fastjet

Not Verified | The stage was all set for what would be a beautiful day to fly. Clear blue skies, not a cloud in the sky, and not much headwind. As I arrived at the domestic terminal of Harare Airport, I can clearly see the need for renovation of some essential equipment and facilities and it just so happens that the Government has embarked on mega-renovation and expansion projects at the Airport. Concentrating more on the flight itself, the pre-check-in speed and procedure carried out by the Fastjet crew is swift and takes no more than 20mins regardless of numbers as they seem to have a strict booking policy and tend not to overbook a plane, so the number of passengers can just about be projected consistently. What may frustrate the odd business traveler who may be in a rush to get to their destination is the mere fact the wait before the plane actually departs is rather long. Im not sure if this is due to the fact that the plane will be going through extensive preflight checks or that passengers have to wait for an aircraft to be flown in from the Fastjet base in South Africa. In closing the pilots command the plane and flight with extreme professionalism and on this particular flight of mine from Harare to Victoria Falls, they did make up for the lost time in the skies and one would hardly notice it as, the flight was smooth, no turbulence and the inflight crew members looked after passengers very well, even managed to squeeze in a snack meal in the short 45mins flight between Harare and Victoria falls. The landing was once again smooth and disembarking of the was plane quick and luggage was received well. All in all a pleasant flying experience with Fastjet.

✅ Trip Verified | I recently flew on fastjet from Johannesburg to Harare. The flight was delayed by almost an hour due to technical issues on the aircraft. They made us wait for almost one hour in the bus while they fixed the aircraft. I did not feel safe at all while flying and I was extremely disappointed. While up in the air the aircraft was making a really strange squeaky noise which was very unsettling considering that the aircraft had some sort of technical issues. Terrible experience overall, would not recommend at all.

Not Verified | It’s nothing too special but it was definitely an affordable price. The inflight food and beverage was comprised of a juice box and bottled water. The customer service is ok. There was in issue with the website where it continually declined my card but it actually charged my card every time I attempted— meaning with four attempts there were $750 in false charges. Fortunately the customer service could be reached by WhatsApp and they were able to refund me for the imaginary flight bookings.

Not Verified | Fastjet cancelled our flights. They refuse a refund and refuse further communication. At first said they would refund taxes, now we cannot get a single response from them after multiple emails. This airline sold us a product, they cancelled.

✅ Trip Verified | Johannesburg to Harare. Do not fly this airline. I flew Qatar Dallas to Harare, Zimbabwe via Johannesburg - US to SA was without incident. Instead of picking South African Airways for the final leg to Zimbabwe I chose Fastjet to support my home airline. Big mistake. My bags were checked through to Harare but while in SA I picked up a few things requiring checking in an extra bag. I paid online to save a few bucks only to get to the counter to be told that I needed to pay an extra R500 because one of the bags I had already checked was not paid for and that they did not code-share with Qatar Airways. It’s madness and wanting to find ways to scam customers, then they started threatening that they would pull one checked bag if I did not pay extra. The bag was already checked all the way through! I will use SAA instead.

✅ Trip Verified | I was supposed to fly from Johannesburg to Victoria Falls. Two weeks before flying I received a message that all flights have been cancelled. Until now I am waiting for a refund, which I never received yet. Don't fly this airline.

Not Verified | Dar es salaam to Mbeya. I bought my ticket in October 2018 on the Fastjet website. I turned up to fly in February 2019 from Dar to Mbrya to be told by airport staff that the airline had ceased flying. Right up until the day if departure its website still showed the flight as on time. They never even bothered sending me an email telling me they weren’t flying any more! Then I sent seven emails and made five phone calls to their office asking for a refund, phone was never answered, emails never replied to. I went to their office this morning and demanded a refund – they now say they will give me my money back in 21 working days time. I will wait to see if it happens. Be warned – do not fly with this airline!

✅ Trip Verified | Victoria Falls to Harare. I brought my ticket receipt to the counter at the airport to check in, the staff told me they couldn't find my flight so asked me to go to the travel agent 200m away from the counter. The travel agent told me Fastjet didn't get the money from my credit card so they just cancelled my flight without telling me, and I have the confirmation email shows they got the money and gave me the ticket PDF file. Another customer came in too and his flight was cancelled too because Fastjet didn't get money too. I needed to pay double price again get on board. The travel agent attitude is pretty bad, she said: Lady I am helping you, I am not fastjet." Then I emailed them to ask refund they never response.

✅ Trip Verified | Went from South-Western Highlands town of Mbeya to the capital Dar es Salaam on 8 August 2018. Easy to buy ticket online, prices fluctuate a lot. Generous hand-luggage (2 pieces) – surprise for an Low Cost Carrier. Two days prior departure they change policy and now open up for everybody holding a ticket to check in 1 full baggage free and to be given snacks/drinks for everybody on board. Thus, you don’t at all get the feeling of an LCC. Homepage and check-in without problems, smooth and generous. The Embraer 190 was very nice, new, narrow body aircraft. Aircraft loaded with approx. 75% of seats. Without requesting I was given a “pay-seat”, no. 12A – a spacious emergency seat. Good announcements from captain. This was a midweek morning on a National Holiday (nane-nane). However, I was scared of any delays or cancellations as the reviews I could find were few, old, and mainly negative or even very negative talking about customers let down in remote areas. As I had international connections in Dar and the transfer time was 7 hours, I eventually accepted the risk of delay as a minor delay would still work. I kept fingers crossed to avoid any cancellation. Location of Mbeya airport is confusing as there are two airports which both claim the IATA code MBI. In reality they use the remote airport of Songwe, 21 km from town. Nice airport in its simplicity and modesty. They have a smooth shuttle service from town to airport. FAs were professional providing soft and hot drinks plus a snack. Inscribed luggage delivered within 5 Minutes. Flight took off 10 Min. before scheduled and landed 30 Minutes earlier than ETA. Can’t fault this airline. Admitted I might have been lucky as approx. 5% of the Mbeya departures says “status unknown”. The reputation that they tend to merge departures could not be verified.

✅ Trip Verified | DAR-HRE (via LUN), July 23 VFA-HRE, Aug 1 HRE-DAR (via LUN), Aug 2 After flying 3 times and 5 flights in total within a week with Fastjet, I beg to differ from the disappointing reviews here. They are probably justified, but I would like to believe that they are anomalous events in the very good way in which Fastjet regularly operates. Everything went perfectly well on my flights, we arrived at each destination about half an hour early, the planes were clean, with good leg space, the crew kind and professional, and the ground crew very helpful - to the point of refusing to charge us for our checked bag because we had so many flights with them. The flights went smoothly without glitches. Food and beverages need to be purchased, as they must be with all low cost companies, so this was not surprising. What was surprising was that most of the flights had many empty seats. My only issue was that they charged me a hefty fee of over $130 per ticket for the change of flight date, although the planes were half empty. I changed the flights literally 3 hrs before departure because of the post-election situation in Zimbabwe. I forgot to even check whether it would have been cheaper to purchase a new OW ticket, instead of paying for the modification, but I was in a hurry to leave Harare airport and forgot to ask. I find Fastjet no different from any well known low-costs in Europe, or from, say, Spirit Airlines in the US. I fly these very often and know the ropes of how they operate. All in all, a very good experience with Fastjet, if I ever come to where they fly again I will definitely use them.