South African Airways / FlySAA.com
reviews and complaints

On August, 21 2023 we - a group of five persons didn't catch our booked flight from JNB to WDH. We canceled the flight right on time an got an automated response from South African Airways.

Two weeks later - on September, 7 we got en email from SAA Ms MandisM***, saying that our refund ist in process, an we should provide an credit card number. Great job. We immediately did that an got the response, that "quality control" will follow.

As nothing happened, we asked again on October, 3 2023. We got sust an automated response "... we are working tirelessly to expedite all requests."

Until now December, 5 2023 nothing has happened. No response, no money. I can not recommend the customer service of SAA.

NEVER EVER SAA AGAIN!

I have requested a refund of an EMD voucher by email on 15 March 2023 to [protected]@flysaa.com.

I am still waiting for my money!

SAA SERVICE COMMITMENT (I quote from SAA website):

We will provide prompt refunds for eligible tickets once we receive your request accompanied by all required documentation. If your ticket is eligible for a refund as per the rules of the fare you have purchased, we will refund the appropriate amount to you according to the original form of payment. Refunds for tickets purchased directly with SAA will be processed within 21 business days on receipt of your complete refund submission.

This is more than a JOKE!

I have written letters:

- to the refunds department ... not able to process the refund.

- to the customer service ... not able to process the refund.

- to the CEO .. no answer and no response.

16 weeks of begging for what rightfully belongs to me to be returned.

SAA has a terrible attitude towards clients and very poor quality of service.

The staff members are totally unprofessional, incompetent, unreliable and impolite.

Do you not wonder what advertising damage you are perpetrating with your conduct?

The SA302 flight on Monday 23rd scheduled for 06:00am departure was delayed the entire day.

I received notification at 05.45am, 09:24am, 10:30am, 11:29am ,13.19pm.

I had to make alternative travel arrangements with LIFt to the cost of R3600.00

Please reimburse this expense to the following account:

RBL Welgemoed

FNB East rand Mall

B/C # 253442

Chq Acc # [protected]

It states 20 working days for refund, which I think is absolute nonsense, for me to fly I had to fork out extra money to fly, SAA has their money, I do not want a voucher, I want the money in my account ASAP.

Will never fly SAA ever again!

SAA stated that they will refund tickets on flights that were canceled due to covid.

Our flights under reservation Q7NUMS were canceled by SAA.

The flights were:

Flight B6 884

Orlando to New York

3 May 2020

Flight SA 204

New York to Johanneaburg

4 May 2020

I requested refunds on 4 tickets in January 2022 and have not received a response to date hereof.

There is no other way of contacting them other than sending an email. The only reply is an automated response

We were 16 old ladies traveling from OR Tambo to Cape Town because of coronavirus
Cape Town Jazz festival was cancelled
Now we cannot get our refunds with flysaa because we bought cheaptickets we have to travel even though theres no festival.

Help

Regards

Liz

Good day. My husband and I have just flown SA Flight no 280 to Perth on 27 September. The flight was excellent. Seats comfortable, meals good, entertainment efficient and cabin crew great . Our return flight no SA 281 on 12 October was another story entirely. We sat in row 49H and K. Firstly the seat in front of 49k was broken. My husband could not put his knees together. There was insuffucient space. I too found the seats very cramped and uncomfortable. It seemed that we flying in a very old plane. My TV in 49H was not working and could not be rebooted. My continental breakfast was frozen solid.
I was so complimentary about SAA whilst in Perth but had to change my tune once I returned.
Please could you follow up.
Thank you.
Mrs. Sally Cotterell

I am very disappointed with the overall quality and service of the SAA business class flights from OR Tambo to JFK:

1. QUALITY

- The entertainment system glitched throughout the entire flight to JFK. This was not the worst part; it seems the system is somehow linked to the seat recline function, so the passengers' seat function controls didn't work several times throughout the 17-hour flight (for up to 15-20 minutes per glitch period). Some people were stuck in a reclined position while others were stuck upright when it was time to sleep.

