CUSTOMER COMPLAINT - FlySafair

My family and I arrived at the airport at 15:45, we were scheduled for the 16:45, FA123 flight back home to Cape Town. We arrived late as a result of extreme traffic conditions caused by numerous road closures to accommodate the Cycle Tour.

When we arrived at OR Tambo I proceeded directly to FlySafair counter to check my luggage. At 16:15 I was still standing in the queue which consisted of more than 80+ people with a staff complement of three counter staff and one supervisor. I was delayed further as a result of my luggage being in excess of 20kgs, perplexed, I asked the lady how that was possible as the content of my luggage was the same when I departed from Cape Town to JHB on Saturday the 14th with FlySafair and did not have any issues? She shrugged her shoulders and answered “I don’t know, maybe they voided the 2kgs in Cape Town, but this is JHB and I either need to remove items, speak to the supervisor or pay R250.” I respectfully asked whether it could be voided, and she responded “no, unpack or go to the supervisor” – wonderful etiquette.

I attempted getting approval from [supervisor], whilst my husband watched my bag at her counter and tried explaining that we are extremely pressed for time, can she please void the 2kgs, he also questioned why there was no final call for our flight or urgency to assist us to ensure we could make our flight. In addition , a third woman approached the counter, to scream at my husband from her counter all the way to the supervisors desk, where I was waiting for him to acknowledge me, “that she’d called out the flight info etc…” this in front of the public as well as [supervisor]. I then questioned her why she was screaming at us and she continued to chant all the way back to her colleagues!

[supervisor], was completely unfocussed, and was dealing with three different queries at the same time. Annoyed by this, I asked him if he could please urgently focus and assist me as we are pressed for time and required his approval for my luggage. At this point, [supervisor] found it appropriate to advise me that my bag was late for luggage check in, that this was not his fault nor his staff, that I was rude to both him and the ladies and reminded me that he is doing me a favour. Completely disgusted by his approach and clear lack of customer service, I showed him my boarding pass to move on with the process, he completed a piece of paper, handed it to my husband and requested we pay the R250, which my husband did. We presented the receipt and confirmed that it was fine for us to proceed to the boarding gate and despite being grossly late at this stage, we literally ran to the boarding gate, which we reached at 16:26 the gates were closed and ACSA security informed us that we were too late, that my luggage had been removed and I could retrieve it at carousel 1 that this is not her fault and she cannot help us and as a result of [supervisor] not informing the crew/ ACSA that we were late but en-route.

The only way I was able to obtain [supervisor] details to write this letter is by the assistance of the ACSA supervisor on site! As he refused to give me his details. And blatantly turned his access card around and told me we missed our flights as a result of being late! And that we can book an alternative flight at your counters once I’ve collected my bag! Both ladies mentioned above, laughed in my face when I requested their names, with the approval of [supervisor] that they do not provide me with their names. When requesting a refund of the R250 we'd just paid, he told us it was non-refundable!

Now, I’ve been on more than enough flights where I’ve witnessed late passengers, this is not rocket science, however, due to lack of support, customer service, communication and willingness to HELP from [supervisor] and his staff not only did we miss our flight, but we had to endure the repulsive treatment from both him and the ladies at the counter.

Firstly, where does FlySafair’s Customer Centricity lie? There was absolutely NO urgency to assist us. Why did [supervisor] not communicate with the Cabin Crew or ACSA staff to inform them that we were LITERALLY running to the gate?

Secondly, please explain;

The logic of removing items from my “checked luggage” to my “hand held luggage” Why did [supervisor] in his capacity as a supervisor did not rectify his staff's attitude immediately and mitigate the situation before it escalated? In fact, he enticed and supported it! After the entire ordeal, we still had to arrange flights to get home, which cost us an additional R6000, which no one cared about! but were given the run around for my luggage which had not been off-loaded, again, after the third attempt, of walking from the first to the third floors, trying to get [supervisor] to assist, I retrieved my luggage and was able to source flights home with an alternative airline Kulula, whose customer service speaks VOLUMES.

Lastly, I have submitted a risk report to our procurement office detailing this incident and will ensure FlySafair is no longer a preferred airline, as my flight was booked for business. And, as a result of this experience I request compensation for the original flights we missed FA123. Considering the fact that had the situation been mitigated appropriately, with urgency and proper customer service we absolutely would’ve made our flights. In addition, I want to escalate this complaint, to the highest source of management, to ensure ALL the staff who were involved are dealt with accordingly, as their behaviour was inexcusable and beyond repulsive.

In closing, failure to provide compensation will result in me approaching the media and informing them of this situation.

FURTHER TO ALL OF THIS - we're told on social media via an agent which email address to use to lodge this complaint, when following up on a response, I was asked which email addressed I'd utilised! ABSOLUTE circus! no customer centricity!!!