Minor Handling Policy

To Whom it may Concern,

Hope my email finds you well.

Please be advised I am writing as an upset, dissatisfied customer of the treatment rendered to children on a flight booked on your airline on the 15th of July 2023 from Johannesburg (ORT) to Cape Town. Your passengers were 5yr and 15yr old.

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Firstly, before even making the booking (reference number in subject line) one enquired regarding the minor regulations and was made to understand that we were in the right jurisdiction.

The children arrive to hand in their bags on the date of the said flight only to be told they are both minors and cannot travel unaccompanied. Nowhere does it mention this on your website (once again after scrutinizing and checking every wording). We spoke to a gentleman at the ticket sales counter called Maphoko who was adamant that this was the rule, we were not even allowed to speak to a manager on duty (sad to say). We enquired that they should indicate to us the written policy that stipulates that someone registered on their website as an adult is deemed a child in front of their eyes and therefore needs to be separated from their sibling. Worse, this frustration came with financial burdens on the mistake rendered on your behalf.

This conversation was held with the customer care division and spoke to Kayle who could not direct us to the spoken clause but saw the mistake miscommunicated by your website which was very misleading and a burden to us. This resulted in the passengers being separated and a disgruntled and scared 5yr old made to return to a place of safety for the next flight meaning a day of school lost, and an additional R1100 spent that was not budgeted for in this cost of living.

Please can you kindly indicate to me where it stipulates that a registered adult cannot travel with a minor as this is how it was recorded when I checked them in. I gave their ID numbers so this should have picked up minor's if this was your rule.

I expect the airline to compensate for the error made on their behalf for the financial burden incurred by the family and give better guidelines for future use of their airline.

I hope the above will be taken into serious consideration and actioned appropriately.

Looking forward to your speedy response.