nomadic.relief

Hello all - back in April I was scheduled in J on SA 204 (JFK-JNB), it was cancelled post boarding (for some pax) for mechanical reasons and a second plane was brought in to fly the next day (or so they told us).

The problems started after my 3 hour wait to get reticketed: I was told there were no seats left in J and I'd have to be accommodated in Y. WTH??!? I think not - if a new plane was brought in, my seat should still be there. In the end I was rerouted JFK-FRA-JNB (all LH J, one A380, so that was nice!), with a 24 hour delay to my arrival time all of it additional transit time.

I contacted SA on April 27th, got an email on the 29th saying to expect 7 business days for resolution. By May 19th I had still not heard anything so emailed again. Still no response beyond that first email on April 29th.

Does anyone know where I should try escalating this to? If it makes any difference it was an Aeroplan Reward ticket, but I know they will say to contact the operating carrier. Regardless, I still lost a days' vacation as a result of SAA going mechanical.

flySAA

Hello "nomadic.relief".

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Please accept our sincerest apologies for the lack of updates from our end.

May we ask that you please forward your last correspondence with SAA to us at [email protected] so that we may ensure a quick follow-up.

Alternatively, you may sent us your confirmation number and ticket number via DM and we will route your message to the appropriate department.

We trust your journey, apart from this unfortunate delay, was successful and enjoyable.

With kind regards,
South African Airways, North America

nomadic.relief

Thank you for your prompt response. That is precisely the email I have already used multiple times. I have resent it yet again and you will also have a PM momentarily.

The flights I actually got to take with SA were fantastic though, great service, good food.

flySAA

Many thanks for the additional feedback and the kind words regarding your experience while in our care. We'll work to ensure a prompt response, and you should expect a follow-up email from us shortly.

Regards,
South African Airways

fisher0701

We had an upsetting experience similar to nomadic.relief. However, SAA has refused to compensate us in any way for our inconveniences and cost with the caveat that they offered to reimburse the food we ate during the delay only if I "outline[d] the costs incurred of which this must be substantiated with receipts/proof of payment for assessment purposes." I didn't keep these receipts nor would the documentation and hassle be worth the cumbersome reimbursement process. That is why most airlines offer vouchers, or like compensation for these sorts of issues.

My girlfriend and I recently flew SAA round-trip to Africa from Denver. While we were generally pleased with most aspects of the trip, we were extremely displeased with a severe mechanical delay incurred on our trans-Atlantic return flight. We were even more agitated by the SAA agents' total lack of response in remedying this inconvenience, caused entirely by SAA, in any way.

As a result of multiple mechanical delays and an eventual plane change that caused a four-and-a-half hour delay, we missed our connection to Denver. Due to the severity of the delay, we also missed the next flight to Denver. Only through our own efforts of placing ourselves on standby were we able to board the following flight to Denver at the last minute.

SAA responded to my complaint after five days. They informed me that "have a compensation policy in place, which only makes provision for a 12 hour delay. Therefore unfortunately we are unable to accede to your request for compensation."

So after nearly five hours of delay that caused a number of problems and missed connections we were offered nothing. I find this very frustrating. As bad as certain American airlines sometimes are, they at least have some notion of customer service and understanding of the inconvenience caused by massive mechanical delays.

gcuk

Welcome to flyertalk fisher0701
Were your flights all on one ticket or were the domestic flights on a separate reservation? If all on one ticket, that's a pretty poor show on SAA's part not to book you on the next available connection. If they were on separate reservations, SAA fulfilled their obligation to get you to the US, albeit late, but they have no obligation to arrange further travel. Unfortunately the perils of separate reservations are well documented on these boards. At least you got home safely.

johan rebel

There is an advantage to flying to SA via a European Union country, as the EU's more generous compensation rules will apply.

Johan

nomadic.relief

fisher0701 I've had that same sort of issue flying with TAP (resulting in a hotel stay in Toronto and $360 taxi ride - neither of which were covered by insurance) and got nothing. That WAS in Europe, but the delay was only 3.75 hours, so too bad for me. For the SAA flight it was a 24 hour delay, no hotel, most of it spent in the air. I was actually ok with the outcome - there were others who did get a hotel in NYC, but that didn't work for me as it would have resulted in a class downgrade as well.

It's a case of win-some-lose-some when flying crazy routes with multiple connections.

Cheetah_SA

Not always. The EU regulations do not apply if your carrier is not based in the EU and is flying into the EU. So, for example, when flying on SA into Europe the EU rules don't apply. Apparently some SA agents are very well versed in this and delight in informing pax who are delayed out of SA and start kicking up a fuss about compensation that "this isn't the EU".

MightyTravels

I had a similar issue with a 24h delay in Johannesburg. I'll be sending you an email.

CBear

Why do you think this is unacceptable? They told you they'd reimburse you for food. To be able to be reimbursed, they would have to know how much you paid, wouldn't they??

SQPPS

Hello FLYSAA

I need to claim European compensation for a cancelled flight from SAA. Please give me the contact email I can use where someone will actually respond. My flight was SA265 MUC/JNB 29 MAR

FlySAAUSA

Hello SQPPS,

Thank you for reaching out to us regarding this situation. We appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns, and we're sorry to hear that you haven't been contacted about your flight cancellation.

We would like to ask that you send an email, outlining the details of the situation to [email protected], with a copy to [email protected]. Please include the confirmation number which related to this trip, along with any other pertinent information. We will advise our Customer Care team to be on the lookout for your message, and do our very best to escalate this issue, in order to get you a response as soon as possible.

Thank you for your patience, and for choosing South African Airways.

With kind regards,
South African Airways - North America
1 (800) 722-9675
[email protected]

Cheetah_SA

Awesome! :-: ^

jsnydcsa

Haven't there be several threads here about the effectiveness of (or lack of) this email-to-Customer Care method?