Safair Operations
reviews and complaints

Mrs MP Gradwell travelled on 17 June 2023 and 27 June 2023 via SAFAIR. She is 91 years old. Full wheelchair assistance was booked for both days as she is extremely frail. On the 17th at Oliver Tambo the assistance company transported her too late and to the wrong boarding gate; causing her to miss her flight. Her flight was booked midmorning as she cannot eat while she travels. She was prepared to skip breakfast and have a late lunch at her destination (East London). The flight she missed, caused her to only arrive in EL at 17h30 - at this age she was expected to have no food for a full day! Apart from the emotional distress she suffered.

On the 27th in EL the flight had no ramp or lift to get her into the airplane. She was expected to climb the stairs! She eventually managed - but is still paying the price with her body(pain). As her daughter I am absolutely shocked and appalled at the treatment she received after booking FULL wheelchair assistance. This company that you are using are totally unorganized and inefficient and as the airline you claim to provide full wheelchair assistance; which clearly did not happen.

My husband and I booked priority seating row 24 aisle seats on a flight from Durban to Capetown on Sunday June 18, 2023 at 4:45 PM. Upon approaching my seat 24D there was another passenger in my seat. I mentioned to this passenger she was in my seat. She refused to move and mentioned the steward identified as Tatum said “she could sit in my seat.” I approached “Tatum” and mentioned it was inappropriate to just give up my seat to another customer as I had priority seating and wanted to sit next to my husband. I then asked to speak to a supervisor who also asked this non compliant passenger to move. The passenger still refused to move.

Question. Why was this non compliant customer allowed to just sit where she wanted to? Why wasn’t this passenger asked to leave flight? Passengers like this create unsafe and confrontational situations and Safair staff must know how to immediately resolve these kind of issues.

Good day

Flight ✈ number EGFTJ9

Mrs SA Hauptfleisch

Cel [protected]

I am utterly disgusted and disappointed in the service received from Safair. After a horrific week of my mother in law passing. We decided to take my father in law back with us to cape Town. Our flight was booked for 13 of Aug @ 20.20. Our family dropped us off 18.30pm and left. Only to find out after booking in, our flight has been delayed. They were not sure of time delay and we had to wait. They gave us 3 options. Either go to OR Tambo with own transport, full cash refund or we can wait. We had no other transport. We were 4 people, my sister in law, my fiance and my father in law 75 years old with diabetes. We had no other way by to wait. As we had to make arrangement for people to drop us of and pick us up @ cape airport. Everything was a mess!

We decided to wait @ Wiesenhof round about eight They made announcements that they will give out vouchers of R80. We waited waited 5 hours. The shops closed and there was no proper arrangement to accommodate people. It was cold. And a very long wait.

After only arriving @ 3.30am in the morning. We were tired and with the long sit . Do the calculation nearly 24 hours without no sleep

My father in law have problems with his blood circulation in his legs and his toes was amputated due to sugar.

Due to this my father in law become ill 🤒 and now we have to sit with extra cost Firstly @ the Iport you don't budget for extras and no instead of relaxing after my mother in law passed he is very sick.

I will never ever refer your flight ✈ service. I am so disappointed te delay was unacceptable and due to your problem with Technical issues we had to wait. Sure we paid for a service but there was no service.

After going through all of this is was tiring 😫 and a nightmare. Having to trial so many people and sitting for 5 hours the chairs cold.

We had to travel another 2 hours to get home as we are located in bonnievale

We have to take my father in law back to the doctor again. So after this never ending nightmare no rest.

It's 3.50 am I am up nebulizing my father in law and still angry 😠.

Will you putt your family through this!

Airport Company South Africa….

My 84 year old mother had to make use of the “Special Care Passenger” service. Unfortunately this is more than a “Pig Sty” than anything else. I reported it to SAFAIR hoping they, as service provider will do something about it. Unfortunately I had to come to the conclusion that the recording on SAFAIR about the Marketing Director wanting passengers to report good or bad service was just a joke. They just past the buck. Please take it up with ACSA.

hi

My wife and daughter was booked on flight FA250, on the 30th June 2022, at 05:55. departure O.R. Thambo, destination George.

My wife and daughter checked in their luggage, went to the boarding gate at 5h20 to find the boarding gate closed and was directed to return and collect there luggage.

They approached the Safair staff for assistance raising the question as to how come their luggage was Not loaded on the flight. The Safair staff was very abrupt, and did'nt offer any concerns, blaming them that they missed their flight.

They stayed on the airport till late afternoon, hoping that they will be able to get on another flight, to no avail.

Please note, they have booked a return flight from George to OR Tambo airport, flightFA251, date, 6th July 2022, 8h35.

i would request a refund on departure and returning flights.

They have insurance on their tickets.

Complaint.

Good day,

I wish to express my huge dissatisfaction with the service and the manner in which the check-in staff treated my husband and I at the Cape Town airport on Sunday 13 February 2022.

We had a return flight home to Gauteng at 08h50.

We rushed to the airport and was standing in the line to check-in.

We were only called in to the next agent to assist us in 08h20 as there were people in front of us only to be told that we are too late to check-in.

We appealed to her to help us as we needed to return home and also we were held up in returning the car.