- On the returning flight, the TV screens were hardly responsive to touch and were very frustrating to use.

- The seats are hard and uncomfortable. Worse still, if a passenger is seated next to a window, they can't step around or over their seatmate when the latter is in a reclined position. This means they have to wake up their seatmate to go to the bathroom, etc. On Ethiopian Airlines, the seats are soft and wide, and there is more space around and between seats.

- The seat spaces are fairly cramped. For both SAA flights, I had to store my handbag in the overhead compartment for takeoff and landing. On Ethiopian Airlines, there are more surrounding compartments and features (personal coat hanger, etc.) to store a passenger's personal items, as well as more seat features and functions.

- The seat recline function is rickety and makes a lot of noise when in use. Even with customized earplugs, I would wake up whenever my seatmate used her seat recline function. On other airlines, this function is smooth and effortless.

2. FOOD

- On the flight to JFK, they ran out of eggs for breakfast, and it seemed that at least half of the passengers complained about not getting eggs. This has never happened to me before on any other flights, including economy class ones.

- On the returning flight for lunch, they ran out of salmon. (This didn't affect me personally, but did affect my seatmate.)

- On the departing flight, the flight attendant took away my untouched serving of butter and then, when I asked for butter later, said that each passenger is allocated only 1 serving of butter. This is utterly absurd.

- Apart from the desserts, the food is not that much better than what's served in economy class.

3. FLIGHT ATTENDANTS

- For most of the departing flight, there was only one overworked flight attendant serving our section, which meant that the service was very slow. The passenger who I sat next to was equally appalled by the service and noted that after the meal service, the rest of the flight attendants changed into their pyjamas and disappeared for most of the flight. Also, the flights attendants were not always prompt and sometimes forgot to offer hot towels, blankets, etc.

- The same thing happened on my returning flight (though not to the same effect, and I must say that my returning flight was much better in terms of service, quality, food, etc.).

4. LOUNGES

- The lounge in OR Tambo is okay but a little chaotic, and the food looked unappetizing. I spent less than 10 minutes there even though I had over an hour to spare until boarding time.

- The SWISS lounge for SAA business class flyers in JFK is awful. The food was okay, but the atmosphere was cold and, even worse, the staff were rude and distant. I left that lounge very quickly and returned to the main waiting area of the airport.

---

Above are specific complaints, but in general, the business class experience was certainly not worth the price of the tickets. In fact, I initially wanted to fly via Qatar, which is renowned for its quality, for almost exactly the same price. However, I ended up choosing SAA so that I could be on the same flight as a relative. Rest assured that I won't be making the same mistake again, and will not be able to recommend SAA business class to anyone else.

We flew with SAA on Friday, 28 June 2019, from Hong Kong to Johannesburg.
When we boarded the plane it was like the heaters were going full blast. Everyone was complaining about the heat. People were sitting trying to cool off using the Safety Guides. Trying to press the service bell didnt work because they just didnt attend to anyone. I had to put my arm out and stop one of the flight attendants and ask her why its so hot. She only said, they are working on it.
More than one hour into the flight the AC went on and we went from extreme heat to extreme cold. It was so col that I had to put my hoodie on, blanket over my ears and nose. The air was so cold that it made breathing really unpleasant.
My daughter was in hospital the week before, struggling with fever. After this flight, we both have flu and my daughters fever is back.

Really not impressed!

