Delayed flight and lost luggage!!! Worst customer service ever.

On 16 March 2018 I was scheduled to be on flight JE408 from Cape Town to Bloemfontein, departing at 11:45, and with time of arrival scheduled for 13:15.

However, once in the que to board the aircraft at Gate 12 on Cape Town International Airport, we were informed that the aircraft had some technical difficulty and that we should head to Gate 9 to board a different aircraft. The new estimated time of departure was 12:25. After a long wait in que at Gate 9, we were finally allowed to board the aircraft. However, once on the aircraft, we sat waiting with no explanation as to why the aircraft is not moving. Eventually at about 12:45, the captain informed us that there were a luggage issue and that they were busy sorting it out. We sat in the stuffy aircraft for another half-hour before we eventually took off at 13:15 (the original time of arrival). We were ensured that the luggage issue has been sorted and that we are now finally on our way to Bloemfontein. We eventually arrived at Bloemfontein Airport at 14:35, and thus endure an hour and a half delay. However, once we arrived in Bloemfontein, we were informed that our bags were routed to Durban instead of Bloemfontein. We spend another half an hour at the airport filling out forms and trying to get some information as to what transpired for my bags to end up in the wrong city. The mango staff told us that we can only collect our bags at 17:30. However, when we arrived at the airport at 17:30, we were informed that the aircraft bringing the lost luggage from Durban will only arrive in 10 minutes. Again, we had no option to wait. Eventually, after an hour of waiting, I was able to obtain my bag.

I had meetings scheduled for the afternoon, which I had to cancelled as it did not have any of my material with me (as this was in my bag). Furthermore, during the entire experience, the Mango staff at both Cape Town Airport and especially at Bloemfontein Airport, was extremely unfriendly, unprofessional and offer no help for such a traumatic experience. At no stage did they apologise for the inconvenience or did they try and resolve the situation. When leaving the airport on arrival, I provided them with my cell number and they made no attempt to contact me during the afternoon to inform me that the plane which is bringing the luggage will be late as well. I got the impression that they had no training as to handle such a situation. It is in any event scandalous on the part of Mango to have 53 clients’ bags misrouted. In the afternoon, we paid R36 for parking for an unnecessary delay and when we finally collected the bags, we had to pay a further R62 for parking. Mango refused to assist us with paying for these parking tickets, even thought the delay was due to their incompetence. The entire day was wasted time on the airport, wasteful petrol expenditure and wasteful money spend on parking.