FlySafair / Safair Operations review: Theft from my bags on safair flight

My husband and I have flown Safair several times in the past and needless to say my experience last night was most unexpected. We had a flight booked from Durban to OR Tambo at 9pm on 22/12/2023 and during this flight I had cash and items stolen from my hand luggage.

Whilst I was at Boarding Gate 13, I withdrew 1000 from the Capitec ATM situated just across the Gate. We had a little suitcase, a kit bag, my laptop and a gift and having that many items, I quickly popped the cash into the little pouch on my suitcase. I had already had R210 inside this pouch and thinking that the bags were going to be with us, I didn’t think anything of it. As we got into the tunnel to board, there were 2 black male bag assistants that asked us to leave our bags at the front and collect it when we disembarked the aircraft. Not thinking of the cash in the bag or expecting theft, we handed the bags over and were given 2 little slips to keep.

On the plane, I remembered the cash and hence on arrival, I immediately opened the pouch to check. To my disbelief, only one R100 note and the R10 was left inside. The remaining R1100 was missing. I immediately spoke to a black male at that bag point and he directed me to another black female standing nearby. She then directed me to the Lost Property counter at the bag collection point and assured me that someone there will assist. I did not find a Lost Property counter however spoke to someone at a Fly SAA counter who told me to look for a white male in a white shirt. I finally managed to locate him and he introduced himself as Mr. Smith. After telling him what had happened, he blankly refused to assist and not at all willing to record my complaint. He just said I could use his name as reference and call the call centre, which was unfortunately closed at the time.

On reaching home, whilst emptying my bags I also noticed that 4 out of 5 packets of cigarettes were also missing. This upset me further as it meant that someone had literally been through my bags inside and out. Everything else was there except the cash and cigarettes. I have to admit that this was the first time out of the hundreds of Safair flights we had boarded, that I had experienced this and I am most displeased. We choose to fly Safair because we have built trust in this airline and we do not expect to have thieves employed or contracted to the airline. This has put such a dampener on my holiday which had just begun when I boarded our flight last night.

I would like this to be investigated as CCTV footage will confirm my withdrawal outside Gate A13, the collection of my bags, the return of my bags and everything else stated above. I want this matter resolved at the soonest and I expect that I will be re-imbursed for my loss. If my faith is not restored, I will not hesitate to share my experience socially and publicly to avoid someone else from experience the same.

My booking reference is W0E7VU. I await an urgent reply.