Cemair disappoint in delivering service or support

Our check-in at George started excellently with very helpful staff to book our luggage through to Durban.

In Johannesburg, our flight was delayed without explanation and we arrived an hour late at King Shaka. While standing at the carousel the first two suitcases came out and then it came to a standstill. We were approached by Cemair staff who informed us our baggage was offloaded due to a weight balance problem. This was never communicated by the captain, who was aware of the situation. We were just told by the staff it would arrive on the next flight which was 2 hours later.

We were traveling to a game farm, 2 hours away from Durban. When requesting for our luggage to be couriered, we were informed the company does not have this service available. Having no option, we waited.

15 minutes after the plane was supposed to arrive, I received a call to inform us the flight was delayed by 40 minutes. I again requested a courier service as we already missed our game drive. Now I had to cancel our dinner as well. I wanted to see the manager but was informed she is not on site. Eventually, I spoke with her on the phone. She was aware of the situation but could not come to the airport as she just came from the hospital. Her manager was also not available as he was in Johannesburg. The staff could not authorize any support like courier service and we had to carry the financial loss as well as the loss to experience at the game farm. The flight eventually arrived another 30 minutes later than told. When we received our luggage, the errors kept on piling up - the tags on our bags were labeled with the wrong surname. Some passengers' flight number did not even correspond.

One understands there can be problems, but effective and honest communication would have been a better way of handling the situation. The communication should also have been from the captain informing passengers before we arrived. A manager should also have been at the airport to authorize support to passengers, like in our situation.