Mishandling and Complete Lack of Communication Regarding Pet Travel

I am extremely disappointed with CemAir’s handling of an incident involving their Pet Travel service, and even more frustrated by how my complaint has been managed since.

On 5 August, my two dogs were confirmed to travel unaccompanied on a 14:05 CemAir flight. Their feeding, prescribed travel medication and transport were all planned around this confirmed departure time.

When I arrived at the airport to check them in, I was informed for the first time that their flight had been moved to 15:40. I had received absolutely no communication from CemAir advising me of this change.

By this point, my dogs had already been medicated for their original departure time and my husband was waiting with them in the car. The CemAir desk contacted Magda from Pet Travel, who told me that she had not received communication regarding the flight change either.

The initial solution offered to me was to leave my already-medicated dogs in their carriers until the later flight. Taking into account check-in, the delayed departure, flight time and collection, this could have resulted in them spending approximately seven hours in their carriers. I found this suggestion completely unacceptable.

I asked for my husband and me to be placed on the same flight so that we could manage the dogs ourselves. I was initially told this would cost approximately R2,500 per person. I then had to specifically ask Magda to escalate the matter to a manager and find an appropriate solution. Only after I insisted on this was the fare reduced to approximately R1,600 per person.

I subsequently submitted a formal complaint and requested that CemAir Customer Relations investigate and manage the matter.

CemAir has now acknowledged IN WRITING that a system error occurred, that the flight-change notification was not successfully transmitted, that I was not informed of the change, and that this was a CemAir communication failure which I could not reasonably have been expected to identify or rectify.

Despite admitting this, their response largely focuses on their right to make operational schedule changes and the fact that my dogs were ultimately transported.

This completely misses the point.

I have never disputed CemAir’s right to change a flight time. The issue is that CemAir FAILED TO TELL ME. I arrived at the airport relying on confirmed arrangements, with two dogs already medicated for travel, and was then left to deal with the consequences of an admitted CemAir system and communication failure.

I requested meaningful compensation and suggested that, at a minimum, refunding the dogs’ flight costs would be a reasonable gesture given the circumstances. This has effectively been dismissed because the dogs were ultimately transported.

What is now making the situation even more frustrating is the way my complaint is being handled.

I specifically requested that Customer Relations take over the matter, particularly because part of my complaint relates to how Magda from Pet Travel handled the incident at the airport. Customer Relations has been copied into the correspondence, yet I have still not received a response directly from them.

Instead, Magda, the same Pet Travel representative whose handling of the incident forms part of my complaint, continues to respond to and manage the complaint.

How is that an appropriate escalation process?

I have now again requested that Customer Relations or an appropriately senior representative independently review the matter and respond to me directly. I have also asked CemAir to confirm whether their current response represents their final position if they are unwilling to escalate it internally.

This is not simply a complaint about a delayed flight. It is about an admitted failure to communicate a change affecting animals booked through their Pet Travel service, an unacceptable proposed solution at the airport, a lack of proactive assistance, and now a failure to properly escalate the complaint when specifically requested.

CemAir has acknowledged that the communication failure was theirs. What I am still waiting for is for someone within Customer Relations to actually take ownership of it and provide a meaningful resolution.