Denied the right to board the plane in spite of being on time for the actual flight

This is the e-mail we have now sent to FlySafair in order to try and resolve the problem. We have contacted the help desks to no avail:

Good day to whom this may concern

I hope you are having a good day and that this email reaches you in good health.

I (Jacques du Preez - MYUPGB) and my girlfriend (Simonne Paarman - NKUORA) were both scheduled to take flight FA369 to PE at 06:20 on Monday (21/10/2019) morning. We had pre-booked our seats and received our boarding passes on Sunday evening, thus ensuring that we would only need to do the luggage drop the next morning.

Upon arrival at the bag drop (05:48) we were greeted by a less than friendly and less than enthusiastic staff member of yours. After showing our boarding passes and having our bags weighed we were simply told that he refuses to carry on with the process of checking in our bags and we need to go speak to the ladies at your ticket sales counter as we are “late” for the flight. This was still well ahead of the boarding time of 05:50 indicated on our tickets that we received.

We then proceeded to the ladies at the desk where we were then told that we have to board the next available flight as were "late" for our 06:20 flight. At this stage it was 05:52, a mere 2-minutes after the boarding gate had OPENED. The ladies then continued to explain to us that due to a mere 8-minutes that we arrived “late” at the bag drop, we had to pay a penalty fee for the 'new' tickets as we would not be able to make the 06:20 flight. Out of necessity of needing to get home we then paid an additional R900 to get the extra tickets even though we could see that boarding was still in process and that the flight had not departed at that time.

Prior to paying the penalty fee, we were confused and asked if we were getting on the plane and our bags would come with the next flight to which they answered no. We also asked if we can get on the flight and our bags be sent down and they said no it is not possible. Please bear in mind that we were technically, as passengers "without bags" still in time for our flight.

So to summarize, instead of taking 20 seconds to weigh 2 bags (Both well under weight 18kg and 6.9kg, as weighed by your staff member) and placing stickers on the bags your company proceeded to deny us our flights which we had paid for, and would not have made late in any way shape or form due to have already checked into the flight. We needed to get back home for work purposes as we are both self employed and thus missing a day of work is not an option for either of us seeing as we had multiple clients and meetings scheduled for that day. This lack of effort from your staff not only cost an additional R900 in airline tickets but also close to a R4000 loss in income between myself and my girlfriend due to us needing to cancel important meetings and work appointments.

After all of this had transpired, by chance my girlfriend saw a British Airways flight that was scheduled to leave at 08:10. I arrived at the British Airways counter at 07:35, their boarding was to start at 07:40. I asked the ladies if we would still be able to make the flight, bear in mind we would still need to purchase tickets, check in luggage and proceed to the boarding gate in this time, and I got an immediate answer that we would be able to make the flight and that they will ensure that the boarding gate is held open until such time that we are on the plane. Due to the efficiency and willingness to help of the British Airways staff we arrived at the boarding gate by 07:40 and still boarded with the rest of the passengers.

After various attempts to get in contact with someone that can answer my questions on your side, my girlfriend finally succeeded in speaking to a supervisor (Phone call from approximately 10:30 today - ***). She was unable to get the ladies name but after explaining the above situation to the supervisor multiple times, the supervisor said that she was confused as to why we didn't get onto the flight if we were not late. The supervisor then proceeded to explain that the staff members could lose their jobs if they were to deny passengers the right to board the plane if they were still on time for the boarding gate - which unfortunately for your staff members is the case here. The lady had taken our I.D books and looked at our boarding tickets on our phones and said no we are late and can't get onto the flight. The supervisor stated that had she seen we were on time for the flight (given the time stamps, we were on time) they should not have denied us access or told us to buy 'new tickets'.

Thus a supervisor from your company has confirmed verbally to Simonne that we should have been allowed to board our flight and not have been denied our flight, due to the fact that we as passengers were not late for the flight and that our bags being late would not warrant us being denied our flight. My girlfriend argued this matter with supervisor who then said that it is heresay and she can't confirm what happened at the airport but she will defend her staff because they "are trained and know what protocol to follow" - to which Simonne said well clearly they don't know what to do because they denied us our flights.

Simonne then phoned a gentleman at the PE Safair who asked for the situation to be explained to him. After recounting the story he stated that he doesn't understand why we were denied access to the flights and made to buy new tickets if we were technically on time for our flight. He did state that there is new protocol in place but regardless of that fact, we should still have been given the option to board the plane.

Now, logically thinking, if we didn't want to get back home so badly and get to work, why would we then book entirely new tickets at another R2700-00 if we had supposedly been given the option to board our 06:20 flight with SAFAIR?

We have been going backwards and forwards with this matter since Monday and based on a lack of communication and help from your desk clerks, except the PE gentleman from today, I want this matter to be escalated and I want to speak to a manager as I want to be refunded for both of our flights and the penalty fee due to a huge inconvenience and mishandling of the entire situation. I am a reasonable person, however, with the way this has transpired I expect this matter to be handled immediately and with someone of a high ranking.