RCyyz

I may need to put this to the test. I have an LX ticket for an LH codeshare operated by SAA. The flight is on 01 Jan 2020. Should SAA pull the plug on international flights on that day, I'll be scrambling to execute Plan B which will be to work with LX on getting me back home!

Sylvanlaker

Since "Business Rescue" was initiated, I've been hesitant to book JFK-JNB for August 2020, even though RT fare is very low ($855). I looked into travel insurance but coverage would be denied since SAA has started the bankruptcy process. Also checked with my credit card bank and doesn't seem as though their policies include reimbursement for an airline that ceases operations. So...any thoughts on what to do? Other option from my home airport (DTW) is Delta/KLM via Amsterdam, but those tickets are currently running around $1650.

Cheetah_SA

No one can tell you if SAA will be flying that route at that time. The best anyone can do is hazard a guess at probabilities. Apart from the fact that those guesses would probably have a very wide range, they don't address the travellers' issue that the outcome will be binary: either SAA will fly or it won't.

The reason the tickets are so much cheaper is that there is definitely more risk. So it really depends on each person's risk tolerance and the impact that SAA failing to fly would have on your own personal circumstances. Do you have a viable Plan B? Could you afford last-minute tickets if the worst came to the worst? Like all financial decisions you have to wiegh up not just the most likely outcomes but your ability to cope with the most extreme outcomes.

evanb

Local insurance companies have reinstated travel insurance on SAA.

RCyyz

Update - I arrived JNB on 01 Jan 2020 and went to check in for my SAA flight to MUC. All was well and normal as could be. There were no issues and the flight was uneventful.

I hope SAA continues to fly; I've enjoyed all my SAA flights but reality dictates that something needs to change with how that airline operates.

cooleddie

SAA is a great airline with great pilots and great staff relative to many other airlines I've been kn. They just need better management.

johan rebel

And a few billion. That better management had better first properly seal that bottomless pit, though.

Johan

Cheetah_SA

This article from Fin24 has little that is definitive but points to some disturbing developments. Make of it what you will...

Stewie Mac

Yow! Very nearly just booked myself a ticket on SAA for this weekend, thinking that there would be plenty of notice of any winding up, and now glad that I didn't....

wijibintheair

It is amazing that this thread was started on the 9th January 2013, 6 years and 8 days ago, and SAA is still hanging in there. I guess we will see on Monday if the first response of "If they run short of cash before that, they'll just get another bailout from the taxpayer. Nothing to worry about." still holds true!

johan rebel

SA taxpayers are no doubt just as amazed. And chagrined, given the many billions of their money that has gone down the drain.

Johan

biertje

Got a flight with them MUC to JNB and back beginning of Feb. More concerned over the safety impact this is having and if corner cutting is taking place given some of the reports in the papers. Any thoughts on this.

Noobflyer59

Flights to/from Durban, Cape Town, and Munich cancelled this week, it's starting to look really bad.

https://techcentral.co.za/here-are-a...-by-saa/95344/

A shame, I think they have been great to fly with

FlyingHighlander

What concerns you about that article? Seems like theres rationale behind those cancellations that has nothing to do with general company woes.

oliver2002

The MUC service is supposedly suspended because the 9 A346 will be sold (and leased back?) this week.