South African Airways Avis 98

They are great if you want to get to your destination late, or if you want to reserve extra services... Like seat reservation, only to be re-assigned a seat at the gate and having to go through the admin of trying to get your money back.

Complaining to them will just result in the staff shrugging... So they have accepted it

I was scheduled to fly from OR Tambo to Durban at 12:45. At 12:40. Just five minutes before departure, we were suddenly informed that the flight would be delayed by at least two hours. There was no prior communication, no apology, nothing. To make matters worse, while we were already queuing to board, staff began changing everyone’s tickets to new seat numbers, with the vague explanation that "the aircraft has been changed." Again, no apology, no courtesy, no explanation.

This is not an isolated incident. In August, when I flew to OR Tambo, the check-in experience was just as poor. The staff were laid-back and displayed no sense of urgency. I had already checked in online, but still had to queue with my son for over an hour simply to drop off our bags. What should have been a quick and efficient process turned into a frustrating ordeal.

SAA’s service is consistently disappointing! poor communication, lack of professionalism, and no concern or respect for passengers’ time, money or comfort. Based on these repeated experiences, I would not recommend anyone to fly with SAA.

They simply do not care about their customers!!!

I flew on Sunday 29-06-2025. I was very impressed with SAA service. The flight attendants were very friendly. I used SAA after many years and will definitely use them again.

I booked a return ticket for my child from Harare to Melbourne with assisted travel, however, due to a change in circumstances I needed to change the dates on the ticket or cancel depending on which option was favourable. To change a return ticket to a one way only travel ticket, I was asked to pay R11 200 and when I asked to cancel I was told that the ticket (R28 000) was non-refundable including the money that I paid for my child's assisted travel. I was told that if I choose to cancel, only the taxes will be refunded which was a total of (R11 000). Given the struggles that I went through trying to resolve this issue with staff, i opted to cancel the ticket as I lost confidence in the service itself.

I was told to email online refunds to request a refund and ticket cancellation, which I did on 27 May 2025. Today its the 24th of June 2025, I have not received any refund or any confirmation that my request is being processed. One way ticket has been cancelled and the return ticket still shows as confirmed despite my request to cancel both.

On 27 May, I contacted the Johannesburg booking line where I was passed from one worker to the other and sometimes I was left on hold for more than hour. I spent three and a half hours on a call to the Airline staff where I was met with rudeness, lack of care, or urgency at all.

I would recommend other airlines such as Emirates for international travel because their level of professionalism is worth every cent and the level of support and urgency is worth every cent.

I do not recommend booking SA airways especially if you will require cancellation in future, of which in my case cancellation was unplanned.

A friend recently lost a two way ticket (not refunded) and her experiences with the Johannesburg staff matched mine. Its a complete scam.

SA023, SA 280, SA 281 and SA 022

BAD SERVICE
SLOW baggage claim
Damaged baggage as well!!!! REFUSED TO REFUND!!!
Definitely not worth flying this airLINE

They won't offer "saver rate" on their website but it is available if you go through "Google Flights" this is discrimination against the UK. This is the response I got from their customer service department when I questioned it.

Thank you for your further email. Please pardon our delayed response.

Kindly note that as per the initial response the saver fare has sale restrictions and is not sold from London when tickets are purchased from our website and not google.

We do hope we have your understanding in this regard.

Warm regards,

Zingaphi Ndima

If I could give ZERO stars I would. They should have stayed bankrupt. Will never make use of this airline again. After 6 flights, my husband was FORCED to throw away a bracelet given to him by his father as it was deemed a "weapon".Last gift he ever got from his dad might I add. Not through ANY of the other gates or flights did we have a problem until the last gate and flight. Ground staff were all super rude, unprofessional and no one even attempted to assist or try to help with a solution. Utterly disgusted.

Was told eligible for a business class flight refund in November 2024 - and now absolutely no engagement from the refunds department to get it processed. Appalling customer service and a large amount of money lost.

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Title: Extremely Unprofessional and Disappointing Experience with SAA

We had an extremely disappointing and unprofessional experience with South African Airways. Our flight was cancelled without any prior notice or explanation. We were left completely in the dark, with no assistance to rebook or reroute our itinerary — resulting in the loss of our entire prepaid stay.

There was no communication, no emergency contact, and no support from the airline staff. The crew simply left us stranded at the airport. The flight was full of families with young children, and we were left waiting for over six hours before being transferred to a hotel at 5 a.m., in overcrowded minibus taxis.

We were then forced to check out by noon, and once again had to wait endlessly without any clear information or guidance from SAA. No reassurance was given regarding the condition of the aircraft or the availability of a new crew. The service was chaotic, disorganized, and completely lacked compassion or basic care.

As a result, we missed our connecting flight and were left to fend for ourselves at the airport for hours, trying to find an alternative way to reach our final destination. This entire experience was stressful, unacceptable, and showed a complete lack of responsibility from South African Airways.

I strongly advise fellow travelers to think twice before booking with SAA.

