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

——————————

*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.

——————————

And this is the brilliant response I got…

——————————

*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

Talk about rude… This was on a domestic flight from JHB to DBN. My brother who is overweight asked not to be put in a middle seat. They told him that was all they had. He went to get upgraded to business class, but the line was too long. Afraid to miss the the flight he returned. The team leader thinking that my brother wanted a free upgrade to business class got snotty and instead of sorting out the problem tore up our tickets and suspended us from flying. When we asked for our money back we then informed that they would not refund our money for the tickets. So instead of trying to act civilised and being diplomatic, they tried to act important and have lost another customer forever. It is quite obvious that they have no idea how to handle paying customers.

I told my brother a few years ago that I would never fly SAA again after one of my overseas trips with them turned out to be a nightmare. He thought that I was full of it because he always travels business class where he gets treated the right way. Guess what? He wont be flying SAA in the future. BTW. I have been overseas a dozen times since that incident of mine and all I can is, Cathay, British Airways and Swiss Air do a 10 times better job. If you are coming to South Africa in 2010 for the soccer do yourself a favour: DON’T FLY SAA.

I have experienced business class on SAA in the past, where I was treated with warmth and hospitality. So why is it that in economy class I always feel that I get treated worse than a dog? Try and find a steward after dinner. They all seem to disappear and should you manage to find one, beware, you’ll know what rude is. I think I know the problem. All those fat cats that have run SAA into the ground have their own helicopters and when they need to travel long distance they probably fly Cathay or Swiss Air or British Airways…..One thing is for sure, they never travel economy, otherwise the service would be better and a paying customer would get treated the way paying customers should be treated, with respect.

VIVA 2010, VIVA. Nkozi Sikelele Africa.

SAA don’t suck, they are just kuck………

Mark Lentin

An exchange of emails between SAA and me (showing their true colours)

From: Emile Myburgh
Sent: 08 May 2009 06:20 PM
To: Desmond Sampson
Subject: SAA customer loyalty

Dear Sirs,

Last year I wrote a letter that was published in your October edition so I don’t expect this letter to be published.  However, I feel compelled to reply to acting CEO Chris Smyth’s appeal to SAA’s passengers’ loyalty in getting the airline through these troubled times.

Mr Smyth, nothing would give me more pleasure than abiding by your plea but a couple of recent changes at SAA really do not contribute to your appeal.  I travel to Brazil 5 times a year and am a Gold Voyager member.  Last year I accumulated around 70 000 miles, all of them on SAA, except for about 9000 flying fellow Star Alliance Member TAP to London via Lisbon.  This comfortably secured my gold card for a second year in a row and I must tell you, I really enjoy the benefits.

However, recently I’ve noticed that, while your fares to Brazil haven’t gone down, you now only give me 50% of the miles, because the booking class is now class L and no longer class Q.  This means that, even if I fly as often as last year, I won’t get the Gold card again, even though I’ll in fact spend more money on aeroplane tickets.  Then there is also the issue of all the taxes that one has to pay when booking a Voyager ticket, which makes it less attractive accumulating all those miles and more appealing looking at the competition and simply forgetting about Voyager and just buying a ticket on the cheapest airline flying to wherever I want to go.  Even your coveted Premium Credit Card is not so appealing anymore.  I have now spent my R60000 entitling me to a free companion ticket.  However, there is one big catch.  Let’s say I want to take my partner to Brazil.  I have to buy a K class ticket, which costs around R12000.  Then, I still have to pay around R4000 in taxes for my companion.  This adds up to R16000 (R18000 if one adds the Voyager credit card fee on top of that).  If I buy two L class tickets, I will pay R14000.  Where is the incentive still to pay the exorbitant annual card fee?  I’m seriously thinking of cancelling this credit card and just using my Diners Club card which gives almost as many miles, with a much lower annual fee.

