SA Airlink incompetence

I was booked on SA Airlink Flight SA8758 on the 16 December 2018 to depart at 13H35, due to the road construction in part of Mthatha I arrived at the airport at 13H10 while other passengers were still boarding. To my surprise the was no one at the check in counter, we asked to security to call them and they refused and with tempers rising I insisted and a lady who promised to assist came and promised to call someone and she never did. To my surprise it was the same lady who was to re-book our later flight. What annoys me is the following: 1. As a business owner myself, my help desk or reception is neve left unattended 2. A flight is deemed to have left you if the door was closed before you arrived(15 minutes before departure) and you forfeit the ticket and in this instance we stood there until the door was closed as there was no one to re-book us at the helpdesk 3. Security personnel are there to search the passengers and maintain the safety of all including the aircraft and not to tell paying passengers the flight rules they have no clue about. 4.On the 27th October 2019, I was flying the same route and the flight was diverted to East London because of the wind and we had to wait for the wind to subside. From my mechanical engineering expertise I totally understood that as I studied aerodynamics. We were told the flight would land back in Mthatha at 17H00 and when it didn't land I asked the helpdesk what was the cause of the delay and when they called EL, they were told the passengers disembarked and they were still trying to find them. 5.Based on point 4, why were they allowed to disembark knowing exactly their destination was not EL. This tells me the level of the entire crew including airport staff is inconsistent, both these two experiences have cost me time and money. 6.Worst part is for me to argue with security personnel who have zero level of comprehension about the whole scenario whereas a helpdesk assistance who have handled the issue with a considerable approach as I believe they are trained in customer care and service. 7.These two incidents have proved to me that the personnel in Mthatha is *********** and unprofessional and can't comprehend that as business people we need that flight and their salaries like all our employees depend on us, I was in a similar situation with Blue Crane and I told the airport staff they will be crying about being jobless when that airline closes doors, which it did after a few of posted our reviews on this platform. 8.A fulltime helpdesk assistant is need there at all times to avoid these kinds of situations as we pay a lot of money for that flight simply because we wanna save time and utilise it efficiently and effectively. 9.One of the key reasons I wrote this review is to ask you why did I have to pay the whole amount to re-book a flight whose door closed long after I was at the airport.

Regards,

Mahlubonke Beezah Jordan Mech Eng, Marketing, MBA Chief Executive Officer Lisanathi Engineering Cell: *** Tell: *** Fax: *** E-mail: *** Web: www.lisanathieng.co.za

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