South African Airways / FlySAA.com
reviews and complaints

My bags were badly damaged and I sent two emails to baggage services that were completely ignored. The email screenshot along with all of the detailed information is attached here, with pictures of the damaged baggage and pictures of my flight. I would like a reimbursement for my damaged baggage, as they were brand new at the time of my travel. Proof of purchase is also attached.

On 19/07/2017 I tried to claim missing miles, on SAA Voyager's web site for flights that my wife and I undertook to Europe and the USA. It did not work.

On 19/07/2017, I sent emails to [protected]@flysaa.com to which I attached our e-tickets and requested that the miles be credited to mine and my wife's voyager accounts.

On 31/07/2017, we received replies from Voyager apologising for the late response, and service request numbers SR1571357 (mine) and SR1571396 (my wife's), with the following statement: "Kindly be advised that we searched for your documents and found no attachments to this email, we request that you resend your request.".

On 02/08/2017, I resent our e-tickets.

To date we have had no response nor have the miles been credited to our accounts.

Flight details:
United 7252 - JNB to LHR on 24 May 2017
United 935 - LHR to LAX on 04 June 2017
United 1232 - LAX to HNL on 04 June 2017
United 144 - HNL to IAD on 11 June 2017
United 7228 - IAD to JNB on 12 June 2017

Since that trip, my wife and I have not flown nor will fly SAA or any of the STAR Alliance partners.

SAA and STAR Alliance should be aware that we, ignored customers, do have a choice of airlines.

My wife and I have now exercised that choice.

Dear Christine

Yesterday I booked this flight through booking.com online service

I tried to login SAA to manage my booking but it didn't recognize the credentials

Flight Booking Management

Flight Booking Management
If you have booked your flight tickets with SAA, and would like to manage your booking, be sure to click here.

Booking code: BMBVIG

ticket number details:
Samar Kassim : [protected]

Would you please check for me

Thanks for your help

Samar

Professor Samar Kamal Kassim
Medical Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Department
Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University
Abbassia, Cairo, Egypt, 11381
Co-PI Egyptian node of H3ABioNet
Tel: [protected]

This employee its constantly having sex nd affairs with her co workers past monday she tried to [censored] because she was caught this is the 4th time with a married co worker she is hell bend on been a home wrecker surely something can be done to protect the male employers from her sexual advances the other 3 woman will be in contact shortly we want Santie Lesch stopped or a case of sexual harassment at the company will be issued

Good Day
I would like to lodge a complaint about the terrible experience we had on SAA during our recent trip to the US.
Our Voyager Numbers are: [protected] and 342315
On the way to NYC 03/052018, we pre-ordered seats at a cost. The first headset was broken, which they replaced, but the crew was still unable to reset the inflight entertainment. They moved us to another seat right behind the toilet which we definitely would not have chosen, especially as one toilet was not operational. However, the reception was also faulty and they had no further seating options and said there was nothing they could do.
The catering was inadequate and of a very poor standard, definitely the worst I have had on any international flight.
On the return flight 11/05/2018 the inflight entertainment system did not work at all for any passenger.
This had clearly not been checked and it is unreasonable to not provide this basic service especially as it is such a long flight.
The food was equally awful (for instance, I chose the vegetarian option and I was given white pasta as the main course with very little sauce and the salad was pasta salad with no salad ingredients!) This was served at midday US time and was not followed by any snack.
I am a passionate South African and I make every effort to support local suppliers, but with the bad news about SAA, I was worried that if the entertainment system was not working on either flight, the toilet was not working and these problems had not been attended to prior to departure, is the plane itself and the engine etc also not properly maintained?
It is reasonable to assume that our safety could also be at risk.
I will not fly SAA again until I get a response to this message.
Regards, Liza Baggott
liza.[protected]@gmail.com
[protected]

