Still no response to : Case Number: ***9 from 27 December 2017

Thank you for contacting SAA Customer Support. Your inquiry has now been assigned to Vaneshree Naidoo. Case Number: ********** 9 Subject: Disappointing first time experience with your airlines Description: Good day,

I would like to take this opportunity to inform both Lufthansa and SAA about the really bad experience we had in attempting to board our first flight with your airlines.

I booked my original ticket to Toronto Canada on 19 April 2017. The flight was JHB to MUC and then MUC to YYZ, on 25 Dec 2017 and 26 Dec 2017 respectively. I checked with the embassy that I didn’t need a visa and so did not make any plans to get a shengen visa as it was not my intention to visit Germany.

I arrived at the airport on 25 Dec 2017 at 15:30, and proceeded to checkin at around 16:00. The Lufthasa staff informed me that the flight was actually with SAA and not with Lufthansa. I went to the check-in counter at SAA and a lady by the name of Kagiso (Madi…I cannot remember the rest of her last name) assisted us. I had informed her that I had tried to check-in online from the morning but was unable to and when I called the service number, there was no answer. She did not respond to that, then later said it may be because it is an SAA flight. About 15 mins later we still had not been checked in and it seemed as though she was having some trouble with our checkin procedures. She had asked for assistance from all of her colleagues, when one of her colleagues said there may be a lag in the system. There was no communication to us about what the problem may have been or what was happening. We knew she had a problem when told us that she was not able to print out second flight boarding pass. She then told us to try and check in online later on the lufthansa site. We received our first boarding pass and was checked in for the flight at 21:15 to Munich.

At 18:47 the checkpoint people want to check our passports and boarding passes. The man then says we cannot board the flight because do not have a Visa for Germany and we will be band from entering Europe for 10 years. I asked why and he said because our flight goes from SA to MUC then from MUC to FRA and then from FRA to YYZ and we do not have the appropriate paperwork to take the connecting flight in Germany. I said to him but I didn’t book that, he told me thats my flight itinerary but perhaps SAA could assist with the problem and re-route through MUC instead of us having to fly to FRA. He tried to contact transit - no help was received because no-one could be contacted at 19:20. He then called his supervisor, who arrived at 19:30, chewing her gum so loudly and with an open mouth, reminding me of a *** grazing in the field, who approached us and said you can’t fly out tonight - you need to cancel the FRA flight and fly out through MUC. I said to her, how do I do this. She looked at me blankly and told me to wait… 20 mins later she returns and tells me to wait for the SAA people to arrive and speak to them.

At this point, I am frantic because I’ve paid money for this and this trip was booked in April and I did not need a visa then. I call the Lufthansa helpline - SA is closed and the online tech lady at the call centre gave me the contact number for Germany. I start calling Lufthansa in Germany to see if they can assist in changing the connecting flights. The lady is most helpful and was on the phone with me for about 20-30 mins trying to change the flights. I was already checked in, so she could not check me out on her side so that she could rebook the ticket. I tell the checkpoint supervisor this, she tells me that Germany has to do it because they can’t. Lufthansa tries again to check me out but cannot do it on the system. My mother is also on the phone to lufthansa in germany trying to change the flight details and get us on a different flight. Lufthansa are doing their very best to keep us on the flight to MUC but the ground staff at SAA were ***********, uncommunicative and refused to speak to us directly - only communicating through the checkpoint people in Zulu, which I understand but they did not know this. They were saying how annoying we are for making their shift so difficult, how stupid we are for not knowing what paperwork we need and now we’re making their lives difficult with this nonsense (I’m paraphrasing here). Eventually at 20:20 the SAA people will speak to us, and I asked her if I could get my luggage so that Lufthansa can confirm I have my luggage and I’ve been checked out - she says to me "use the correct terminology, it’s offload you and yes I can do that but your luggage was offloaded 20mins ago and you’re not on this flight”. The Lufthansa lady heard the conversation and told me to call back once I have my luggage to rebook the flight because the call is expensive from SA to Germany on a cellphone.

I turned to the checkpoint lady and I asked her why she told me that Germany had to do it when the SAA people told me they could do it. She starred at me blankly, while still chewing her gum in the most uncouth way imaginable and said "KLM has a flight to MUC via Amsterdam, you can pay for that one". At this point, Lufthansa are still trying to keep me on the flight and the ground staff controller comes up and tells me I’ve got 7mins to get on the plane with a different ticket and the system is slow in Germany, the 2nd lady I called was very helpful and tried her level best to book the ticket in time. The door closes and I look up and I don’t see the ground controller anymore… I ask the lady what’s going on she says, "you’re off the flight”. I ask them what now? My fiancé is angry at this point because of the lack of communication, the lack of urgency, the lack of initiative and the lack of curtesy. The SAA people walk off, they don’t give us information on how to get our luggage back or where to go. We ask for their names so that we can report the incident. The lady with the really badly outgrown weave says, "we not telling you anything, its not our fault, its Kagiso’s, she should have told you when you checked-in.

I’m still on the phone with the 2nd lady at Lufthansa in Germany and ask her to please book another flight, the only other flight to Toronto through MUC was on the 27th. We already have accommodation booked in toronto from the 26th and we leave for Montreal on the 3rd. So losing 3 days is not ideal. The next best thing is to fly out of FRA on the 26th. I then had to pay a rebooking fee of close to R19000 for our new flights, after already paying R25000 in April for the flights. So the flights now have a total cost of R44000 - why am I being penalised for the staff’s incompetence and lack of communication or urgency in the situation? I arrived at 16:30 for check-in, why did no-one tell me then there was a problem? Things would have been sorted because there was a flight out to Canada from MUC on the 26th, so I could have been on that flight and not incurred the enormous bill that I now have to pay.

On 26 December at 8:02 I call Lufthansa SA and speak to Zarelle, who was very nice and checked my flights and could not understand why I was not allowed to board or why my original flight was changed because the system reflected that I was flying to MUC from JHB and then to YYZ from MUC. I told her I do not know, because I did not request the change, and its never happened to me that the airline changes my flight itinerary. What’s even more interesting is that leading up to the original flight, on the 25th, I received no information via email on the flight but from the 26th of December, I’ve been receiving emails and updates about my flight, boarding gates etc. Why was this not the case for with the original flight that I had booked. Zarelle was not able to answer that but she did confirm with me, that I would be boarding the new flight and that I will not be told at the boarding gate I cannot go. I called again just to confirm with her 12:08, she confirmed to me that I will be able to board.

This ordeal has caused so much anxiety and loss of faith in people especially in South Africa. I have never been so ill treated and spoken about in front of me when people think I don’t understand. It is no wonder that SAA is in shambles and in constant need to bailing out but for your staff to turn around to me and tell me to go pay for a flight with KLM is disgusting and inappropriate. Instead of trying their utmost to assist me in sorting out the problem, which I was trying to do, they were obstinate, rude, non-communicative and cost me a lot of money. Money that could have been saved had they done their jobs the way the man at the checkpoint services had when picked up the problem at 18:50. I want some form of compensation for this ordeal as it could have been prevented and I’ve spent way to much money unnecessarily because of this.

Lufthansa Germany were really great and the ladies did such a good job of trying to assist me and not wanting me to incur more costs but I would like to know why my original booking was changed and why there was no communication leading up to my original departure flight on 25 Dec to MUC at 21:15.

Best,