So, what I’m saying is this: I’m not really using my miles for free tickets for myself,  I give them away to my family.  The real joy of the Gold voyager card is that extra baggage allowance, the access to Star Alliance lounges with a guest, the business class check in, the bonus miles and the preferential seating.  That is what guarantees my loyalty, not the free flights.  In fact, even if you take away the free flights but still give me a gold card with all those other benefits, I’d still fly with SAA.  However, by taking this away SAA is effectively telling me that my custom is worth 50% less to you, although the price increases.  And this is what makes that, when I have an alternative, I won’t fly SAA.  As my preferred route is to Brazil for business reasons, regrettably, you have me hooked.  But I’m just waiting for TAM Brazilian Airlines (whose Fidelidade programme I am also a member of) to finally start flying between Sao Paulo and Johannesburg and then it is “adeus” SAA, unless you start valuing my custom again in the same way as you are appealing for my loyalty.

One final question: with oil prices one third of what they were last year this time, why are you still levying a fuel levy as if oil were still at $147 a barrel?

Kind regards,

Emile Myburgh

From: Jackie Cronje [mailto:JackieCronje@flysaa.com]
Sent: 21 May 2009 09:20 AM
To: Emile Myburgh
Subject: FW: letter to Sawubona (Emile Myburgh)

Dear Mr Myburg,

Thank you for your letter written to the Sawubona Magazine. On behalf of Voyager I would like to comment as follow.

50% mileage accrual for certain fare classes:

We are proud to say, that SAA Voyager is still one of the frequent flyer programs that awards 50% miles for lower purchased classes. A lot of our Star Carrier Airlines do not reward miles

for lower classes at all. SAA has recently aligned all class fares in a simpler way in different class fare families. Voyager is currently busy looking at these fares, to establish the value vs. accrual

miles, in order to ensure value of miles for the fare that the customer paid.

Airport Taxes on Voyager tickets:

All competitive Frequent Flyer loyalty programs charge airport taxes when redeeming miles for flight awards.

Airport taxes are paid on all airline tickets and this tax does not go to SAA, but to the Airports Company of South Africa. Different airlines treat some of these taxes in a different fashion, so some may absorb a portion of the taxes in the ticket prices ie the fuel surcharge. This means they will not show up as a “tax” but will be part of the ticket price. Below please find the different taxes:

. VAT which is 14% of the fare – Revenue tickets (We do not charge VAT on Voyager tickets)

. Passenger Service Charges, required by the Airports Company of SA and Aviation Co-ordination Services as well as a small administration fee

. Civil Aviation Authority Passenger Safety charge

. Fuel surcharge which is charged by airlines to cope with volatile fuel prices

Voyager unfortunately has no control over the amount of airport taxes charged.

Companion Ticket:

Voyager is constantly looking at the Voyager credit card product offering.

When the Companion ticket was introduced, qualifying fare classes were Y B M K only, after we have looked at the valued we have introduced a lower fare namely H/class

that also qualifies for the companion ticket. I take note, that it still stays expensive. The companion ticket holds a higher value if you purchase tickets in business class, or if you

are a business man, where the company pays for your tickets. We are busy with a strategic value meetings looking at all the credit card benefits, establishing the value of the

benefits attached to each card type. We will communicate the changes to all members as soon as the proposal has been concluded.

I hope that you will find my answers satisfactory. I would like to thank you for your support, and would like to assure you that we value you as one of our Elite Voyager members.

Please do not hesitate to contact me should you need further assistance with Voyager.

Jacqui Cronje
Voyager Product and Marketing Specialist
Tel 011 978 1339
Fax 011 978 9865
e-mail jackiecronje@flysaa.com

Dear Ms Cronje,

Thank you for your reply.