I missed my flight on Friday 11th from Johannesburg to Perth. I rang customer care to rebook for Saturday flight but none of them can give me the costs as "the office /IT" is closed.
I was told to call Perth as my ticket were issued at Perth i did call and sent my brother to south African airlines at Perth airport, he was also told that the office only opens on Monday in that way they can't help him. He was redirected to south Africa too.
What i needed it was just to get the cost but it no one helped me. I cannot travel to limpopo as and come back to Johannesburg again i needed a shelter to stay and have food.
I feel so helpless. Call center too couldn't help am forced to stay at airport the whole weekend.
I didn't expect this kind of treatment from my country right here in south Africa. No one is on standby to help when people facing this kind of problem. I have money to pay but noone knows how much are the costs this is ridiculous.

My family had booked our very first family holiday with our babies to go to Mozambique in December 2017. SAA messed up with the information printed on our boarding passes and as a result we missed our flight. We spent 3 days at the airport with miserable 2 year old twins and at the end of the week we came to terms that we were not going on holiday. SAA apologised and assured us that the matter would be investigated and that we would be refunded. Its been 6 months and I am being avoided and ignored by SAA and they still owe me over R30 000 for costs incurred. As I am writing this complaint I have been waiting on the "customer care" line for 1 hour 37 minutes and 27 seconds. I have made numerous attempts to call but the line is never answered. I have the contact number of Rose who is supposed to be the Quality Assurance manager but she also never answers my calls to her landline or her cell. All of my emails are ignored. I dont know what else to do

Good day,

Kindly note I have flown today from a Maputo to Johannesburg in transit to catch a flight to Dubai.

The lady at the check in was the rudest I have ever had to deal with.

She did not check in my luggage for my entire flight until final destination. Purposely causing issues and a very bad attitude. This airline need to hire more professional people. We travel all over this type of attitude is unacceptable.

I was speaking to her she was ignoring me.

Please do take the time to see who checked in flight 147 SA

Travelers Names: Yogesh and Chandni Shah
email: yogi.[protected]@faa.gov
Booking Ref: SL3UV8
Date of Travel: Feb 8, 2018
Travel Origin: Washington DC (IAD)
Destination: Durban (DUR)

Return: Feb 16, 2018
From Durban to Washington DC

Complaints:
1. On arrival At JNB airport from Washington DC, we were told that we did not have the booking from JNB to DUR on Mango airline. We wasted almost 1 1/2 hr after 20 hours of flight from Washington DC . We reached to DUR almost 11pm.
2. While in Durban, we accidently discovered that our return booking from DURBAN to Washington DC was cancelled by South African Airways staff
3. It took us several hours of phone calls from Durban back to USA to eventually reinstate our return flight to Washington DC on Feb 16th.
4. On return from DUR to JNB flight on Feb 16th, Mango Airline could not scan our USA passports. We spent almost 1 hour at the check in counter

Summary: We are almost sure that SAA or Mango staff intentionally cancelled our return booking from DUR to IAD. There was no apology or any kind of compensation offered for resolving issues. It took us 6-8 hours to resolve the issue and rebook our flight to DUR to IAD.

Thanks,
Yogesh Shah
10817 Santa Clara Drive
Fairfax, VA 22030
USA

Saturday, November 25, 2017 I filed a report that my garment bag was damaged and my new Fox Racing Offroad Motorcross Boots were missing. I received a File Reference number: PIR DPR JFKSA24384. I have called the SAA Baggage Department multiple times. I always leave a voice message requesting an update regarding my damaged and missing property. I have not received a return call or e-mail concerning my losses. It has been over six weeks my property has not been returned and I have not received any status information regarding my claim.

