SA Express

✅ Trip Verified | Johannesburg to Bloemfontein. This review is more for compliment for one of your service staff at domestic departures. I had a connecting flight from CPT to Bloemfontein via JHB. I flew Mango to JHB and SAA Express to BFN. There was only 1 hour between arrival in JHB and departure to BFN. The baggage claims for Mango took way too long and l was going to miss my flight. Without my bag l ran up to the SAA express check-in counters for assistance. Staff really went over and beyond to assist me and make sure l didn’t miss my flight. He assisted to check me in and help to carry my bag from baggage claim up to the check-in counter and safely on the correct plane. All in time. Without is quick response and help l would have surely missed my flight. Well done for excellent customer service. Thank you.

✅ Trip Verified | It was a Sunday afternoon when I got to King Shaka airport and I was flying to Port Elizabeth that evening. The flight was supposed to depart at 17.40 and land at 19.00. But instead the flight got delayed until 21.00. I’ve been flying this Durban, PE route on this airline since 2015 and most of the flights I’ve flown have always delayed by an extreme amount of hours. They give me the same excuse everytime I ask them why is there a big delay and they say technical issues with the plane. This flight that I took, they changed the time to 21.00 which meant that we were going to board at 20.30. It was 21.00 and I was still in the terminal building, we only left Durban at 21.50 and we got to Port Elizabeth at 23.00. The crew that flew us to PE came from Bloemfontein via Johannesburg. When I got to PE I saw many SA express aircrafts in PE, they also got delayed from Cape Town. Most of their planes have been sitting at OR Tambo International airport and then with all the excuses of technical issues, I question the safety of their fleet. I don’t think it’s worth flying with SA Express anymore, too many delays. The amount of delays I’ve heard from this airline I don’t see why they are still flying, if they going to provide service they must do it to the best of their ability.

✅ Trip Verified | After already flying From Dubai to Johannesburg we are meant to be connecting to George, our final destination, flight was meant to depart OR Tambo at 15.50, it has been delayed to 18.30. Now we have already been waiting 5 hours for the connecting flight after already having flown 8 hours and waited 2 hours before the first flight, only to be told the reason behind the delay is a Technical Issue. They have 1 plane which is departing to another destination, after that flight arrives back from said destination they are preparing it for our journey to George. Why should the customers to George deal with utter delays because there is only 1 plane to commute to 2 different destinations due to a technical fault in one aircraft in its fleet. Already been over 15 hours journey, and all we wanted was to get home. Now my issue is a well known National airline should surely be able to make a plan to get another aircraft in to help ease the delay and help clients get to their destination. Instead we have to wait because a flight just left for another destination and will head back afterwards to take us. Having flown SA Express and booked in connection with SA Airways many times in the past, I am extremely disappointed in the service received this time around.

✅ Trip Verified | 12 hours before flight departure SA Express only contacted some passengers to advise of a change in flight. Despite paying double for a direct flight we were re-directed via Johannesburg and what should have been a 2 hour journey ended up taking 8 hours! The way we were treated by ground staff in Cape Town and Johannesburg was appalling and despite raising the complaint numerous times have only had a standardised response and still no apology for the inconvenience. We were offered some compensation but only for 3 of the 4 travellers and still no response on this despite it being escalated to management. Do not recommend to ever use this airline

✅ Trip Verified | George to Johannesburg. We book tickets for our two grandchildren twice a year. As they have to fly as unaccompanied minors, I have to make the booking through the call center. The fare indicated on the website for the specific flights was R1 182.21 per person for the return flights between Johannesburg and George. Before I gave all the traveler details, I asked the operator what I would have to pay and was informed that it would be R2364.42 per child. This excluded the R100.00 per ticket to be charged because I booked through the call center. When I called back to find out if the children had been accepted as unaccompanied minors for the flight and to make the payment, the amount was suddenly R2957.22 per child. That is 2,5 times more than when one would (and could) book on the internet! On checking the e-ticket (per child)one finds the following info: Fare calculation R697.50 x 2 = R1 395.00 rounded off to R1 400.00 plus taxes totaling R461.22 and "carrier imposed fees" R 1096.00 which brings the total to R2 957.22 per child.

✅ Trip Verified | I am a regular traveller on the Johannesburg to Kimberley route in South Africa, doing this at least once a month for the past couple of years. There are two carriers - SA Express and SA Airlink. As far as possible I use Airlink as they run on time. However this is not always possible and today I flew with SA Express. The flight was delayed by an hour - no detailed reason was given, though "aircraft availabiity" was mentioned. As we boarded the bus for the plane an announcement was made for another SA Express flight also being delayed. If I look back on the last 10 flights I have made using SA Express, possibly one has actually been on time. They appear to have absolutely no capacity to run to a schedule (while SA Airlink on the same route achieves this almost all the time). And following any announcement by the cabin crew on the plane they use the catch phrase "SA Express, we fly for you", really! What a joke! I would not recommend them to anyone, and only fly SA Express if I have no other options, and particularly avoid them if I have meetings scheduled afterwards. Tonight's flight was an evening one, but it meant contacting both car hire and booked accommodation to ask them to wait for me - inconveniencing not just myself, but others also. There must be reasons that SA Express flights are invariably delayed - but no honest explanation is ever given, and the overall long term impression is that SA Express do not care.

✅ Verified Review | Bloemfontein to Johannesburg. I fly SA Express frequently because my company books the tickets not out of choice. Today again there was a problem with the aircraft. Resulting in a smaller aircraft been used for the route. The knock on effect was 17 passengers being bumped of the flight. The supervisor at Bloemfontein admitted they have a serious problem with aircraft availability. I will avoid flying with them when possible.

✅ Verified Review | SA Express has a direct flight from Harare to Durban and back. As I want to avoid transfer in Johannesburg, I am willing to pay the extra costs. SA Express however canceled the flight from Durban and therefore I could not use the direct flight from Harare to Durban but was put on a South African Airways flight via Johannesburg. This was very frustrating as I had to cancel the appointment I had (we arrived 5 hours after original scheduled time). So while I paid the premium for a direct flight I ended up spending even more time for a flight that would have saved me and my family hundreds of USD. After I finally got a case number about my query on 8 November I have never heard from SA Express.

I am a frequent flyer and unfortunately have to fly on SA Express. I fly from PE to Durban PE to Johannesburg PE to Cape Town and Bloemfontein to Johannesburg. Including returns to PE. I don't believe that in the last 6 months there hasn't been a delay on these flights. I can honestly say that the service is of the poorest in this country. The inflight service is awful. Sitting in CT now with another 2 hour delay SA Express wastes so much of mine and others time with all their delays. I would never recommend.

Flew SA Express CPT-DUR and previously DUR-CPT-DUR. Crew have always been excellent. They are warm and friendly right from boarding where we are always greeted by a great smile. Food is good sandwiches for dinner with chocolate for dessert. A good selection of drinks were offered. Leather seats are very comfortable but are now showing some signs of age. Love flying SA Express because their planes always seem private and warm. Baggage was on the carousel quickly from deplaning. Overall three great experiences with SAX.