Do Not Fly Blue Crane

Item: Fly Blue Crane
Rating: 1

On the 13th June 2016, my wife and I made flight bookings from Cape Town to Kimberley on Blue Crane flight 7B-223 for the 23 December 2016 (booking reference no HJB570). On 01 July 2016, we were informed via e-mail that our flight time changed to 13:20. A mere week later we were again informed via e-mail that our flight time changed again, this time to 16:15. This should have been an indication to us already of the quality of service we could expect to receive. Then on 21 December, just two days before our scheduled departure, whilst holidaying in Cape Town to go to our second holiday destination, Kimberley, we were informed that our flight was cancelled and that Blue Crane would refund our payment for the flight. Absolutely no explanation was given for the flight cancellation. We were obviously disgusted at the notion of this gesture as we were currently on holiday in Cape Town from Johannesburg. This would have severe financial implications on our bookings as far as accommodation and car hire were concerned both in Cape Town and Kimberley. The consultant who called us on 21 December 2016, named Chene promised to call us back in 30 minutes. After about 2 hours of waiting we decided to take matters in our own hands and managed to find a booking for the both of us on SA Express to Kimberley from Cape Town for the same scheduled date as our initial Blue Crane flight. Obviously, as you may be aware, booking a flight two days in advance is quite costly and we ended up paying R4,832.46 for our one-way flight to Kimberley on SA Express versus the R1,861.66 we paid for our Blue Crane flight (a difference of R2,970.80). On the 22 December 2016, a day before our scheduled departure, a lady named Lerato, called us and said that they could not find alternative flights but could accomodate us on flight the day after our scheduled departure but not to Kimberley. They proposed flying us to Bloemfontein and shuttling us to Kimberley. They also would not pay for any additional car hire or hotel bookings in Cape Town and were not concerned about our already booked accommodation and car hire in Kimberley and the implications of that for arriving a day later. We refused this proposal and asked them instead to reimburse us for the new flights to Kimberley booked by ourselves which was obviously a fair proposal and made absolute common sense. Lerato said that she would contact her manager and revert to us shortly. On the very same day, Lerato called us back to our surprise, and we agreed that Blue Crane would reimburse us for the additional costs we paid at SA Express. Lerato agreed, after speaking to her manager, and I confirmed with her that the telephone call was recorded, that Blue Crane would refund us the our Blue Crane flight fares (R1,861.66) and pay us the difference between the SA Express and the Blue Crane flight fares (R2,970.80) which would equal to exactly our SA Express flight fares of R4,832.46. Therefore the total refund due to us is R4,832.46 payable to the credit card that was used to pay for the Blue Crane flights. Lerato asked me to write an e-mail to the address she provided confirming our discussion and to include the original flight bookings as well as those booked on SA Express which I did immediately after our discussion. She promised that we would be paid in 48 hours. To date nothing has been paid into our accounts. Given the holidays, I decided to follow up early in January 2017 only to be told that the only lady dealing with refunds was on leave and would only be returning on the 16 Janaury 2017. The manager in charge who was dealing with refunds was always tied in meetings, on lunch, etc. No one returned my calls during the week of the 9 -13 Janaury 2017. During the week of the 16 Janaury I left several messages as they lady in charge of refunds was either on lunch or attendinga funeral. Now I do have sympathy and understand that people need to eat and attend funerals from time to time but the least they can do for paying customers is to return their calls. I finally managed to get hold of a gentleman, named Boitumelo, who after I explained my entire situation to simply said that it was against their policy to make such promises. He also confirmed that the my Blue Crane payment was refunded. I immediately went onto my internet banking and to my dismay no money was returned at all. I reminded Boitumelo that the call I had with Lerato where we came to an agreement was recorded. He said he would investigate and has up to date not gotten back to me. They still need to pay our refund as well as the difference in price between the original flights and those booked and paid to SA Express. I stongly urge all potential travellers to avoid Fly Blue Crane at all costs. You may pay more for another airline but at least you do not have to deal with the stress of being called very shortly before your departure to be told that your flights are cancelled, stress about making alternative arrangements, stress about getting your refund and finally deal with an organisation that knows absolutely nothing about customer service and people. I will obviously not leave this issue here. My next port of calls are the Consumer Commission, ACSA, Civil Aviation Authority and anybody else who will be willing to listen to my issue and speedily resolve it. Fly Blue Crane are obviously not interested... the money is in the bank already and there is no need to rush.

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