Kulula.com - POOR SERVICE due to flight delay!

My granddaughter and her 3 year old child had to suffer a Kulula.com airline delay in George, W. Cape, which resulted in her missing her connecting flight to KMIA, Nelspruit by 2 and a quarter hours. Kulula are totally not flexible when it comes to their airline being the cause of delay, particularly where connecting flights are involved. They simply won't compensate! Only if she missed the Kulula flight totally (knowing that there weren't any other flights going to Nelspruit that she could book with on time, as their baggage was already booked on the 10:15am flight to leave at 1:00pm, arrival at OR Tambo around 3pm - so NO WAY, could she get a re-imbur*****t for that flight and go onto another airline scheduled to depart at 3:15pm... So I suggest - if you want to fly cheap by booking online, be prepared to suffer the consequences! The amount of stress involved to try to get them transferred to a later flight was terrifying. Then the connecting SA Airlink flight that was booked to KMIA Nelspruit, also being an online booking via TRIPSTA, also could not be reached, due to them cancelling a call if you didn't type in the "Pound" symbol AFTER entering the flight booking reference! (Recorded message as usual!) So I sent an urgent online e-mail to TRIPSTA requesting that her booking be transferred to a later flight with SA Airlink via the email request. It must have been the providence of the Lord, that when I called the local SA Airlink offices, did they confirm that her flight details were changed for the later 5:15 flight, but by the time she left George, with Kulula.com, her SA Airlink ticket still had not been issued! I'm sure that it will be issued, but will take time - reason, they take 24 hours to process any alterations requested! I am sure that her ticket will possible be issued prior to flight departure, but all the unnecessary stress involved is too difficult for a grandmother to bear! Thank you Kulula for not flying on your scheduled times!!!!!!! Very inconsiderate, I might add - and I assure you, you have permanently lost a customer... Also - TRIPSTA an online agency is totally uncontactable via telephone if you don't have a "Pound" symbol on your telephone keypad to provide them with your particulars in an emergency such as the one we have just experienced...

So my advice to all reading this complaint is that it would be better to book connecting flights with the same airline, and not through some online agency advertising "cheap' flights" - Had we booked directly with SA Airlink / Safair - they would have accommodated us one-on-one per telephone and and compensated us for any delays. Yes, first time in my life that I've done an online booking and I've learned the hard way.