The bottom line remains, Voyager and SAA are no longer offering the same attractive product that it used to.  You can be as proud as you want to be by still giving 50% miles on low class fares, but considering that these new low classes cost the same or more as high class fares did in the past,  I am left with a slight feeling of being tricked while SAA hides behind meaningless (for the passenger at least) letters.  Incidentally, there are airlines that don’t go quite as low as giving only 50% of the miles, some give 90% (TAM in Brazil, for example).  Anyway, why 50%?  Why not 90% or 75%?  The way you put it makes it sound like I should be grateful to get anything at all.  Not a good way to keep my custom.

As a voyager member for 13 years, I feel slightly perplexed if not insulted that you would assume that I didn’t know how the airport taxes on voyager tickets work, but thank you for the explanation (which is also contained on your website and brochure, and if that didn’t tell, I would have noticed it each time I buy a voyager ticket).  Everybody knows how the airport taxes work.  The point is, the amount of the fuel levy which you disguise as a tax is based on an oil price that was $147 a barrel.  Now it is $60.  Why don’t you pass the saving on to us?  You simply call it a tax so that you can say to us: “on voyager tickets you don’t pay for the fare, only taxes, and the fuel levy is a tax, and there is nothing we can do about that”.  The point is, we don’t believe this about the fuel levy and SAA simply does not give a credible explanation for it.

You didn’t advise Voyager members about this H class for companion tickets.  I will look into it.  However, when you say it makes sense for business travellers because their companies pay for the tickets, are you implying that businessmen and -women can make their companies pay higher fares so that they can take their partners with them?  Do companies not care about the bottom line?  Or is your implication that the businessman or -woman should take a colleague as a companion and saving the company some money (if there really is a saving).  I am self employed and business class tickets are simply too expensive for me, so your argument about the companion ticket making sense for buying business class tickets really falls flat on its face, and shows, somewhat alarmingly, that your research into your premium credit card holders is very inaccurate.  I really don’t remember being asked for my opinion ever, despite having applied for my card on the day it was launched in 2006.

Talking about business class.  In order to upgrade to business class using my miles, I have to buy a more expensive ticket, yet you don’t guarantee availability for a business class ticket.  Who in his right mind will take such a gamble?  The result is, I buy the cheapest ticket and just slum it in economy class.  This must surely be what your intention is.  Voyager must know that people would rather buy a cheap economy class ticket without the right to upgrade than take a risk buying an expensive economy class ticket that comes with a faint hope of an upgrade.  That way you can still sell that business class seat for money.

As it is, I can assure you that none of my friends and colleagues who are voyager members fall for your explanations.  This leaves you with two options: either improve your explanations or offer a product that offers value for money.  Based upon the current view we have of Voyager and SAA, I cannot see you offering value for money any time soon, so,  on the issue of better explanations, don’t you think it would be so much better for your image if you simple come clean and say to all your valued customers: “look, times are tough, as you all know, we are also suffering, and we simply cannot afford to be as generous with our benefits as we used to, so we have to cut them, but please bear with us.”  You can be sure we would understand, even be sympathetic, and we will rally to your cause.  I may not be impressed with the way you treat me, but everybody is proud of our national carrier and would run to help it.  Just stop thinking we are fools that don’t see through your PR rabble.

Regarding my own situation, I will lose my Gold card at the end of this year because I am not going to pay the extra money for those higher classes just to keep the Gold card, and, with business being down, I won’t fly 100 000 real miles in a low class to be awarded 50000 miles to keep the Gold card.  I accept that, and for this reason and all of the above, I am now looking at your competitors (Star Alliance and non Star Alliance).  What I don’t accept however, is the explanations you give.  Coming clean, like I’ve suggested, might be a lot better for your image than sending PR responses, because right now, I think SAA and Voyager are not honest.

If you want to study an example of how effective yet simple and straightforward a frequent flyer programme can be, look at TAM Brazilian Airlines’ Fidelidade programme.

