Terrible experience: Flight 191 from MRU on Saturday 23rd September

This complaint is to outline the awful experience we had on an SAA flight on Saturday afternoon, 23rd September 2017. I was traveling with a gentleman who had sprained his knee while in Mauritius. His knee had not recovered and was still in a brace and we requested a seat that provided a bit more leg room at the check-in desk. Assumptions made and rude behaviour from the hostess: Once we got on the flight, the leg room proved to challenging for him and we approached the air hostess/ steward called Sharon and I explained the situation. She assumed I wanted an upgrade and interrupted me by confirming that she will not upgrade anyone. I firmly corrected her and told her that I did not ask for an upgrade. I wanted to find out if there was a row of empty seats that the gentleman could elevate his leg on to relieve the pain and generally have a pleasant flight. She was horribly rude and went to the man I was traveling with and instructed him, in a manner NOT appropriate or called for, " we have seats at the back so make up your mind now because we have to serve drinks". At this point, he declined the offer because, as a paying customer on this flight, she had no right to speak to him in a way that made it seem that she was doing him a favor. He required assistance that she, rightfully and graciously should be providing. There was no harm in politely saying that she has seats available and would he not mind perhaps waiting a bit, for the drinks to be served, before we move? either that or she had many other ways to use her training/ experience as a steward to provide some comforts to a passenger that assistance is being arranged. Lies, Laziness and inadequate service from other hostesses: Then afterwards, we asked for blankets as the cabin was very cold. The air hostess said that they are finished and they no longer supply blankets for all seats. We soon realized that she **** because another hostess was asked for a blanket further to the end of the plane and he brought 6 blankets for them. We asked for 1 pillow to help prop the gentlemans knee up and, again, the hostess said she will get some for me and another colleague of mine and she never returned. Senior Steward was unprofessional: I raised my disappointment with one of the air-hostesses and she said she would talk to the senior person. He approached me later and laughed the matter off saying " theres so much drama on the flight tonight". That is most unprofessional and I already felt that, on this flight, its clear that the customer care culture is catastrophic. He then said that he will talk to the staff. That was it. No attention to safety: When it came to the landing, 2 overhead compartments were left open and the hostesses did not do a routine check to ensure that these were safely closed for the landing. Other passengers noticed the hazard and unbuckled, stood up and closed these overhead compartments because YOUR staff did not care about the safety of their passengers.

I want to reimbursed on the money I spent on this flight. Myself and my colleagues do not pay this kind of money to be treated like this. In addition - the money that I paid for an international long haul flight should include ( at a minimum ) a blanket, pillow and basic safety checks from the stewards. Judging by another safety concern from another passenger ( ref no. 00w0l.VW_500w0lLz) where her seatbelt did not work the entire flight and , then too, you could not address the safety hazard on the flight, it would appear that rudimentary customer service is alluding the airline. In this instance , you had reimbursed the lady an amount of $50 for the inconvenience!?