Dissatisfied customer,
Isphording
SA 203 Johannesburg/JFK, NY

We frequently travel to South Africa and have always used SAA, we had some issues on our last trip but we decided to travel with them again this year due to previous good experiences.
Flight on 20th October: On our flight to Johanesburg from London, we had a plane where most of the TV screens were not working, the staff attempted 3 re - loads to try and get them working but to no avail, It is not good enough to go on an 11 hr journey with no entertainment.
27th October: 3 of our party returned to London after a 6 day trip, again on their plane the entertainment system was not working for most of the plane. Also there was no heating on plane they ended up asking the stewardesses for extra blankets but were still freezing cold for the whole flight.
31st October: On our flight again there was no entertainment system, there was one attempt to re - boot the system but then nothing else happened, not even an apology. The staff were very rude and un - professional throughout the flight, they were talking to each other in their own language throughout the flight, even when serving meals totally ignoring customers. Again there was no heating in the cabin it was absolutely freezing, we asked the stewardess if there was something wrong with the heating and her comment was "Why are you cold?" when we said absolutely freezing she just walked off without saying anything and nothing was done about the heating. We ended up putting on our fleeces and coats to sleep in, and we were very worried about the two young babies in front of us that were so cold that again their parents put layers of clothes on to try and keep them warm. When breakfast was served everyone was wearing coats and wrapped in blankets but the stewardesses never mentioned anything. To make things worse when we came into land at London one stewardess strapped into her seat in front of us and shivered and said she was really cold, to which we replied you should have been here all night we are frozen! No answer! It was disgusting service you pay on a long flight to be entertained and at least kept warm, and would hope that at least the crew would apologise or try to do something about the issues, whereas we felt with the crew on the last flight that we were just an inconvenience in their day and that they could not wait to land in London and go out partying!

22CKID and 2ZUZMA Flight Out 20th October and return flights on 27th October and 31st October

My fiancé and I are regular travellers with SAA. I have been a gold member numerous times and my fiancé travels almost twice a month (internationally) with SAA.

It is important I mention this as an introduction, because never, not once, have we ever been stopped before entering the cabin due to a laptop being carried in a backpack.

I am very familiar with the regularities of luggage allowances and nowhere has it every been stated a 'backpack' is not allowed.

I was carrying my handbag and 1 piece of hand luggage (both weighing way under the allowance of 8km). My fiancé hand 1 x hand luggage (also weighing under the allowance of 8km) and his laptop which was in is backpack. The only contents in his backpack was his laptop/charger and his jacket. Not only was the size of the bag within regulations, but on our return flight home, we saw many men having a carry on piece, and their laptop back (being a backpack). We had no check in luggage as we needed to be quick on both flights to catch the train and did not want to wait for luggage.

When we were stopped, by fiancé explained, the contents of the backpack was just his laptop and his jacket. He removed the contents to show the cable crew member. In fact I had more contents in my handbag than my fiancé did but I was not stopped. This is utter discrimination of the highest order.

I told the crew member Tshepo Ramosnai Koape that this is ridiculous and that he is being totally unreasonable. He then started threatening us saying to us if we don't comply by now putting the carry on in the hold he would call the captain.

We were simply trying to determine were this rule came from, we have never been stopped before and this is the only way my fiancé travels. No were in the rules does it stipulate a 'slim line' laptop back is permitted which is what the man was saying and despite that, my fiancé show the contents of the back only contained a laptop.

Not only was the flight almost 50% empty, which means there was no real space issue, but he then proceeded to stop another male behind us who also had a carry on and a laptop bag in a back pack form, who also could not believe he could not take both bags on.

There was no weighing machine of bag size stand for us to prove we were 100% compliant, and since he was threating us and getting more and more aggressive because we were questioning his decision, we ended up having to put the one piece in the hold and wait for our luggage on the other side and subsequently delaying our train schedule.

We were on flight S260 - JHB - FRANFURT. TIME 19H20
TICKET NUMBER [protected]

We feel this is total discrimination that a lady can her handbag (no mentioned of style of bag) on but a man cannot take his own bag of a style he choses.

I have re-read the rules and only dimensions are specified and weight which we totally complied with so not only do we deserve an apology but we believe the manner and tone in which that man responded to the matter needs to be addressed.