The service was very bad. Our flight was delayed but it was not mentioned and no one at the airport cared to inform us. Then once we arrived in Johannesburg we were told that our bags were left behind in Cape Town. The service is bad and honestly I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

1. We are a family traveling with small kids (aged 4, 5 and 8). Airline failed to provide seating for is as parents with our kids. Every other airline reserves seats for families traveling together. One of their own staff that was trying to assist claimed, "Ma'm, we have many problems here..."
2. They has only one check-in counter open for the entire flight, which is probably the reason for nr. 3
3. Flight was almost an hour late, but no updated were provided to say that the flight was delayed. It was just late, and we had to wait.
4. They lost about half the flight's baggage. Our flight was supposed to leave at 20:20. It is now midnight, and we are still in one long line at baggage services, with our three very tired kids. There's no system - everyone that leaves the line does so with a handwritten note on a piece of scrap paper.

Just don't fly SAA, even if they are the cheapest.

I have never in my life dealt with more incompetent people and such a disorganised and unprofessional establishment. It took hours and hours of unnecessary time for such simple tasks and I could not actually believe the inconvenience we experienced. Will never fly with them again. Appalled to say the least. Completely shocked that they are still in business.

This place does not even deserve one star. I fly a lot for work and I have never experienced a more stressful flight in my life. Delaying our flight for 6hrs with not a single place to go to (all restaurants and shops close at 10pm) Alll the workers there have no idea what is going on or where anything is at all, no one is willing to help you. I can speak for everyone when I say that we pay so much money to fly and the service is absolutely non-existent! Just to add the cherry on top this whole situation made us miss our next connecting flight which could even make me loose my job. This place NEEDS to get their shit together!

This is the worst airline , worst customer service. The staff are rude and don’t even know what they are doing. Couldn’t have had a worse experience. I would highly recommend you use either fly Safair or Lyft.

I tried to 'manage' my SAA booking 25 Feb 2025 nelspruit to Durban return . System wouldn't let me do it. I had taken out their Insurance. I cancelled this flight but was told no refund only a voucher. I had rebooked a flight for 1 week later expecting to get a refund. Totally useless. I live in Spain and have no use for my 'voucher' !!!

The Worst Airline Service in history. I missed a local flight due to weather conditions, and then they wanted to charge an extra $8,000 for my family and I to get home. Bought a cheaper flight with Qantas. Trying to get a refund which went nowhere then I tried to get a letter from them that I could send to the travel insurance company. This has been ongoing for over a week with several phone calls back to South Africa. The most incompetent people I ever dealt with. Never flying with them ever again.

Nov 2024 on connection from Joburg to Durban, agent refused to let me board saying my flight had been canceled (it wasn’t). They then claimed it was Kenyan Air’s fault/responsibility ((it wasn’t). I spent many hours at their customer service at airport until they closed. They refused to book me on another flight and I ended up having to sleep on the airport floor. The next day they apologized but that doesn’t cut it. I missed an entire day of my planned activities, had to pay extra for missed reservations, etc. and received no compensation from them. Travel agent trying to contact them was simply told matter was “under investigation.”

Worst customer service ever! After I got scammed because someone bought tickets with my credit card information I’ve been trying to contact the airline to cancel the payment. During 3 days I’ve been trying to solve it with the customer service staff via phone and email. I’ve talked to a bunch of people and everyone tells me something different. I did everything they told me to do but I still haven’t heard anything back. After 3 days sending several emails still no one has been replied.

It’s not only that I have lost $956.10 usd but also wasted a lot of time and energy, and nobody can even tell me what to do or if they will set something in motion. How hard can it be to stop a payment that I never authorized and give me my money back?

German Medina

I’ve booked through this airline and have had the most worst experience ever! I’ve typed in my correct surname after pressing proceed it automatically changed to my husbands surname. When I realised I called in to change it and the lady told me she can’t it’s too early I should call within 8 days prior to departure . When I did that the man told me sorry it’s too late can’t help. I’ve logged a complaint in which a lady said she will escalate the matter and we should call in an hour. When we called back it was not going through and nothing happened thereafter . I tried very hard to work out something I eventually went personally to the airport to find some sort of help in which I was turned down. They told me to either book a brand new flight (R16 000) or not go . I have a breastfeeding baby and needed to be on the same flight as her and my husband. It was our first vacation travelling together and had to experience such terrible service. I had no choice but to rebook a new flight. On departing back to South Africa they allowed me to check in online and not my husband and baby. No one is willing to help or assist and highly warm EVERYONE TO NEVER BOOK through this airline!

I have travelled extensively and went with many different airlines. My experience from Johannesburg to Perth which was supposed to depart on the 20/01/25 was a nightmare. The plane was supposed to depart at 8.30pm on the 20th of January but was first delayed to 1am on the 21st of January. We were then told that the plane would depart at 3.30am. We were at the airport until 6am and still no flight. After many waiting hours we were then put in a motel nearby. The flight was cancelled and were then all put on a flight for 3pm on the 21st of January. When I arrived at the airport there was no sms sent to my phone informing me of the first delay. They offered us water and fritos chips as a snack. What a disgrace. The food voucher was very little compared to the many hours we had to wait. Also, within all this time there was no aeroplane on the tarmac. Passengers were given a bunch of lies as to why the plane was so late. I would never suggest SAA as a choice. They lack reliability as well as efficiency. They basically kept the passages like hostages-more than 12 hours in the airport. Communication should only be via whatsup and not emails. Never again.