joburg to Cape Town, On my Luggage there was a digital Camera which I had on my hand when going to Cape town, but when coming back from Cape town to Polokwane via Joburg I decided to put the camera on the outside pocket of my bag, on arrival to Polokwane, the Sony digital camera was no longer there. When sharing it with my Colleques I was told that that is how SAA is. During the trip to Durban at February 2007, when coming back I again became careless by putting the Motorola L6 cell phone on the very same back pocket, but this time I used small pad lock to lock the 2 zips together, on my arrival the small pad lock was broken and the cell phone was no longer there.

I decided that I have had enough of these thieves / criminals and I promised myself not to use a flight again especially SAA. I then decided to drive to all the venues for our meetings wherein I would know that all my luggages would be safe rather than exposing it to those SAA criminals. I never took a flight again until now when I had to fly to Durban because my car had a minor problem. I had to fly from Polokwane to Durban on the 11 March 2009 with the 07h55 flight in Polokwane connecting with a 10h10 flight in Joburg to Durban. I took my very big luggage with me to the flight and it was very much uncomfortable. When coming back on the 13 March 2009, I took the 13h55 flight from Durban to Joburg, and the 15h55 flight from Joburg to Polokwane and my luggage was checked in from Durban straight to Polokwane. When I get my luggage from Polokwane the Zips of my bag were no longer completely closed to show they were opened. When checking I realized that the 2GIG Verbatim Memory Stick was taken, the memory stick had a lot of very crucial information which unfortunately some of it was not saved anywhere meaning that the information is completely lost to some Stupid Fools.

These SAA criminal need to be nailed, because they will be an embarrassment to our country especially with events such as 2010 coming, is this the kind of treatment we want to give to our guests? Something need to be done about these Bustards.

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…)

So there we were, after two days of a long, yet good, conference, desperate to get home, and just relax before conquering our to do lists and hopefully heading on to a relaxed weekend.

At check in, our luggage was thirteen kilograms overweight. Okay, understandable, and we were happily assisted by another colleague who took our extra luggage home for us on a different flight. The luggage weigher-inner, though, was not only snotty and rude to us, but refused to offer any assistance to us at all. She just tore her little strip of paper and stared at us like we were common criminals. Nice. Customer. Service. Not. (more…)