Kulula's bad service (Kululaat)

This post is in reference to my social media post with regard to the pathetic service we as customers received on that day.

Your social media team rep**** to my tweet asking me to mail to this address and that you would like to, and I quote "we would like to fix this." I also know this is a tactic to get bad publicity offline. If you plan on following this tactic, I highly suggest you fix it as you set out to do in your tweet or don't tweet it.

My first question to you is: What do you see as 'fix' this?

I booked a seat on the 6:30 flight from OR Tambo to Durban for a business trip. My expectation from Kulula was exactly that, to provide me a seat on a 6:30 flight. Now life does happen, and a reasonable circumstance would most certainly be acceptable. But here is how the day transpired.

Also just want to mention, the reason I book the early flight is because I travel to Durban for business and I have a full day of meetings to attend. I don't get up at 3:00 in the morning to be on time for a flight that is delayed for the reason we experienced on the 22nd.

Arrived at the airport, dropped my bag and proceeded through security. At the gate we waited for boarding to start.

Not a single person in the Q Jump line (I have a video to back this up, from all my flights on this trip) which actually delays boarding. South Africans have not caught onto the priority boarding thing. I lived in the US for 8+ years, it is massively successful there, here not so much. People won't pay more. I really don't thing it will take off here either.

Once we were scanned we proceeded down the walkway, where we were stuck for approximately 15-20 minutes without a single person informing us what is going on and why we were not stranded on the walkway. Without proper ventilation I might add. Only after a lady behind me asked what the delay was, were we directed to board the aircraft.

Here we sat for another 15-20 minutes, only being told that we are waiting on a crew member. This particular flight was operated by Global Airways. Let me tell you, nothing about them was Global, they are as unprofessional as the smallest regional airline I have ever seen. At approximately 6:55 I approached the main hostess to ask how long they plan on waiting for the crew member and that most people on this flight is traveling for business and that we have meetings booked that will need to be moved so if she could tell me I can call my clients in Durban. She just told me that it would be between 5-10 minutes.

She then announced over the p.a system that the crew member fell ill. Now, not that I am a complete monster or anything, but are you seriously expecting me to believe that, should a crew member fall ill, 200+ people are delayed because there is no backup? I absolutely 100% refuse to believe that there's no backup in such an instance. I feel sorry for the lady but I have an expectation as a paying client and more importantly I have a day full of business meetings to attend to.

The crew member in question, strolled onto the aircraft at approximately 7:05. So not only was she delaying the flight by a minimum of 35 minutes, she was probably (my guess) over an hour late for work and now inconveniencing 200+ people and most importantly causing damage to Kulula. I am very sorry, but if I, who pay for the flight showed up 35 minutes late to the aircraft, you would have left me in Johannesburg, or am I incorrect in saying this? A passenger being 5 minutes late to the gate with the aircraft still in the bay will also not be allowed to board.

It was another 10-15 minutes before we actually departed OR Tambo. This to me is 100% unacceptable, our flight was delayed by 45 minutes due to a (in my eyes non-essential) crew member. This in turn caused my entire day of business meetings to be behind schedule. So thank you to Kulula for bring my reputation into question as well. It is most certainly NOT appreciated.

Just to add fuel to the fire, the main hostess approached me during the flight and shook her head while patting me on the shoulder. This in my eyes is extremely unprofessional. She is not there to utter her opinion on whether or not I have a right to be upset for being delayed 45 minutes due to incompetence of a airline/crew member and turning my day of business meetings upside down. She is there to provide a service and that is what she is paid for.

So please now, tell me how you plan on 'fixing' this?

Today, 7 Feb, I received a mail with about a page of blabber, talking about the aircraft itself, which there was nothing wrong with. There was no safety issue, your response seems like it is from a manual. But your manual doesn't allow for a response if staff shows up more than an hour late and delays a flight and how to handle it.

In your tweet you claim you want to fix it. Blabber does not fix anything. Do you plan on fixing this or do you plan on giving more blabber?