Disinterested staff, customer relations, call centers, extremely pathetic loyalty program

Below find an email I finally sent to their customer relations department which to date they have not even bothered to reply to. This follows countless emails and calls (where they hang up on you), back and forth trying to reclaim points for one really really nightmarish flight unsuccessfully. And not to even speak of their extremely pathetic app.

Apparently they have no interest in listening to a client who is trying to share a bad experience with them so their response is just to ignore it and hope it goes away. Needless to say, I will never waste my time or money by flying with this airline again. See email below detailing the problems.

COMPLAINT FOR ATTENTION MR JAAN ALBRECHT Sent

David De Villiers ********** To: **********

Sep 29 at 4:34 PM

Good day

I would like to lodge the following complaint about my complete dissatisfaction with your service levels ranging from your online app, response from service centers, conditions aboard your aircraft and much much more. Last flight with your airline was an absolute nightmare from beginning to end. I have absolutely NO intention of ever using your airline again, especially not after the way, what was a minor issue, was handled by your various service centers.

About two months ago I signed on for your online app because I had some upcoming flights and I wanted to test the usefullness of using your app vs normal channels. When I signed in online I had a minor typing error and I typed in my name as David de Villiers vs the correct Dawid de Villiers.

After my first flight my points were not added so I emailed your service center and they corrected it and added my online points. However on my last flight again my points were not added so I again emailed your service center, first being told to refer it to the Technical support center, then again being referred to the Alfursan support center and back and forth. I am attaching the correspondence to this mail for your information.

First response was that the points could not be added because I did not book the ticket on the Saudi Airlines website (Where does it state this in your terms and conditions?) I was then asked for my passport number, expiry date etc and when I supp**** this, the response was that the name on the ticket did not match the name on my Alfursan profile (A single letter typing mistake???!!!!).

Now let me tell you about my flight. At first I arrived in Jhb at the check in counter (my luggage was overweight) and the counter assistant did not have any forms with her for me to go and pay for overweight luggage. I proceeded to the Airlines office where the assistant DID NOT know how to charge for overweight luggage and I spent the next 30 minutes sitting listening to her phoning other staff to try and assist her with the problem. 30 minutes later I finally received my receipt so I could go back to the check in counter and release my luggage.

On to boarding, which was behind schedule as usual and then when we eventually proceeded to the aircraft we were stopped again at the aircraft and made to wait another 10 minutes in a ques because the aircraft was still not ready. On that note, check in counter area very dirty.

Boarding the aircraft for whatever reason we were late for take off by approximately 20 minutes which although is expected it is usually customary for the pilot or at least the staff to apologize for the delay and provide us with a reason. On this point - major ***** up - YOUR INFLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM IS NOT WORKING!!!! Again no apology and no explanation is offered.

Dirty aircraft, dirty seats, dirty bathrooms (I was literally cringing just to use the bathroom) we have to sit through a 7 hour flight with no entertainment, surely this could have been checked rectified or even aircraft changed as an alternative, or at the very least offer some kind of re compensation for the inconvenience.

Very unfriendly staff, food portions ridiculously small, aircraft staff (not working) taking over 4 seats to sleep in, the entire flight was just the most uncomfortable experience I have ever had with an airline. This is not a threat it is a fact, this is exactly why I always fly with Emirates airlines because they have consistency in their standards and the service is always friendly, efficient and with a smile.

Uncomfortable flight finally over, arriving in Jeddah, to top it all we have to wait for an hour for our luggage to be offloaded!!!

Too be quite honest I would have never even complained about a single thing but for your company to as a last straw try and cheat me out of my earned flight points just topped of THE WORST experience I have ever had with an airline in my life.

I have no idea whether your company will even have the slightest interest in my input here but I do hope that in some small measure you realize that you are losing far more clients than you are gaining with such unacceptably low standards in equipment, services, client relations and ground staff. I for one will never in my life set foot on a Saudi Airlines flight again because you clearly have no interest in your passengers comfort and well being.

As a matter of interest here are the details:

D. de Villiers Alfursan Membership number: ********** 6 Booking: NMAWKN Ticket: ********** 003940 Flight: SV446 from Johannesburg to Jeddah Flight date: 23/09/2017 Names in Passport: Dawid Jacobus Johannes de Villiers Passport Number: *********** Nationality: South African Passport Expiry: ************* Place of Issue: South Africa

PS. As a frequent traveller I will make sure that I lodge this complaint with every travel advisory website that I have ever used since your company is clearly not interested in resolving customer complaints.

Regards

Mr D. de Villiers