I did a long flight journey recently from USA to Paris, Zurich and over to Johannesburg. My flight journey was fine until I got down to South Africa. My flight leg ended in Johannesburg so I purchased a flight to Cape Town. I went on SAA website because I wanted to fly with SAA airlines because they have a bigger baggage allowance and I had 2 bags check in. Otherwise the extra Baggage fee is R300 with SAA. I purchased a flight online & the site gave me a Flight operated by Mango airlines! This has a much different baggage policy & instead of paying R300, I had to pay R1150 at the airport. I do not appreciate and am very unhappy that SAA website sold me a flight operated by Mango & would not uphold the same baggage policy as SAA. I feel I was tricked into buying a flight operated by another airline and then charging me much more for my extra baggage. I also was not able to buy the Mango online Baggage charge at R35 a Kilo and instead had to pay R50 a kilo because of the incompetent worker at SAA who Iputted my date of birth incorrectly the desk agent at Mango told me that I could not be found in the system at mango kiosk to purchase the lesser Mango baggage fee before flying. My birthdate is August 24, 1982. Then I took my hand luggage to fly Mango and there was no space for anything on board so we had to leave all our luggage at the gate and the baggage handlers threw my bags around so that the big wine glass that had flown around the world in perfect condition, was completely crushed when it arrived in Cape Town. As you can see there has been multiple issues on my short flight to Cape Town and this in unacceptable because my entire journey around the world was pleasant and the last 2 hour flight was a nightmare and I was exhausted from my long journey and then I have to deal with all this incompetence and frustrations. I would like a refund of me baggage fee and to claim for my damaged object. I should have been allowed to take a 2nd bag because I flew over from 3 international flights and the airline should look at my paperwork and allow this extra bag to be checked in without a crazy Baggage fee... thank you Gené Maree (Genae) [protected]@yahoo.com

Good morning,

I refer you to my check in reference o2gxwl, mauritius - johannesburg.
My ticket was mistakenly booked online through a travel agent under ronald james grimmer instead of ronald john grimmer, through no error of saa.
My issue is that I came to or tambo on 19 dec to speak to saa who gave me assurance that I would be able to board and that a simple ‘note' on the system to notify the relevant counter person was all that is needed.
This approval was attained through a team leader by the name of thungthung kotelo who gave the approval to the counter person to put a note on the system which would allow me to fly on the day, 21 december 2018.
On arrival, I was horrified to learn that I could not board and although the note exists in the system, they cannot proceed and that the approval given is irrelevant as mrs kotelo has no authority on this rule and technically is incorrect as the mauritian authorities are very strict so this ‘approval' should never have been given.
Due to the above misrepresentation, I was forced to rebook my ticket at r13k in order to fly on the day - my original ticket through the travel agent was r9400 which now was never used.

I am requesting a refund to the value of r13k in order to put this matter to rest - I don't think this is unreasonable.
Please advise.
Kind regards,
Ronald

I was travelling from HK to Johnesburg on Dec 31, 2018 on Flight SA287 Seat 64G. My cell phone in my bag, which was stowed in overhead compartment was stolen. I did not realize it until I arrived at Walvis Bay, Nambia. I Called SA airways HK customer center and Namibia Center, I wrote email to SA customercare center. In the email, I even provided the clue that a passenger on Seat 65 could have my phone. But I have not received any reply from SA airways so far.
The cell phone was stolen is a brand new Huawei P20 Pro, a new year gift from my friend's wife to husband.
I still hope SAA could help track down that passenger (65? far left behind me, black male) and return my phone.