My fiancé and I booked our return flights to Perth on the 13th of December 2016. Our booking included seat reservations. We chose SAA due to the fact that it was the only direct flight from South Africa to Perth. On 5 September 2017 we noted that we were able to select our seats, which we then did. As we chose seats in the exit row, we were required to pay an additional fee. We did not mind paying the additional fee as we needed the extra space, due to the fact that my fiancé is tall and he will be comfortable if he had more leg room. The website of SAA requested us to pay within a few days; however when we selected payment the amount reflected in a foreign currency (krone) which SAA did not recognise. We were therefore unable to proceed with online payment. I telephoned customer care and was reassured that we will be able to pay once we depart and that we will receive the same seats we selected. A few days after the call we checked and noticed that the seats remained the same, therefore believing the consultant. On the 21st and 22nd of September 2017 we checked our seats which were changed to different seats in the exit row; although we weren’t entirely happy about it we accepted it because it was still in the exit row. For clarity I once again called customer care and explained to them my concerns. Customer care could not clarify the problem and requested that we visit the airport itself. The online confirmation likewise stated that the seats we booked and had been paid. We commuted to the airport, from Pretoria, on the 23rd of September 2017 and spoke to a consultant; he assured us that the exit row seats were ours and that no payment was due. We requested something in writing, which he then gave to us as proof hereof. On the 26th of September 2017 we checked the online booking and noticed that our seats selection was now “Not preselected”. My fiancé emailed [protected]@flysaa.com on the same day, till this day we haven’t received a response. Furthermore, when we checked in at the airport, on the 28th of September 2017, we were informed that we have seats near the back of the plane, in the middle of a four seater and that it was the only seats available where we could sit together. We then explained to the consultant the situation and showed proof of our booked seats. We also spoke to the Team Leader, which was not at all accommodating and ultimately through his hands in the air. Apparently a family of four checked in before us and received our seats. SAA stated that they couldn’t change their boarding passes. Their response to our dissatisfaction was that we call customer care. We then asked to visit customer care at the airport, which they then responded that there is no customer care service at the airport and that we could only contact them using our own sources. With all due respect to SAA this is totally unacceptable and nauseating. We had a problem and we weren’t assisted or accommodated in any way.

My name is Armando Chambal, I flew with SA from Munich to OR Rambo and OR Rambo - Maputo (TKT number: 083 [protected]). When I got to my final (Maputo) destination I found out that my suitcase was opened and my belonging subtracted (a bottle of perfume). I request a return/refund.

My Passport ID:13AE71565
Phone number: +[protected]
My email: Armando. [protected]@vm.co. mz

My husband (retired cockpit crew) and I were traveling from Durban on the 30th of July 2017 to get to Johannesburg and from there to cape town as we live in cape town . We got to Durban airport at 12h00 midday and I was put on standby and my husband had a 100% conformable seat. The flights were full and SAA cancelled some flights so needless to say chaos.
With horror we were sitting watching the whole process at the standby counter and saw how ground staff and families were given preference to FULL PAYING passengers . We are airline staff and we understand the process but full paying passengers sitting next to us don't understand.
You can see that the staff at passenger serviced and the ground staff are friends because they were chatting away
we were at the airport on standby and eventually got away on the 18.40 flight to Johannesburg after I eventually went and confronted the lady at passenger services who then admitted to me that she was as a MANAGER given an instruction to get those people on a flight and as a MANAGER she will do as she is told. This MANAGER wont give her name but she stood out as she was not wearing a uniform
I was standing at the check in counter with the passengers and watched the phone conversation between the lady at the check in counter phoning the lady at passenger services telling her she loaded her friends and called their names but they not there told her to wait and we watched her picking up her cellophane and phoning the passengers and 5 minutes later came running to the standby counter and collected their boarding cards it was done very open and not shy about what they doing we were there for almost 7 hours and sat watching ground staff and their families, cabin crew and their families and even cockpit crew and their families get loaded long before we were given our seats. One of the ladies on duty that day was NICOLA GILBERTS
I feel what is happening at Durban airport got to be nipped in the butt as they getting a reputation that it is a terrible place to try and check in..

