SAA Voyager Card and Benefits a Rip-Off

The benefits on the Nedbank SAA Voyager card is probably the most oversold, yet most disappointing and undelivering card in the market, especially considering one pays over R2000 per annum just to get “access” to these “benefits”.

They lead you in with “perks” of a companion ticket and accumulation of Voyager miles. Let me tell you - The companion ticket and Voyager miles virtually have no value for you. In the end, you’ll probably pay in more than you would have when just using a credit card with a basic monthly fee of +-R100.

I qualified for the continental companion ticket after spending more than 100k during the year, and thought that I’d use the companion ticket for a wedding that we had in JHB (From CPT). Naturally, you have to book through reservations over the phone in order to be able to activate the companion ticket. What you must know: 1. You cannot book any codeshare SAA flights in order to qualify for the companion ticket (Mango domestic) 2. When I booked my ticket, the total cost for my return ticket was R3500, with the taxes at +-R450. They will then tell you that you must pay for the companion ticket after you have paid CASH for yours. Yes, you cannot book your ticket with your Voyager Miles - full price in cash. 3. When you then call Voyager reservations to pay for the taxes of your companion ticket, you expect to pay R450 for the taxes right? Wrong. You will pay a “surcharge” of R1700 on top of that and they’ll tell you that it’s included in the whole tax amount. When I questioned this, the response was: “Sorry sir, that’s what the system shows me”.

In the end, the cost for our return tickets (booked 6 weeks in advance by the way) ended up being R6600. Add the R2000 for the Voyager Credit card you paid to get “access to these benefits”, you’ve just paid R8600 for your domestic return flights through this “wonderful offering”. People might say you get lounge benefits etc., once again, not if it’s a Mango flight that you haven’t booked through SAA’s website which is marked up higher than the same flight on Mango. Looking at what one could’ve booked on other airlines, Kulula would’ve been R5000 for both of us return.

To conclude, it’s a rip-off of a program that has virtually no benefit for the consumer, all the benefit for SAA and Nedbank. So just be cautious when taking out such a credit card if you’re mainly concerned about the “benefits”.