bhavit
Apr 22, 12, 4:42 pm
On March 30th I flew SAA 234 from LHR to JNB. The experience was mediocre at best. The onboard product is good with plenty of room and acceptable service. The on ground product at both LHR and JNB was horrible.
I returned on April 5th on SAA 235 from JNB to LHR and were informed only when we got to the gate that there was a 2 hour delay. Since I had a 4 hour connect time in LHR to return to the US, it was fine. At the end of 2 hours we were told there was an additional 3 hour delay. Given that we would now misconnect, we asked the agent at the Biz lounge to protect us on another flight. To our surprise the RUDE agents told us that they didn't do that and it was done only by the staff in LHR. :mad:
I called United directly - waited on the phone 40 minutes - and was rebooked from LHR to LAX. To make things worse, SAA didn't tell us the reason for the delay. Once we boarded at 12:00 am (instead of the scheduled 7:30 pm departure), the pilot sounded frustrated with the airline. He informed us that there was a fuel leak and that was fixed but now (@12:30 am), the flight attendants had realized they were missing some special meals - how ridiculous is that. So we took a further delay with their service team loaded additional meals.
It has been about 3 weeks since my first trip on SAA. I have yet to receive MileagePlus credit for my flights. I have called United and SAA. SAA basically forwarded the email to someone else and i didn't hear anything back. Finally i wrote back again and they escalated it to someone else who has yet to get back to me. In the mean time i received response to my original email stating they acknowledge receipt and that I should call United for the miles - how ridiculous. If I were Star Alliance, I'd rethink this alliance member.
Next time I'll take another Star Alliance airline - such as Swiss or LH to JNB.
NEVER FLY South African Airways.
I returned on April 5th on SAA 235 from JNB to LHR and were informed only when we got to the gate that there was a 2 hour delay. Since I had a 4 hour connect time in LHR to return to the US, it was fine. At the end of 2 hours we were told there was an additional 3 hour delay. Given that we would now misconnect, we asked the agent at the Biz lounge to protect us on another flight. To our surprise the RUDE agents told us that they didn't do that and it was done only by the staff in LHR. :mad:
I called United directly - waited on the phone 40 minutes - and was rebooked from LHR to LAX. To make things worse, SAA didn't tell us the reason for the delay. Once we boarded at 12:00 am (instead of the scheduled 7:30 pm departure), the pilot sounded frustrated with the airline. He informed us that there was a fuel leak and that was fixed but now (@12:30 am), the flight attendants had realized they were missing some special meals - how ridiculous is that. So we took a further delay with their service team loaded additional meals.
It has been about 3 weeks since my first trip on SAA. I have yet to receive MileagePlus credit for my flights. I have called United and SAA. SAA basically forwarded the email to someone else and i didn't hear anything back. Finally i wrote back again and they escalated it to someone else who has yet to get back to me. In the mean time i received response to my original email stating they acknowledge receipt and that I should call United for the miles - how ridiculous. If I were Star Alliance, I'd rethink this alliance member.
Next time I'll take another Star Alliance airline - such as Swiss or LH to JNB.
NEVER FLY South African Airways.