Stewie Mac

Some reports in the BBC and local SA media that SAA cabin crew and technical staff will strike on Friday, indefinitely.

''We are grounding that airline on Friday': Numsa says strike is only solution to SAA impasse'

Any locals have any insight to add? Is this the beginning of the end, or will things improve?

jsnydcsa

Southern & East African Tourism Update

Some pretty foreboding quotes in there.

jiffer21225

Hopefully they can work it out. That airline employees many staff. Also I wonder if the worst does happen what flight options would visitors have to fly to kruger Park. Doesn't SAA have the corner market on that?

RichardAtCT

Just as an update - all flights on Friday and Saturday (15 & 16 November) have now been cancelled:

https://ewn.co.za/2019/11/14/saa-can...head-of-strike

roadwarrier

It is amazing how the same union that wants to strike now, is the same one who kept quiet when Zuma's friend (Dudu), was in charge and she had, during her tenure, tipped the airline over the edge.
Some salient points raised during a radio interview this morning:
The Contract for ground handling services is about 150% HIGHER than what it should be,
SAA Technical has been pilfered, so spares are in short supply, (that is old news though),
The Accounting services were outsourced to some connection to a Political crony,
The Company that supplies the fuel has far higher costs than other suppliers which supply to other airlines - and the owner is linked to Zuma again.

So, when connections to Politicians get involved, money grabbing becomes rife.

If it were Utopia, I would fire the entire Board and get people with Aviation knowledge in (without any political connections), and rework the supply contracts. But then, that will not happen, so I am fearing the worst.

npturner

I was due to fly from LHR via MUC to JNB on Saturday. It was booked with LH (Via Opodo), and my MUC-JNB leg is on SAA.

I have to call Opodo back at 09:00 to see what they can do (SAA webite says they will allow re-routing other Star Alience airlines, but theres not much choice.

I guess if it all goes t*ts up, i'm not going to be able to claim on the EC261?

I'm hoping they can re-route me via ZRH on Swiss.

evanb

It is LH's responsibility to find you an alternative.

npturner

I'm still having a nightmare with all this.

Opodo have spoken to LH who confirm its cancelled, but as the Opodo system doesnt show it as cancelled yet, they cant do anything about it. They asked me to call back after 14:00.

Its becoming a joke.

wfiring12

Given the instability and threats of strike at SAA, I’d love the advice of folks who know the market better than myself for some upcoming flights I have booked over the upcoming holidays. While I have a SAA J flight from JNB to CPT on 17 Dec, I’m most concerned about the SA Airlink flights I have from CPT-MUB (23 Dec) and MUB-JNB (28 Dec). I realize Airlink is not part of the threatened strike action, but concerned that might change. Would anyone recommend I cancel the SAA/Airlink flights and move to a mix of Comair and Air Botswana – even if it means my flight from CPT to MUB is no longer non-stop? As you might imagine, my biggest priority is to make sure I arrive and depart from Maun on the days planned. I have experience flying SAA, Airlink, Comair and Air Botswana – have no bias against any of them and my *G status on SAA is not particularly relevant given the potential challenges!

SSF556

This is exactly why I have a Delta flight booked as backup. We have an upcoming flight from IAD - ACC - JNB on Dec 10 and thankfully I have status with Delta and I can hold another reservation without consequences. I am going to send United (since I booked the SAA flight with United points) a twitter message and see what they say. My options out of IAD would be Ethiopian or Lufthansa....

Also thankfully my flights from JNB to Muan Bots are on Air Bots.

DBCme

Definitely seeing cancellations for tomorrow on mainline to/from JNB.

Stewie Mac

'seeing cancellations'? SAA have cancelled *everything* tomorrow and Saturday with the exception of some downstream planes that they're bringing home from overseas, 12 in total, details here.

TheCanuckian

I expect you could wait a few days to see what happens. There's probably no huge hurry if your flights are still a month out.

wfiring12

Yes, I think I will book refundable fare seats on Comair/Air Botswana for my flights to/from Maun as backup. I've never had any issues with SAA over the past 8 years, but don't want to push my luck! Anyway, Air Botswana has also been good to me in the past. I just wish they had a non-stop from CPT. Definitely protect your travel from IAD to JNB - but be weary that Lufthansa is popular on that route and seats go very early. I'm actually flying LH again this year from LAX.

SSF556

I actually just went ahead and cancelled my flight with SAA/United...United waived the redeposit fees of $150 x 2 and put the miles back into my account. United could not assure me that there would be flights available if the strike was still ongoing and there was already minimal availability anyway on Dec 10th.

Will be back on my original flight from DTW-AMS-JNB on Delta/KLM.