Other Middle East and Africa Frequent Flyer Programs - SAA Y Class Seats - Design Fault confirmed by engineer

On boarding Thursday night's SA234 JNB-LHR with Mrs. jamesmax, we proceeded to our allocated seats, 88J and 88K, the budget sadly restricting us to Y. When Mrs. jamesmax sat down in 88K, the backrest collapsed very noticeably down on the right hand side, with the effect that she was sitting with her back skewed to one side. I sat down and noticed that 88J had the same problem, but not as bad. On complaining to the CSD, an engineer was called, who took a cursory look at the problem and informed us that 'ja, well that's because there's a design fault in all our economy class seats, it's the same for everyone, there's nothing we can do'. Further, he invited us to 'come try any other seat, you'll see it's the same'. Obviously I found this unnacceptable, but on a full flight there was no alternative available. Is it true that this is an issue for all SAA Y class seats? Is there anything I can do after the fact with regard to this experience?

Thanks,

jamesmax

I've never noticed any problems.

That explanation sounds suspicious. Those 747s are hardly new so a universal design fault would surely have caused so many problems that they would have been forced to fix it by now. Spending almost 11 hours in Y is bad enough - in a skew seat it would be excruciating. Sounds to me like a lazy engineer's excuse.

But let's see what others say. FTers will surely know if it is a common fault.

Returning JNB-LHR in January 3 of the 4 of us suffered from this on the upper deck. Had to steal pillows from the bottom of the stairs when no one was looking in order to sit comfortably.