Our first trip to SA - not off to a great start

Item: Kulula.com
Rating: 2
Author: Luke R

Planning a holiay to a new country is very exciting and time consuming, especially when theres a wedding involed too. You have lots of things to think about, hotels, outfits, things to do, flights, safaris, obviously money, and more. Both my partner and I have travelled to quite a lot of countries but neither of us have been to South Africa. So we're very much looking forward to going, we're flying from Sydney to Johannesburg (with Qantas) and then from Johannesburg to Cape Town (the wedding is here) before returning back up to Johannesburg to do a Safari for 4 days. On top of everything we have to think about booking the internal flights can be stressful, even more so when you've never heard of the airlines and if they are decent or not. After hours of searching on SkyScanner and the various other websites of which to book flights I ended up on Kulula.com to book my first internal flight from Johannesburg to Cape Town. Nice, easy process and saw they partenered with British Airways so I had some trust with the airline now. One down and another internal flight to go. I noticed the ones back to johannesburg were much more expensive so I started looking at other airlines and working out the extra baggage allowance, tax, fares and all the other s**t that comes with booking flights. Spending another 2-3 hours working all this out I went back to Kulula.com as I booked the first flight so bit the bullet on the extra money it'd cost me. Once I paid I instantly noticed I hadn't switched the destination airport around! :( I now had 2 flights, on seperate dates going FROM Johannesburg to Cape Town. In a panic I called kulula.com (which would now cost me quite a lor for an overseas call from Australia) and apologised for the easy mistake. "No problem Sir, we can switch this around for you." Oh, that was music to my ears! "That'll be R2343.44, but ill waiver the admin fee for you" That part wasn't music to my ears. Kulula.com had no sympathy what so ever about my situation. The staff were rude (as if I was doing something to offend them) and explained it was in their Terms and Conditions that there are no refunds or exchanges. I even explained I booked it around 5 mins prior to calling and it was just a mistake - we are human, and mistakes happen right? Now, my flight was a British Airways flight (It had a BA flight number). Their policy states that you have 24 hours to cancel or change your flight and get a 100% refund. I called BA and they transferred me to Kulula (fair enough, I booked with Kulula). I checked Kulula's terms on the confirmation email I recieved which states the following: "Each flight booked through kulula.com's website with a different airline has specific rules and regulations relating to different aspects of your journey (especially check-in, baggage and refund procedures). " To me that means 'if I book a British Airways flight through kulula.com then I'm bound to British Airways rules and regulations' meaning that I should have been entitled to a full refund. I ended up booked a third - now correct - flight with Kulula.com, bringing my total cost of flights booked with the company to around R6113.33. I only needed 2 flights to Cape Town and back! :( Kulula.com, you really haven't set a good standard. You've made me think South Africa will be a bad place to visit, I'm around R2300 worse off now. Is this what I should expect from South Africa? A nation of people with no sympathy for people visiting their country first time? I really do believe that I should be entitled to a refund, even a form of good will? I still chose to book that extra flight I needed with you - I could have easily gone with someone else after the horredous and expensive phone calls I had with you. If any South African residents are reading this, can you advise me on if 'good will' gestures exist there and what your experience is like with kulula.com - am I right here? Thanks for reading, Luke

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