Then a totally different experience
when we eventually got to Johannesburg we were helped at the counter by and unbelievable lady who could not do enough for us this is the third time this year that she helped us and overtime the same friendly helpful face that says by just looking at the pension number it tells her that this is somebody that helped build and airline that they all working for.
this lady is CRECENTIA VAN DYK and we feel that she deserves a huge credit to her name. SAA should have so many more of her

my sister booked a flight to jhb when we got to the airport she was told the flight was booked. we spoke to a lady called bababra mpindiwa and she told us calmly that the manager was dealing with the issue and he would come and speak to us soon . but when the manager llyod came he shouted at us told us to keep quiet he didnt even apologise for the inconvience . he was very rude. i didnt like the experience at all. please do something about the zimbabwe manager in harare llyod train him on how to deal with clients. thank you

I booked a flight with South African Airways from Lilongwe, Malawi to Windhoek, Namibia on the 4th of June 17, planning to leave on the 9th of August. I received a booking confirmation and understood that this was all, as many airlines only issue the e-ticket upon online check in. I only discovered on the 8th of August, while trying to check in online, that my booking had been cancelled as apparently payment from my bank did not go through.
I never got any notification of the fact that my flight was cancelled which cause extreme stress on the day before expected departure. I understand that I could have monitored my bank account more closely to make sure the payment went through, but I believe South African Airways should notify passengers when bookings are cancelled.
I was able to redress the situation last minute by booking a new flight and luckily the prices were similar. However, this should not have happened in such as last minute.

Ef: abdullah ebrahim patel - sa/n3ewfm

I was booked on 04 july 2017 johannesburg to hangzhou via hong kong.
1) moslem meal was ordered, to my dismay the meal was not provided.
for the entire 13 hour journey we starved..

1a) I booked two seats with extra leg room, paying r250.00 and r300.00 er seat. unfortunately like the meal the seat bought by me was not allocated to me..
Same on the return journey.

2) our baggage arrived more then 18 hours later.. as both of us were on a business trip the baggage contain samples. this created a delay on our work schedule, eventually the work was not completed,

3) with me I had a hand baggage which weighed +- 8 kg and a lap top bag..
The lap top bag is an original lap top bag advertised and sold as such, it has compartments for the lap top, charges, flash drives, business cards and pens.

This bag of mine contained my lap top. charges. pens, a notebook, stapler.. a packet of doritos chips, toilet roll and a small plastic jug..

I travelled with this bag for the last 7 years using different airliner carriers.
on this trip I carried it on to the plane from johannesburg to hong kong, hong kong to hangzou - china, hangzou-china to hong kong with out any problems.
On the last leg of the journey i. e from hong kong to johannesburg the saa staff at hong kong airport bluntly refuse me to carry this lap top bag on to the flight.
I was made to remove all the contents from the bag and put into a plastic bag., to able to carry on to the flight "which made no sense to me".
In the process the bag was confiscated by the saa staff. gone never to be seen again..

I request saa to dutifully replace the bag or its equivalent, as I see no wrong doing from my side..
As well as refund me the seat payment (r250.00+ r300.00)
And the meal refund asap.

Waiting your prompt reply.
Abdullah
+[protected].

To Whom it may concern,

Please find all the details of the flight and passenger in this mail.

My complaint is very serious and if you have children you will hopefully understand.

My 5 year old Daughter Called Mieke De Klerk was flying with SAA on the 5th of July 2017
(the reason that I am only complaining now is that I was away and only got home last night and spoke to the children on the phone
and they told me. The reason they went visiting their Grandfather was we went away on business outside the South African Border)

I spoke first to my Father and he told me then I spoke to my daughter. I also had a conversation with my older daughter that was travelling with
Her sister and they all have the same story.

