FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Missing a flight after winning StepUp upgrade!
Old Feb 22, 2019, 5:12 am
  #1  
ozymandias24
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Posts: 86
Missing a flight after winning StepUp upgrade!

Hello All,

I was flying home from Madagascar to London on my birthday last year and decided to try and upgrade the JNB-LHR leg of my journey. Put in a bid of GBP800 and won a Business Class upgrade as part of South African Airways' Step Up program.

As a parting birthday gift, I got food poisoning in Madagascar (a sadly frequent occurrence in this part of the world). SAA were no help at all on the phone: turns out that although you have paid for a Business Class seat, you are not purchasing the Business Class ticket flexibility. I had to pay a change fee to switch to an Economy seat on a flight later that week, once I had recovered! They would not allow me to switch to a later Business Class journey or get a refund or airline credit.

Anyone have any experience of getting refunds / credit out of SAA in a situation like this? Was a crappy birthday gift to pay about GBP1000 extra for the same economy seat I was going to get in the first place!

Cheers.
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