First Family Holiday Ruined By SAA
I have already gone onto social media. We arrived at OR Tambo on Monday 18th December at around 7.30am to check into our flight (no TM8142) to fly to Maputo then to Inhambane. Only to get through passport control get to gate A4 as our ticket showed to find out that the gate had changed without us being informed. So my wife and I run to A3 with our 2 year old Twins in our arms only to find the gate is closed and we missed our flight!
So following procedure we went to the transit desk. There they made us wait with our twins. After a few hours the person assisting us, Lebo had said he will put us in a hotel the Peermont for the night and took my cell number as we have kids and it will take a while to get our tickets for Tuesday the 19th. We were told our flight will go off via SA airlink at 10:30 so he will WhatsApp me our ticket details and we must go to boarding gate B92.
We booked into the Peermont and shortly after settling the kids, we get an Evacuation warning over the hotel. Scared of what might be happening we grab the kids and head straight out the hotel to the assembly point. As this is out in the middle of the parking lot we moved to the side into some shade for the kids. After 20 minutes the hotel manager said that the warning was meant to be a practice drill for staff and the incorrect message was played over the intercom. This just added to the children’s and our agitation
After not hearing from Lebo after we booked in at the hotel, which had only one bed that we had to share with our twins. Without our luggage, this meant no change of clothes or anything for the kids! I started to grow concerned and messaged Lebo to no answer.
So we skipped breakfast the next morning to ensure we were at the airport at 6.30am to find out what’s happening. We went to B92 and spoke with Nikita (she remembered us from the previous day) to our surprise things has changed and she said we must to go terminal A65 to LAM airlines as our tickets and flights are with them. Once we went there we were even more disappointed to find that they knew nothing of us and that there are no tickets there! So we walked all the way back with the kids to SAA ticket sales to find out, what now! After staying there for over an hour and trying to phone Lebo for the hundredth time, the lady gave us a breakfast voucher and said she will have an answer for us at 10am.
We had breakfast and went back to find they don’t have answers for us at all! And they had asked us to come back in 30 minutes.
We then walked around a bit, passing time. When we got back they had they had the audacity to suggest that we fly to Maputo and in our own capacity, rent a car and drive 6.5 hours to our destination! After refusing as we chose to fly because it is safer for our kids! They stated that they can’t assist us and that they will finally get Lebo to see us. After waiting even longer, Lebo finally came and said that they cannot assist us today like he promised us the day before!
Then proceeded to tell us, he can help us on Wednesday the 20th. Now my trust is already lost as he had said this the day before. After waiting even longer on your customer care line (which is just as pathetic as your services) because we wanted to cancel our holiday and get a refund, my wife convinced me to just go as we promised our kids this holiday and that they will fly on a "BIG PLANE" for over a month already. So we stated we will go through with this new plan.
We caught a shuttle after collecting our bags, so that we could change and collected the new flight tickets. We checked into the Southern Sun Hotel to be told that they don't have rooms prepared for us at 13.00 and we must wait. After 40 minutes I went to reception as my kids are crying and in a state and I'm told no one can help me and I must wait for the guy "Jan" who assisted me in the beginning! Eventually we got a room and had only 15min to get lunch!
We were meant to fly a connected flight from Jhb to Nelspruit, then to Vilanculos and finally to Inhambane (3 flights with twins) when it was meant to only be 2 flights and 2 days earlier! So again we woke up early to ensure everything would run smooth. We even tried to get our boarding passes from LAM as our final flight was with them, unfortunately they couldn’t assist us as they can only do so 3 hours before our flight. After going through passport control again we sat at Wimpy had Breakfast. Watching the kids get all excited at the planes. We moved down to boarding Gate E3 as our flight was due at 10.00am. Kids fell asleep on the chairs as we watched the time get closer to boarding. Eventually we noticed that the flight before was delayed and the next flight was Delayed indefinitely. Panicking that we wouldn’t be getting to our destination again, My Wife went to ask questions, I in the meantime tried to get hold of SAA customer Care services while watching over the kids. After 20 minutes listening to the automated response I hang up. The flights are being delayed due to Fog we are told. At 11.45am full well knowing that our final flight is at 14h15 I asked if that flight from LAM will be delayed as well? I was told that at this point they don’t even know if the flight will go forward or at what time! Then I’m told don’t worry we will put you in a Hotel at Vilanculos. At this point I am at a loss for words.
Our first family holiday has been ruined as our return flight was meant to be the 24th December so our kids could spend Christmas with their Grandparents, we would only arrive our destination on the 21st in the late afternoon! We then arranged to get our bags and take the Gautrain back home! On our way we stopped at SAA ticket desk and got handed a piece of paper with the customer care line on and Email address as NO ONE ON SITE CAN HELP!
The money we have spent on our FIRST FAMILY HOLIDAY has been over R30 000.00 with accommodation, flights preparation and medication for this holiday. All wasted at the Airport because of SAA's incompetence and the accommodation that we cannot get back as the venue we at is fully booked. The disappointment we experienced on our children’s faces when we told them in the car ride home that we are not going on a "Big Airplane" and not going to Mozambique was heartbreaking!
We have been so disappointed with SAA and been mistreated to the point where our kids were sleeping on the counters and floors at the airport! We have been pushed around like cattle, thrown aside to other airlines and quite frankly been treated like ****. Our faith in the airline and what it stands for is long gone. This is unacceptable and we would like feedback on how we would be compensated on this traumatic experience and how our trust and our kids trust in us will be rectified. As well as a complete refund of our money spent on this entire holiday.