South African AirwaysReviews of flysaa.com

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 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.

⸻ 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.