Finally, as you will notice below, I am an attorney, and have just studied the new Consumer Protection Act for an article in Business Day.  I seriously think that the way you implement the Voyager programme falls foul of section 35 of the act and, who knows, someone might just get irate enough to take SAA to task over it.  Maybe you should get some legal advice on the topic.

Kind regards

Emile Myburgh (TAM Fidelidade card no: 23478183)

It seems as if my issue with SAA is just another drop in a very large bucket. And it seems as if I’ll be without R4200 for a while…

After having to cancel an international ticket for another person that was paid for via my credit card, the person on the SAA customer care line assured me that I will be refunded after 21 days. This was after spending 3 days (roughly 12 hours) on the line to get my credit card authorized, sending 4 faxes, going to the SAA counter at Cape Town International and sending 3 emails with my complete credit card details (exposing it in the process). Their response was that they could not read the credit card details and that my only option was to cancel the ticket and that the other person should buy their own ticket. In my desperation I did that, and patiently waited 31 days for the reimbursement (without R4200 in my account that could have gained interest).

When I phoned SAA today to find out why I have not been reimbursed yet, the lady on the line only stated that the refund has not been activated and that I have to wait another 21 days to (perhaps) get my money back. I apparently also have to pay a cancellation fee. I did not cancel this ticket for personal reasons, I *had* to cancel due to SAA’s inability to authorise my credit card. And from other people’s complaints I’ve now realised that I might only receive the fraction of the full amount due to the fact that they only reimburse taxes?

This is outrageous – due to a problem on SAA side (not being able to ‘read’ the credit card), I have been robbed of R4200, with no assurance of getting it back. What am I to do?

Please help, someone!

Liana

To SAA, Where’s the respect?

First off, I’m not really a person who complains a lot. I tend to just take it and move on. But after R10 000 and a shitty time, this is still bugging me.

On the flight SAA 235 (there are other complaints of bad service on this flight on hellopeter too), I was taken for a fool. It was at night and all me and my well-behaved brother wanted was a coca-cola. The tall crew member in question looked at us like we were mars. He probably looked at us as kids and didn’t think that we deserved respect…He said in a rude and grumpy manner : ‘I don’t understand what you are saying!’ . So we said: ‘Can we please have some cokes?’ He then responded in a loud: ‘what is that?! I don’t understand you!’ literally looking at us like we were accusing him of a war-crime. The look he gave me and brother is what got me the most. I will NEVER (and i mean this) EVER fly SAA again if someone there gives me that type of look again. At that point i was ready to strangle him. Why is it when they speak on the intro-intercom, they reassure you that they will cater to your every demand, and yet when you ask for the simplest thing, they treat you like absolute crap? Why even listen to the intro-intercom? After SAA 235 I had no intention of listening to the intro-intercom on flight SAA 323. Then i was shat on for having earphones on while they played the intro-video…

Later I came back from the bathroom when my brother said the same guy came back later and prodded a water bottle in his side quite sharply and roughly and without so much as a ‘here you go sir’. After R10 000 for the ticket, where is the respect for the customer?

Later at the domestic departures metal detector stop in johburg, there were drugs lying on the floor in front of everyone and no-one did anything. Another man there then rudely told me to get my stuff off the rail and that “i must get off” as this airport belongs to him! His words! He also gave me a look that made me want to jump the rail and slit his throat!

This all happened in a matter of hours. Screw SAA! Never flying it again. If I were an unreasonable person I could probably say that the tall Indian man on flight SAA 235 behaved in a racist manner towards me and my brother, especially the man at the domestic departures point…But I won’t go that far, this is a matter of rudeness and bad service that is prevalent in every sector of SAA.

And with a simply google search, I have realized that this isn’t an isolated matter. When I saw there was another complaint of rude behaviour on SAA 235, it was the last straw.

Lets do something to bring that flight back down to ground. I wont stand for this rude and arrogant behaviour. My complaint is not as big as others are (some people have real problems with SAA regarding their bookings and luggage), but it is a complaint none the less.

Chris