Seats re-sold by Mango and damaged Suitcase

I am writing this review due to the appalling, frustrating and dire service levels that was received from Mango airlines on Friday, 16 August 2019. Our company flies with Mango on an average of around eight times per month. Due to the lack of service and care shown to us by Mango staff, I don’t expect to receive any recompense from Mango airlines, however, I hope that Mango will change any preconceptions that I have of them on the way that they handle this review.

A colleague and I were scheduled to depart on Friday, 16 August at 12:10pm on flight Mango JE 262, from King Shaka International airport (Durban) travelling to OR Thambo International airport (Johannesburg). We arrived at the check in counter at 11:20am (50 mins before the scheduled departure time) and were only attended to at 11:25am. The assistant at the counter was unbelievably unhelpful and rude stating that we were late and the flight was closed so we have lost out. To which point I advised her that check-in closes 40min prior to departure, although we were understandably a little late, we were within the permitted time lines as per Mango’s policy.

Now I had pre-booked accommodation and a weekend away for my family, which I would not be able to use, or at least sacrifice the evening stay, due to Mango selling our tickets and closing the airline check-in early. The attendant had absolutely no remorse what so ever and said that the flight was full and that there was nothing that she could do. I find this very difficult to believe considering our tickets were bought and paid for!

Eventually a Mango team leader was called and it was evident that Mango was at complete fault for this incompetence and hugely inconvenient impasse. The team leader was trying to see when the next available flight was to Johannesburg on any airline, but according to her, this was only after 16h00, again I found this very hard to believe for a Friday! Eventually we managed to find an earlier flight to Lanseria, JE 632, which departed Durban at 14:05 and managed to arrange a shuttle from Lanseria to OR Thambo through Mango. The vehicle that we were put into had over 350 000km on the clock and kept cutting out along the way. We did not think that we would ever get to OR Thambo. This does not even take into the consideration of the ********** traffic on Friday, which is of no fault of Mango, but could have been avoided had Mango not resold our seats!

Obviously, the need for me to be at OR Thambo was to collect my vehicle from there as I had departed from OR Thambo on the 1st leg of my flight to Durban, which was on Wednesday, 14 August at 17:30 on flight JE 259.

To add petrol to the fire, when I eventually got home, (more than 6 hours after I was scheduled to), I realised that the zip of my bag had been cut and my belongings had been ruffled through. I did not notice this upon receiving my bag as my lock was not cut. My bag has now been damaged extensively as I can no longer lock it and the expense to repair it will be at my cost because I can almost predict that Mango will wash their hands off the matter as they usually do.

The experience and way that this whole fiasco was dealt with by Mango has left an exceptionally bitter taste in my mouth, however, I assume that our business contribution to Mango airlines is like a drop in the ocean and that this inconvenience to Mango is like water off a ducks back. I hope Mango can prove me wrong and offer some recompense for the repairs to my suitcase and massive inconvenience caused by their incompetence.