Bad luck and then there is my luck

<p>To travel is to live, right? The days leading up to the big Mexican holiday includes saving; planning; saving and some more planning. And then the day arrives....</p> <p> </p> <p>You arrive at the airport, check in, everything is going swimmingly and then your boarding pass is printed, told your flight is boarding at 20h30. I look at my watch, it says 09h00. That is AM not PM. The friendly lady looks just as confused/ shocked/ disappointed as I am and reverts me to the SAA customer counter. They tell me that my intended flight has in fact been cancelled due to technical errors and that my new flight is that evening. I am still getting used to this new flight time idea and then realise if my flight has been cancelled, my connection is also cancelled to Mexico City. I am told I have been put onto a new flight from Sao Paulo to Mexico City, only that I have a 20 hour layover in Sao Paulo. This means I will only be landing in Mexico City the following day, meaning I miss a day of holiday. A holiday I have so been looking forward to for months. I decide that this is not my fault that the flight has been cancelled, therefore why should I lose a day or two of my (only) 10 day holiday. I ask them whether they can move my flight by two days, since I am losing two days. This is not a problem excpet with the lady that is helping me at the counter. She is rude, disinterested and too lazy to look for alternative return flights, suggesting only routes that I cannot fly due to visa restrictions. She ends up looking at me and asking 'What do you want me to do?'. I am at this point beyond furious and frustrated with the lack of customer service. When she sees I am not about to give up and walk away, she quickly finds the right return flight, huffing an puffing as she does. </p> <p>I am first told that I should sit in the airport in Sao Paulo for my layover and only when I question whether I can go out, am I told I can leave the airport. I ask the lady to book me into a hotel and she tells me that I am able to sort this out Sao Paulo side, not South African side. After coming back to the airport a second time that day, my bags are checked in, I am boarding and I am on my way. Excitement fills me, finally. </p> <p>I arrive in Sao Paulo that next morning at 03h30. I go to fetch my bags and am told my bag has gone straight to Mexico City. OKay, fine, what is a few more hours in the same clothes. Now for the hotel/ sleep time. There is no South african counter, there is no information kiosk open and once again, I am stuck. I make a plan and ask for help and I am directed to a SAA counter (that would have not been found if it was not for the help of the random half speaking English person) that helps me locate a hotel and books me in. Now Sao Paulo and I can become aquainted. </p> <p>I arrive back at the airport, ready for my flight. We arrive in Mexico City the next morning. I wait patiently at the bag carousel, excited for a shower and a change of fresh clothes. No bag. WHAT. Yes, no bag arrives. There seems to have been a confusion of when I checked in SA side, my bag was checked into the original flight plan and not updated to the new flight plan including the new airline I flew. I was supposed to connect on Aeromexico, but from the flight cancellation, I flew Latam to Mexico City. The bag tag, did not have the updated Latam connection on it. So, somehow everything got confused and my bag got lost. </p> <p>I did email all the customer lines I found on the airlines website and still no response, to this day, a week after my arrival in SA. </p> <p>My bag did arrive in due time, if due time is five days later. No compensation, no apologies, no nothing. </p> <p> </p> <p>This was my going on holiday luck. Surely, nothing can go wrong coming home right? </p> <p>Joke on me. Bag lost again coming home, for three days. </p> <p> </p> <p>Now that I have gathered my thoughts, frustrations and words, I write this letter in order to put out there the lack of interest, poor communication s****s and poor customer service received throughout this trip with SAA. I am beyond good words for this reputable company and in future, I will make very sure they are nowhere on my itineary list. For a company I was once hopfeul for, I have lost all hope. </p> <p> </p> <p>Sincerely, </p> <p>Ciska </p>