Christmas almost alone…
Monday, January 26th, 2009Hi,
I was given your web-page address after a good friend heard about my run-in with SAA. And maybe this advice will keep a few people from buying tickets from SAA.
I was due to fly down, from OR Thambo, to the Eastern Cape for a family holiday. My mother was already on the coast, and I was going to arrive in PE on the night of the 19th Dec 08. Due to a mix up, and on this point I accept full responsibility, I was late for my book in, by 3 minutes. I rushed to the book-in counter, begged and pleaded, but was fobbed off. The book-in was now closed. My only redress was to speak to a supervisor, who had a two hour queue in front of her. So I admitted defeat, and sought a solution to this problem.
I walked to the reservations counter, and so the horror began. There were few flights available, this is not SAA’s fault, December is a very busy period (evidenced by the bustle at the terminal). However the following is SAA’s fault.
I am a young professional, and as of yet do not have a credit facility with any bank. When booking plane tickets for pleasure trips, I use my mother credit card details and pay her back in cash. This I think is a fairly simple, and common practice for young people around the world. When booking such a ticket with SAA they request that you to tick a box entitled “Sponsored Ticket”, this relinquishes the requirement that the same credit card be present upon book-in.
Besides this young people travel cheap. Older people, if they can, travel well. Hence us young people are most likely to book the cheapest fare available.
This combination it turns out is a fatal one.
At the reservations counter I was informed of the following. 1 that my ticket type excluded me from stand-by on another flight. 2 that without the original credit card that made the booking I could not upgrade, or change, my ticket (even with cash). 3 that no-one at the reservations desk had the authority to tell me how many seats were available on flights. 4 the reservations desk at OR Thambo is not authorised to change / upgrade a ticket via fax & telephone, only central reservations.
Wow… I was shocked. At no point during the online booking process a month earlier was any of this made clear to me. And I READ everything! So I left OR Thambo 2 hours later, with no results, and the very real prospect of spending Christmas at home, alone.
The next day my mother, as the credit card holder, had to spend over 8 hours on her cell-phone. I was not allowed to help. By the end of a long day calling, faxing and emailing, my mother finally got me on a last flight to PE.
These events need to be placed within a similar context, with another airline. My brother missed a flight out of Cape Town (granted this was not a peak travel period but the booking system remains the same regardless) with the ‘low-cost’ airline Kalula. He arrived 20 minutes prior to departure, they attempted to get him onto the flight, arguing that it would make sense as there was a already a scheduled delay. This turned out to be impossible, so Kalula set about helping my brother onto the next available flight. Herein lies the rub… my brother, a student at the time, had also booked on my mothers credit card. At the airport desk, with only two calls between my mother and the officials, my brothers flight was changed and off he went.
Now this is my question. Government funded, SA’s biggest passenger airline and a so-called professional service provider, how come SAA is so stringent when it comes to changing tickets? Kulula saw a passenger, saw a return business opportunity, and because of their hard-work they have ensured a loyal customer. SAA in comparison were difficult, obnoxious, uncaring, rude and ultimately incompetent.
SAA have ensured that I will never fly on-board their carrier again.
SAA I realise that Christmas is your busiest time, but it is your busiest time because we, your clients, are trying desperately to get to friends and family for the festive season. Don’t leave us in the lurch, we are your business.
When waiting for the flight on that Sunday evening, the boarding Gate opened 30 minutes late… and I couldn’t help wondering ‘Perhaps this was the case on Friday evening?’ I’m sure it was. And all it would have taken is a little humanity on the part of the check-in clerk, and all of this would have been avoided.
I will now sign a petition to see SAA removed from public funding. Our tax rands have been keeping this vulture in the air, and to whose benefit? Certainly not mine, and SAA have made that much resoundingly clear.
