FlySafair causes physical harm to passengers

There really needs to be an option for no stars at all.

I recently returned to South Africa and landed at King Shaka airport late at night (14 December 2022), only to find that FlySafair had broken my luggage. I have serious carpal tunnel issues (for which I've had surgery and extensive physiotherapy to regain the use of my hand) and make my living using my hands - which makes them literally vital to the survival of myself and my family. I am thus not allowed (doctor's orders) to EVER lift anything heavy. To avoid having to lift heavy luggage when I travel, I invested in a set of high-quality 360-swivel wheel luggage that glides like a dream with no weight put on my wrists at all (I ask for assistance at the counter to lift onto the scale and again at the carousel when there is someone present to do so). Before arriving at King Shaka, my luggage had been through FIVE other flights and the only damage was a few scratches, as one would expect. But after a short FlySafair flight, two of the wheels were almost entirely ripped right off the suitcase and there is a gash in the body that goes almost all the way into the interior!!! The wheels were literally hanging on by a single ***** each, and the other holes for each of the other *****s are completely stripped from the *****s being ripped out so forcefully. I honestly cannot even imagine what your staff must've done to it to cause such intensely forceful damage.

And that was just the beginning. I headed straight for the airport Info Desk to find a FlySafair supervisor or manager to report the problem to in order to be assisted. The very kind gentleman at the Info Desk immediately called through to ask the FlySafair representative to meet me at the arrivals door to assist me. I waited almost 20min and no one showed up. I went back to Info and he called again. The woman **** and said no one had been waiting by the door. I told her myself that I'd been there and she hadn't shown up. She then said she'd go there again. When she just stuck her head through the door (RUDE!!!) I tried to tell her what I needed to report and she closed the door and came back a few minutes later and acted in a way that was so rude I literally just stood there for several minutes in shock. All she did was throw a s**** of paper at me with the call centre number on it and then shut the door in my face again!!! (It is a one-way security door so I wasn't able to pass through from my side). I tried to call the number immediately because I knew that if I left the airport without reporting the damage, FlySafair would try to weasel their way out their obligations by saying that it could've happened elsewhere. But what the rude woman at the door purposefully didn't mention was that the call centre isn't even open at night!!! There is literally no one other than the airport staff to whom one can report such a thing at night - and they just run away! I went back to the Info Desk and the gentleman called again to tell her to come and speak to me. She again stuck her head through the door and said I must just wait and call in the morning because no one will help me now and then closed the door in my face AGAIN!!!

I was not going to risk waiting until I'd left the airport, and asked the Info gentleman to please find a FlySafair supervisor or manager to assist. He called through and the same woman said that her supervisor wasn't there and no one would come to even speak to me. I told her myself that I insisted on seeing a supervisor (as is my absolute right as a customer) and she hung up on me!!! Info then called the FlySafair ticket desk to find out if there was anyone there who could help and told me that someone named Nadira would assist me there, but refused to come down to where I was, so I had to wrangle the trolley with my broken suitcase on it all the way up to another level to speak to her, which further aggravated my now-excruciating wrist.

When I got there, there were at least 5 or 6 staff members just sitting around chatting - any one of whom could've gotten up off their seats and assisted me - but not one single one did. I told Nadira what had happened and she said I must just call the call centre in the morning. I told her that I was not going to risk leaving the airport without some proof that I'd reported it immediately and she got very aggressive in refusing to do anything to assist. I explained to her that I have a serious medical issue that makes it very harmful and dangerous for me to have to lift heavy items and that it could literally send me back to the hospital for further surgery if triggered. She responded with, "Well, what must I do about it?". I do understand that no one there actually cares about the customers as living human beings, but even from a customer service perspective, her attitude was awful. She should have IMMEDIATELY offered physical assistance, at the absolute very least. But she clearly didn't feel like doing her job and wanted to get back to the chat she'd been having when I got there. She didn't offer any help, or make note of the incident, or provide any support, or even take the matter seriously. Every single thing she said was aimed at getting rid of me as quickly as possible. I've never had an airline make me feel so worthless and meaningless as FlySafair made me feel when trying to get help for the mess IT made!!!

After I'd asked three times, she finally called over a young man to assist me in getting my broken luggage to my Uber - I literally had to say "Please could you at least just help me get my luggage to my Uber?" THREE TIMES before that was even done. The very first thing that should've been done was an offer to physically assist me but even that is too much for FlySafair. Do you even train your staff at all?! How could physical assistance not be immediately offered to a customer with a medical issue that was being triggered due ENTIRELY to your mistreatment of their luggage?! Do you want a lawsuit landing on your desk that will have you paying out for 30+ years of loss of income as well as damages for negligence leading to physical injury?

I also insisted that Nadira write a note and sign it, to be able to prove that I tried to report it at the airport. After multiple requests and stating that I wouldn't leave until I had this proof, she finally scribbled a passive-aggressive note on a s**** of paper and tossed it across the counter at me. When reading it, I saw that she'd also added information that had never been communicated to me verbally. Suddenly, she was claiming that wheels and handles aren't covered by the airline. I asked her to please show me where it states this in the booking information as I'd read it all and nothing like this is mentioned at the time of booking, or after booking, and one cannot simply add clauses after an incident has already occurred. She ignored me. I asked again and she still ignored me. I'm still waiting for her to answer me.

The young man who assisted me was very kind and very helpful - but I believe he works for the airport and not FlySafair, which makes sense as that aligns with the rest of my experience that night. The airport staff was wonderful and the FlySafair staff were the rudest and most unhelpful people I encountered throughout my entire journey through three countries! It made me feel ashamed to have been your customer.

During the Uber trip to my hotel, I sent a report about all of this to FlySafair via the web form on the website, detailing what had happened and that I'd tried desperately to report it before leaving the airport. 5 days later and I've still not even received an email to confirm that my report was received. It appears that ignoring customers completely once you have their money is the code of conduct adopted by everyone at FlySafair and it is disgusting!

Please be aware that I'm not going to disappear just because you ignore me. From the absolute flood of complaints here (and elsewhere), it is clear that this company has no pride in its service and that something needs to be done to stop this company from making us all ashamed to be South African.