We only had hand luggage.

The staff was absolutely insensitive and was not willing to assist us. She just merely said we must book another flight home.

Do you think that people have extra monies to book alternate flights back to their home?

The treatment from Flysafair will result in you losing clients.

I have used Flysafair several times before and I must say that your customer service and ability to be flexible in meeting client’s needs has deteriorated.

Your service is appalling and I definitely will not be utilising you anymore.

I have lost my monies with the return flight I booked with you for 08h50 on 13 February.

I insist that the airline refunds my monies back as this was a loss to me.

We had to run around after the unpleasant experience with your staff looking for other flights and getting monies for a new flight.

I will be lodging a complaint on the various platforms on your extremely appalling service and the rude treatment your staff delivered to myself and my husband.

Kind regards,

Keshini and Julian Micheal

On our return flight FA 263 on 23/9/2021, the stewardess moved our laptop bag in the overhead and my brown leather purse fell out We phoned Safair lost luggage that same night to no avail, a lost luggage was logged, to no avail, nothing has been done yet - this is very poor service.
Can this complaint be taken serious and be revolved ?
Flight details FA263 on 23/9/2021, seats 3A and 3B
Ivan Scott [protected] - [protected]@global.co.za
Yzelle vd Bergh [protected]

Good day

My parents and I recently flew to George (17 November, flight FA 222).

My parents are 69 and 73 years old respectively and this would be their first time flying. We were very excited about the trip and wanted to have the full flying experience. For this reason we chose to also make use of the in flight catering offered. My parents had juice and shared the Chicken Mayo Bagel that was offered as part of the morning flight menu. (I had juice and a packet of peanuts). Upon our arrival we had brunch at the Views restaurant in Wilderness. We all had the same omelet and coffee. That afternoon both of them started showing signs of food poisoning. This was very disappointing - our only conclusion was that the Chicken Mayo Bagel must have been the source of the food poisoning since I did not have any symptoms. As a result, our 3 day break away, which was intended to be a time to relax and bond, was spent in our holiday apartment, feeling sick and run down. Even after the symptoms cleared up (on Monday, the day before coming back on flight FA221) they had very little energy/appetite to enjoy what was left of our trip.

Despite this unfortunate turn of events, they had their first flying experience and enjoyed it very much, although they would be hesitant to make use of the on flight catering service in future.

I trust that you will find my feedback valuable and use it to further improve your service. Please forward this to the relevant parties.

Regards,
Corli Le Roux

My husband and I boarded a flight from Johannesburg to Durban on the 12th March 2018, on SAFAIR. This airline charges separately for luggage and allows the passenger to carry one piece hand luggage. We paid for our luggage to be carried in the cargo hold and had one piece hand luggage between the two of us. We also paid an extra amount each to reserve our seats as we were in a hurry and wanted to get out fast. So we chose seat 1a and 1c that was available and paid for it. When we got into the plane the overhead luggage compartments were all full. We had to hand in our hand luggage with our valuables to be stored somewhere else. This made me very angry and uneasy. When I disembarked I had to wait for my bag.
There were passengers on the flight that had two overnight bags and additonal parcels on them that took up the space. Why are passengers allowed to do this? Our hand luggage should be stored right above the seat that we are seated at. Extras luggages should NOT be allowed by passengers. Please correct this as I will not use Safair again.

I booked a flight with Safair on line. It was a flight from East London to Cape Town. Flight FA 141 departing EL at 8.30, arriving in CPT at 10.15. Date 2nd March 2018.

I arrived at the airport on the 2nd March 2018 at 7.45. I went to the book in counter. There was a long que. There was no assistance there. When i finally reached the counter I was told i was 10 minutes late.

I pleaded with the book in clerk that i had been standing in the que for at least 15 minutes. The que as very slow moving. The flight was only due to leave at 8.30. There was at least a half an hour before the flight departed. She flatly refused to book me in.

In addition I had to pay another R300 to change my ticket to a later flight which was only leaving 6 hours later.

It was my grandsons birthday and I had planned to surprise him.

I am extremely upset and dissatisfied with the service I received from Safair. I do realize that you have your rules and regulations but this incident could have been overlooked as there was still ample time before the flight departed.

I would appreciate it if you could look into this matter and get back to me ASAP.

Kind regards

Owen Weyer
[protected]

I book two tickets for my Parents from OR Tambo to Port Elizabeth on Sunday 6H30 . Long before this date I made contact with Safair to arrange special needs for my 81 and 84 year old parents. I asked for Wheelchair assistance. When booking them in at the airport I first had to askedd where is the support. Only then the consultant who booked them in told me he will be their escort. My friend asked at the wheelchairs support office where the wheelchairs is and he was informed that it is on the way. At this moment the person who will support my parents asked them to go through the security gated where the crew check in. Still at this stage I could see my parents but no wheelchairs and the support staff was not really eager to assist them. They were advise to go through the door at the back and then my parents was out of sight.

My parents had to carry their own luggage and they had to walk to the plain.

Why did your company acknowledge that there will be support via email and then your staff don't care. As long as I can I will never have a good word for SAFAIR and where I go I will tell all how bad the service is