Comair

My flight Durban to Jo'burg on 10 May under the BA banner was supposed to connect with QR to Doha and then Singapore but left a little late. Although my baggage was booked right through to Singapore, I was refused check-in by QR at Jo'burg because it was said to be too late even though it was an hour before departure time. Whilst QR rescheduled flights to Singapore at no extra charge' (I should hope so)! I lost considerable time and money (had to pay for a replacement flight to Jakarta that I missed because of Comair's delay), neither QR nor Comair accepted any sort of responsibility or liability for this uncoordinated chaos. Then my luggage took over two hours to find at Jo'burg Airport. Definitely an airline to avoid.

I flew from Jo'burg to Cape Town flight 6427 on 23rd April 2014 at 16h00. My travel agent due to being diabetic always books me an aisle seat so I can get up and move for circulation. I also recently had a hand operation and this aisle seat helped me to keep my hand away from other passengers. I checked in and got the seat my agent booked. As I boarded I was told I was moved to a middle seat. When I queried this I was greeted with a bad attitude and was told they needed my seat for a disabled person. When I explained my medical condition and my operation I was told I could wait for another flight if I did not want to take the middle seat. When I got on the plane the person in my seat was not even disabled. When I approached the stewards my complaints was brushed aside. Poor attitude by staff.

Johannesburg to Cape Town Business class. Aircraft non operational so 2 hour delay whilst replacement aircraft prepared. Aircraft old and poor condition of seat and toilets. Speaking to ground staff its apparent that delays are frequent due to mechanical issues with old aircraft. Return flight also delayed by 1 hour. According to pilot the aircraft in JNB also non operational and requiring replacement. As before old aircraft tatty condition. Poor reliability.

Flew from Jo'burg to Victoria Falls in Zim. BA check in was very smooth and efficient. Turns out the BA lounge is not open during the day and we were directed to a third party lounge which was very nice indeed (better that the Galleries lounge that BA operate). We had to take a bus to get to our plane which was fine and efficiently done. The plane was an old BA badged 737-400 I suspect a reject from European operations. But plane was clean and well presented. We were given a choice of hot meals which I have to say was very tasty and well presented on the outbound leg. The inbound was not quite as nice but still acceptable. Both flights were packed to rafters with not a seat spare but staff coped very well. It would be good to see Comair get some new planes as the old cast offs from BA are really showing their age now.

BA 6275 1 August 2014 JNB-Windhoek. BA 6274 15 August 2014 Windhoek-JNB. We recently flew Comair franchise flights between Johannesburg and Windhoek the livery was BA excellent service clean and comfortable 737 on schedule hot meal served with choice of wines.

Comair Business VFA (Victoria Falls) to JNB (Johannesburg). Easy check in provided you were only travelling to JNB. Other pax transferring with through tickets to London/USA/Australia were unable to check bags all the way through or get boarding cards for subsequent flights. This meant they had to go through customs and immigration at JNB collect bags and recheck rather than just going through transit. Gave them a very poor experience of BA/Comair in Zimbabwe. This is an airport used by many international pax and should be able to do this as a matter of course. No lounge at VFA airport. It is being rebuilt so maybe will be better in future years. Comfortable seats on an old B737 pleasant lunch and helpful staff.

JNB to PLZ. Very good service on this lunch-time flight. Stewardess handled the issue of removing an under-age passenger from the exit row behind us with perfect tact. Tasty hot meal served efficiently (in contrast to SAA which is just a sandwich) and very fast baggage delivery.

My husband is blind and we therefore request special assistance on all flights. Flying from Durban to Johannesburg March 26th 2014 and checking in early we were allocated seats in row 21. I asked for seats nearer the front of the aircraft but was told that assisted passengers are always seated near the rear. The 3 assisted passengers on our flight were not embarked until about 20 minutes before departure and once onboard had to struggle through a nearly full aircraft to their seats. The stewardess on duty in that area was as unhelpful as she could be. We fly long haul regularly. BA always embarks assisted passengers first allowing them space to settle down before the crowd arrives. The stewardess in our cabin on our later flight to LHR couldn't have been more helpful. Why does Comair make life even more difficult for the disadvantaged?

Another trip from Johannesburg to Harare- 737s both ways and all on time. Crew were good kept us informed particularly on return flight when there were very strong winds and mine dump dust at Jo'burg. Outward meal was a hot meal return meal was the whole grain roll-this seems to be standard. No complaints at all and plenty of leg room in these old planes.

Johannesburg to Harare return. Outward flight on time - rather old 737-but clean. Cabin crew efficient lunch time flight so we were offered chicken or alternative lunch which was acceptable. Return flight left Harare on time 737 again and a light snack with drinks. Again cabin crew efficient and information from the flight deck along the route. Arrived on time-good experience overall.