My colleague (dr daniel nyanganyura regional director, international science council regional office for africa[isc roa], pretoria) and I (dr richard l.k. glover, programme specialist, isc roa) were billed to travel on saa222 to sao paolo, brazil, en route to el salvador on sunday september 09, 2018. we cleared passport control and waited at the departure gate.
During checkport security check prior to departure, our authentic email documentation confirming that visa for el salvador has been approved for us to take in panama (signed by the vice minister of the ministry of science and technlogy in el salvador as well as the consul general of the embassy of the republic of el salvador in panama were rejected by checkport officials led by one phakathi who insisted on having the originals of the doumentation on a letterhead and signed — on a sunday, and considering the time difference between el salvador and south africa.
In the end, we were prevented from boarding the flight and our baggage which had already been uploaded were taken off the flight. we had to return home, dejected.
We lost our ticket and had to purchase a new one at a higher cost, we had to arrange for another airport transfer and we also lost our accommodation reservation in el salvador.
We had to work all night to get those documents, to the discomfort and indignation of those officials, stirring some political questions.
On our return the following day (10th september), after we had been cleared by another official, this same phakathi had requested another official (a lady) to come and rescrutinize our documents. that was after he had been busy disturbing other passengers over similar issues.
Meanwhile my wife (on my behalf) had contacted stefan ellis (operations manager of checkport security) who called the boarding gate and got the lady (apparently a superior officer) to find out what was happening from me. I then told her all phakathi did the day before and she asked him why he insisted on getting original documents when the same information was provided in emails (in these modern times). she further told him why he did not lodge a report after preventing us from boarding a flight as is routine. phakathi had no answer to these queries.

From our investigations from the other passenger (a ghanaian who works with a silver mining company in panama and transits through this route every two months) who phakathi was harrassing on the 10th, we got to know that this has been the ploy of checkport security officials to extort money from desperate passengers. he confirmed that on one occasion, a white lady had to painfully part with $200 before she could be "allowed" to board the flight.

Even though we had the premonition that phakathi was trying to get something out of us the previous day, our forthrightness did not allow us to bend to his ploy. moreso when we have not defaulted in any way.

We are aggrieved and embarrassed. we lost financially and our important meeting schedule for the betterment of science in the world was disturbed.
We are lodging this complaint for a thorough investigation into this incident with a view to preventing any such future occurrences. we are also making a request for a refund of the money we lost by way of buying new ticket, arranging new airport shuttles and losing hotel reservations. these are in the region of r20, 000. we are ready to supply further details to support this cost calculation.

Besides not being able to do online check-in (again!), the delay (again!), no entertainment (again!) and the oldest plane (as usual) we still continue to use SAA because of the convenience but I am just so frustrated at the service (again!). Sometimes you are lucky to get a good crew, but this was not the case this time. They were certainly friendly but they spent the entire evening talking on the top of their voices- with little regard for sleeping passengers and they did the absolute minimal cabin checks! So- blankets all over the show, blinds unchecked AND so much litter lying around- they obviously did NO clearing! In fact while they were supposed to be clearing they were having long discussions with each other!
Might be a longer trip, but I think we will be changing to Singapore airlines.

Good day sir/madam
It grieves me to bring to your attention the quality of service I received from both saa and flight site.
I purchased a ticket from jhb - london dated 25 may 2018, e ticket number [protected]. Airline ref-u29h3k.
I called the airlines on the 20 june to inform them that I am unable to travel due to a specific illness, I asked about a refund and was informed by a person named sipho that I will be granted the refund if due to medical reasons, and I should inform the the agent as well, the same was done. I was then told by flightsite that saa will take 6-8 weeks to process this refund. On the 23 july I called saa refund dept and spoke to a person named madsidiso, to follow up on this claim and was told that the he cannot trace this on the system, and I should inform the agent to use the bsp link.
Same was done.
I followed up after 8 weeks as the timeframe stated, and flightsite informed me that the medical certificate is not acceptable and that I should submit a operative report, yet again same done.
I was then informed by the flightsite that saa will not refund the ticket as my medical report does not suffice. I questioned that and was then informed that I should contact saa customer service as that the party that responsible for the refund and not flightsite.
I asked for the details of the person at saa, that challenged the medical expert report in stating that I could have traveled as my surgery was done a year ago. I got no response from the agent at flightsite in this regard. I feel that there is an element of discrimination against me as I am a person with a disability and that my rights has been violated.
I will forward all email correspondence with flightsite in this regard.
I urge that this matter be throughly investigated and the matter resolved as this is now over 3 months.
I look forward to your urgent feedback.
Thank you
Kind regards

