**************** –Rude Service- ******ionate Money From Passengers-Mango SA

I have chosen to speak out and share my experience of how customers like myself are being ****** by Mango SA. Perhaps if more people like me speak out someone will address the situation.

I frequently travel to Johannesburg and my most recent booking was flight JE156 from Cape Town to Johannesburg scheduled for travel on Saturday, 05 September 2019. As an organised traveller I did my online check-in the night before on Friday, 04 September 2019 at 20h37. Upon arrival at the airport on Saturday, 05th I processed to the collect my boarding pass using my electronic boarding pass which went smoothly. After going through the security gates I briskly approached the boarding gate and I was informed I had been offloaded from the flight because I was “late”. I first thought it was a joke. It wasn’t. I was shocked and amazed. I made no stops I walked directly to the gate and on top of it all the flight was still there.

As a frequent traveller I know that gates close 20 minutes prior to departure and I arrived at the gate 30-40 minutes prior to the flight takeoff. The most interesting thing about this whole incident is I was not alone and I hope the other passengers will also share their experiences to collaborate what I am saying. I was advised by a rude and callous Mango staff member to proceed to the ticket sale office were other passengers in a similar predicament where.

What I thought was an isolated incident of arrogance, from the aforementioned customer service agent is probably an organizational culture as yet another Female customer's service consultant was not only arrogant but very rude and extremely condescending. This particular customer service agent was insulting one of the passengers who was asserting his rights as a customer who was denied a service even though like all of us was on time. I stood there, in total disbelief when we were informed that the tickets that we had purchased were no longer valid. We were asked to purchase new tickets which were coasting R 2 400.00 and on top of that there wasn’t any guarantee that there were still seats available on the next flight. This did not sit well with me, and I when started asking tough questions, the customers’ services consultant could not give me a valid answer. The only thing I was told was that I had to purchase another ticket or try other airlines. I will never ever use Mango again. It is sickening to note that Mango appears to be in the practice of overbooking their flights and then hope that passengers don’t appear. I am failing to understand why Mango which I believed to be a “reputable” airline could take advantage of people in this manner. Why does the Mango airline have to profit from the passengers who were offloaded and those on board as they clearly don’t have the capacity for the seats they sale.

Why do I need to be the one to bear the costs for the incompetence and shrewd business practices of the airline? Is this the business model that you have to lure customers who believe in deals and cost savings and then conveniently manipulate the situation to maximize profits and offer seats which are more expensive than the original price? Why is it okay for passengers to pay a total fee +- R 3 500.00 for a flight which was initially priced at about R 1 100.00? I wish I had flown FlySafair, BA or SAA and going forward I will

To add insult to injury since I had refused to back down and to be punished for the airlines own incompetence I was informed that they had credited me the initial amount paid which was a lie and a statement made to just pacify me. What a joke!! To my disbelief, these statements were spoken in a sarcastic manner by Mango SA customer service consultant at the airport. Within a few seconds, she then sighed dismissed me and called the customer who was behind me. This practice is a clear ****************; something needs to be changed. Passengers are been taking advantage of. How is it right for a passenger to be charged more than twice the original price of a flight whilst Mango SA reaps the profits from two passengers?

SA consumers, avoid this airline. It will be better to walk to your destination than to deal with unprofessionalism in this organisation. Additionally when you try and call their customer care centre you will only be answered, if you are lucky, after 20 to 30 minutes, you still have to deal with rude and unprofessional customer care consultants, who will push you from pillar to poll explaining one thing to different individuals.