So this is my Official complaint. My 5 year old daughter was Travelling with South African airways as a UNACCOMPANIED MINOR.
During the flight she requested for the 1st time that she wanted to go to the Toilet it was declined. She asked a 2nd time because she could not hold anymore and she told the hostess this, her requested was denied again. She asked her sister whom is older 9 years old to ask the 3rd time, no this is where I get mad to the point that I want to …
She was told by the attendant that she cannot go to the toilet seeing that there is no toilet on board and that she had to wait until she is in the airport building.

So just for the record this was not their first time flying they do fly quite often since they both was babies. They have been in an aircraft more times than I can remember
And also they have flown with SAA as unaccompanied minors before.

My problem is this how do you tell a 5 year old child she can't go to the toilet. My question is this if she did wet her pants then she would've felt ashamed and started crying because
She would've been scared that the other passengers would've seen her wet pants. She did not have dry clothes with her. Her bag is in the luggage compartment. So psychologically she would've had an bad experience and who knows what would have been the
Outcome of that, my second problem is that it is not good for her to hold that long it causes damages. What if she gets a fright of flying the list goes on of what if…?

What is the whole point of them being accompanied as minors?

This to me is a very very very big problem and I am very upset about this and not happy. I can't tell you in words how it made me feel when I heard it from them.

I need an explanation from SAA and I can promise you this if I am not satisfied with the answer I am not going to just leave it. I will take this matter as far as I need to ! I am not happy

UNACCOMPANIED MINOR ASSISTANCE

DE KLERK/MIEKE MISS 05JUL CPT KIM

ELECTRONIC TICKET
PASSENGER ITINERARY RECEIPT

FLYSAA SOUTH AFRICA DATE: 03 JUL 2017
JOHANNESBURG AGENT: 0001
NAME: DE KLERK/MIEKE MISS(CHD)
JOHANNESBURG
IATA : 774 92800
TELEPHONE : +[protected]

ISSUING AIRLINE : SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS
TICKET NUMBER : ETKT 083 [protected]
BOOKING REF : AMADEUS: MSOYR6, AIRLINE: SA/MSOYR6

FROM /TO FLIGHT CL DATE DEP FARE BASIS NVB NVA BAG ST

CAPE TOWN CAPE SA 8617 L 05JUL 1650 LOW4ZCH 05JUL 05JUL 20K OK
TOWN INTL
KIMBERLEY SEAT: 06C ARRIVAL TIME: 1820 ARRIVAL DATE: 05JUL

KIMBERLEY SA 8612 G 18JUL 0815 GOW4ZCH 18JUL 18JUL 20K OK
CAPE TOWN CAPE SEAT: 03B ARRIVAL TIME: 0950 ARRIVAL DATE: 18JUL
TOWN INTL

AT CHECK-IN, PLEASE SHOW A PICTURE IDENTIFICATION AND THE DOCUMENT YOU GAVE
FOR REFERENCE AT RESERVATION TIME

ENDORSEMENTS : NONEND CXD/CHG PENALTY APPY
PAYMENT : CC VI XXXXXXXXXXXX5012/Exp0917 2171.98
PAYMENT : MSCCVI

South african airways & airlink senior management are in the business of unprofessional conduct & deliberate deception whom provides inaccurate online web flight details; deceptive flight changes without notifying already booked passengers; distorts false aircraft details on their booking website & misleads clients & passengers with false advice/expectations…..
Saa & airlink gives the airline industry an untruthful image & brings their own airline into disrepute…..
Recent obvious cost cutting (Without prior notification to already booked passengers) = has already resulted in passengers changing their loyalties to another airline such as qatar, singapore & emirates….
Recommend avoid south african airways & airlink - as this airline are only interested in quantity/turnover where clients are only treated as another number & have absolutely no interest in quality nor your repeat business…..
If you want to save yourself from much heartache – for your future travels recommend you find an airline whom actually treat you as a person; are quality driven in terms of customer service; and genuinely care about their clients return as a repeat customer…..
Saa & airlink is nowhere near the high standard of other more competitive airlines.