LOST BAGGAGE - Urgent

My daughter Shanna Shiwpursad bought a ticket ETKT [protected] with SAA to fly from Mauritius to Cairo via Johannesburg. Details of the ticket Flight Shiwpursad P9V88G MRU Cairo CAI MS840 7Sep 20:00 JNB SA191 07Sep 16:35 .
She has to go to Hurghada on 8th Sept to board a Cruise for a training. Her luggage has not reached Cairo declaration no CAIMS70050 and all her belongings are in that luggage for personal use and for the training!
Cairo told us to contact SAA to trace the luggage. When I called on SAt 8th Sept at 12:20 SA time your representative (a lady) told us they can't trace the luggage. She was very impolite and didn't want to assist, become nervous and put the phone on the desk while I was talking her begging for assistance. I will put this on all media possible for the SAA customer service. It's not possible the luggage was handed over to SAA while onboarding in Mauritius and SAA told me they are not responsible and won't bother about the luggage and I should to go and find out by myself with Mauritius or Cairo. There's a flight to tonight to Cairo and the luggage can be sent to be delivered tomorrow morning before the Ship leaves the Port at La Marina Hurghada Egypt. If she miss the training a severe complaint and claim will be lodged. What a Customer Service! A paid service cannot be handled like that. Hope someone intervene for assistance.
Thanks
Deena Shiwpursad
230 [protected]
[protected]@hotmail.com

Dear Sir/ Madam,
I trust I find you well!
Sadly I had a very bad experience on one of your flights
On Thursday I had after I missed my original flight at 16:30, rebooked at 18;30.
The flight was SA 363, if I remember correctly.
I had, as always, two bags, being a photographic guide, and fly about 2-3times a month.
The one bag was a photographic backpack, value around R180.000-00, the other a normal day backpack where my laptop and peripherals, a spare camera (R70.000-00) and a few other things where in.
A security guide on the bridge directly at the plane approached me and said I am not allowed to take two bags into the plane.
I told him that I am a frequent flyer and in 10 years I never had a problem. I also referred to the value of the equipment and that it was not allowed to go into the luggage haul of the plane. He said that is not his problem, I only could take one bag.
Rather annoyed I said I would leave the day bag-pack there and take the camera bag into the plane, however I would do this under protest and I would hold him responsible if something is broken!
After I put the camera bag into the overhead storage and found my seat, I went back to the front to retrieve the laptop and the camera. At the same time several people passed and he ignored all of them, even those who had 2 or even more bags with them. I did ask him why he all of a sudden lets all these people into the plane even though most had more than one bag as hand-luggage, some way bigger than mine.
He said it is none of my business and he is busy now with me, so he could not attend to others.
When I ask if this is now a new form of racism, he replied rather aggressive, I better not utter the word racism in this country!
I than ask him to let me see his identity card. He refused and instead showed me a batch he kept in his pocket. I took a picture but ask him why I am not allowed to see his card as a batch like the one shown, one can get in a china shop! The answer was security reasons
I did ask him for the phone nr and name of his superior and tried calling instantly. The nr he provided did not exist! When I told him so, he replied that is the only nr he knows, and the name I would find out there!
I did ask the on board personal what the problem is, if the plane is overbooked and the two flight attendants present in-front both said they have no idea why he took my bag out, but there is nothing they could do about it.
When I came to my seat I realized I forgot an external hard-drive in the bag.
So I went to the front again, and when I got there, I saw the person fiddling with my bag and closing the front zip.
As the flight was about to leave I quickly retrieved the hard drive from the laptop compartment and returned to my seat.
Getting out of the plane, with my laptop and camera loose under my arm, I did ask the flight personal where I'll get my bag. They informed me it would be at the conveyer.
Getting there, the back-pack was the 3rd bag to come out.
When I checked the bag and wanted to put my laptop and other stuff back, I realized that the two boxes of Lindt chocolate, I bought earlier for my partner, where missing from the front compartment. At closer inspection I also realized that my powerbank was not there anymore.
I tried to report the incident at the airport, but because of the time, all offices where closed.
I reported the issue the next morning via your call centre, but feel this warrants this rather long winding letter!
I find it extremely distasteful, that personnel can, without explanation on a proper reason, decide on a purely mood or personal basis what to allow and what not.
I am even more disturb and disgusted, that the same people take this opportunity to enrich themselves on others property and misuse the trust invested in them.
As said, I am a tour-guide, and have hundreds of overseas clients with me every year. Be assured that this incident of blatant theft will be made known, and I will warn clients of the state of affairs at O.R. Tambo airport, and as I was told the "security" personal was a SAA employee, with your airline in specific!
Also will I lay criminal charge for theft at SAPS!

