SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS   Passenger Reviews and Passenger Trip Reports an official 4-Star Airline   Add your South African Airways review   South African Airways official 4-Star ranking   Airline Reviews : A-Z Index   2009 Quality Approval Status ?

SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS customer review :  15 September 2009 : by Stuart Walker   (Australia)

On the subsidiary Airlink from Johannesburg to Victoria Falls using BAe plane. Bused from terminal to plane. Comfortable seat, only one class. The lunch box was very good. Outbound and return flights were late - only a problem at Victoria Falls as a pathetic departure lounge.

SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS customer review :  15 September 2009 : by S Kearney   (UK)

LHR-JNB, Cape Town-LHR. I have never experienced such poor service and a poor quality plane. I put the outbound flight to a very old plane and figured this would not be repeated but we got the same plane on our return leg. No personal entertainment systems and the entertainment for a 13 hour flight consisted of 2 very old movies l and one was 9 years old! The entertainment lasted just under 4 hours for a 13 hour flight. Cabin crew rude, and not attentive in the slightest. There were 2 tv screens in the whole of our cabin which must have been over 100 people.

SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS customer review :  21 August 2009 : by Richard Wiley   (South Africa)

LHR-CPT on A340-200. Boarding procedure and gate staff attitude at LHR much improved. Premium cabin about 75% full and in excellent condition. Cabin crew were friendly and attentive and the meals were good and served piping hot. A first rate experience all round and in sharp contrast to outbound CPT-LHR flight in Economy. Seat 45K in front row lacks foot room and is horribly narrow. Discomfort was compounded by screaming infants in front two centre rows but this is hardly SAA fault. I am aware that the A340-200s are leased from AB but the reduced comfort in economy compared with the 300 and 600 versions really isn't acceptable.

SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS customer review :  13 August 2009 : by F Zanon   (Italy)

MUC-JNB return economy class. Quick boarding but had to queue twice queue at the gate in MUC to complete passport data. Nice A340-300, very good legroom, efficient and friendly service, food average. Flights on time, overbooking between MUC and JNB and staff asked 2 passengers to stay in MUC one more night (eur 700 compensation). Nice AVOD, good movies and entertainment.

SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS customer review :  22 July 2009 : by M Smith   (USA)

LHR-JNB Economy Class. New aircraft, efficient boarding system, high level of professionalism and friendliness of cabin crew. Seat pitch average; not tight but not generous. Cabin crew came thru regularly between meals to offer water or juice. Inflight entertainment had wide selection of movies.

SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS review :  18 July 2009 : by Derek Salter   (South Africa)

I am a very regular traveller with SAA and they are generally excellent. Cabin crew usually friendly and efficient. Check in varies depending on the airports you use - recent trip was at Heathrow and it is much improved with the revamped terminal 1. Follow up service at call centers etc usually efficient although I have had problems in the past with refunds and had to call too many times to get them sorted. BUT in the air they are one of the best. My only gripe is that they regularly use the A340-200 plane on the LHR-CPT route - it has less leg room and no personal TVs. This doesn't trouble me too much as I rarely watch the videos but isn't good for lots of other passengers and gets bad comments from them - audio/visial alternatives on BA and Virgin - are better.

SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS review :  26 June 2009 : by S Gregg   (Spain)

JNB-DUR-JNB, JNB-CPT-JNB, ELS-JNB. Exactly the same experience as Lufthansa in Europe: clean planes, bland food and professional FAs. A340-200 feels cramped, A340-600 has good legroom but very uncomfy seats. ELS is a really funny airport, tho it will be extended now. If you go to JNB luggage wrap is a must! Overall SAA is good value for your money to travel within SA, it definitely worth the extra over the no frills carriers there.

SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS review :  23 June 2009 : by A Buitendag   (South Africa)

JNB-DKR-JFK and IAD-DKR-JNB. The service and friendliness of the crew, something I will remember for a long time. A crew changeover take place at Dakar where the plane is also refueled and the cabins serviced. Crews for both flights were friendly, and frequently walked around with extra juice and bottled water. The bar service also remained open through most of the journey. The food service is good, entertainment system was also adequate with a good selection of movies and programmes.

SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS review :  23 June 2009 : by M Preston   (UK)

I wrote a very positive review of an SAX flight JNB-GRJ on 21 MAR. I subsequently have reason to complain about SAA's billing and accounting procedures. I bought 3 tickets on flysaa.com for ths flight. They charged my card 4 times. After I'd queried this with them they refunded the non-existent fourth ticket (causing me a small exchange rate loss). I would have left it there, but they didn't. Weeks later they refunded the value another 2 tickets, and then weeks after that they charged them again. Each time the exchange rate and bank charges meant that I was out of pocket. I have emailed them and had no response, and I have made several calls to customer care. Each person at customer care has been charming and friendly and promised that they would look into it and have someone phone me back. Not one person has so far fulfilled this promise. I have warned them that if they make further unauthorised debits to my account my bank will treat it as fraudulent, and I am requesting a refund of the amount that their inefficiency has cost me. They may be a good airline to fly with most of the time but their follow-up is atrocious, despite the obvious good intentions of the staff.