As said, I am disheartened that this is still something that you do not seem to get under control and has happened
yours
G. Lamberty

I was on SA Airlink Flight 8443 on Aug. 2, 2018 from Johannesburg to Richards Bay. My carry-on was not allowed to be brought onto the plane and was loaded into baggage on the plane. After the flight I checked my carry-on bag and noticed that my 960 Rand I had purchased for gifts and tips was missing. The Rand was in a plastic bag and in a small coin purse the purse had been at the bottom of the carry-on bag upon opening the purse was at the top of the bag and the zipper was open. Nothing else was taken from the bag please resolve this issue.

My return flight (flight no: SA422) from Port Elizabeth which was booked for Friday 03/08/2018 and due to depart at 16:15 left me and my colleague stranded at the airport. When we arrived at the airport we were advised that the flight is delayed with approximately an hour, we can only board the flight at 17:25.
We were then later advised that there's a further delay which changed the boarding time to 17:35.
Upon waiting for our boarding time we've realised on the Flight schedule electronic board that the flight was on final call after it has been on delayed status for quite a while. This happened without any airport announcement from SAA which is what we at least expected after such a huge delay. As we were rushing towards the boarding gate we were advised by the airline checking agent that the flight was now closed and we have been off loaded. This is the last thing we expected after being stuck at the airport almost 2 hours because of a delayed flight. We feel that was so unfair of SAA to off load us after they've failed to publicly announce the boarding of the flight when it finally boarded. As a result we go stuck at the airport as we couldn't find any other SAA flight after that because they were all fully booked. We demand a full refund of our ticket as we had to buy new tickets with a different airline altogether. I just feel SAA failed us as its customers and it's also a very bad business practice.

Hi Team,

Find below tickets issued with South African Airways,

083-[protected] FOR ADE/MAXCELINE Mambo

083-[protected] FOR CHI AWAH/Daniel

083-[protected] FOR JUSCAL/MBEWO NYANI

083-[protected] FOR ASSI GERALD/SAMA.

On these tickets, some of the coupons had the Avianca Flights. Avianca did modify these ticket of which they hadn't no right to.

We would like your company to address the issue to Avianca to open the status of the above tickets to enable any modifications to be done because these passengers are going on training.

Sir, we have contacted Avianca and they say South African airways should write to them, please these passengers are on our neck.

We shall be grateful if this can be resolved as soon as possible.

Best regards,

Thompson M.

Hi Team,

Find attached four tickets issued with the validating carrier SA, of which Avianca is among the Airlines.

Our passengers had an issue and were unable to travel on the 24july18, in the course of repositioning

their tickets, we noticed Avianca touched the files and new tickets numbers attributed to the passengers as below:

134-[protected]////CHI

134-[protected]////ASSI

134-[protected]///JUSCAL

134-[protected]///ADE.

We can't work on these files because a portion on these tickets have been touched by your company, I know you are verse with

what am saying since you are professionals.

Please, can you kindly revert the status on these tickets to OPEN to enable us work on them.These passengers are going to South America for their professional courses.

Thanks for your prompt reply,

Thompson M.