"still at the airport - 27 hours later"
NC Ndlovu (South Africa)
Not Verified | I had a trip to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil from Cape Town via TAAG airlines on 23 July 2023. The way going was okay - uneventful really with the exception of the mediocre food and lack of inflight service. HOWEVER, I felt that I could deal with that. My TRAUMA was upon return...with a three hour layover in Angola - and where I still did not get onto the flight to Cape Town, despite me trying to explain the small and fixable glitch on my boarding pass (i.e. CALL the South African DHA - its called a V-list - Once the flight representative receives a code - a pass can be printed - as it has happened to me in the past). They spent 3 hours faffing around, being condescending, speaking over me in Portuguese which i could not understand - even as i tried to explain the simple process behind getting me a boarding pass for the last 4 hours of an already 26 hour (3 layover trip). CONDESCENDING is an understatement. Every time i spoke, they said they did not speak English, and showed the least interest in helping. They spoke over me and totally disregarded what was going on. would not keep me informed. PS What I don't get is an international airline and airport that lacks a few international translators or speakers amongst them. Albeit...my story is long and convoluted. It gets worse. I will spare the details. The short of it, is that I am still at the airport - 27 hours later (and three days into my travels), because they have not fixed it...and do not have the humility to apologise and acknowledge their incompetence. Worse - I tried to go out to a hotel for the night as a Southern African who can go visa free (as the flight does not compensate this sort of thing) and they refused. No clothes. No hotel. Patchy WiFi. No apology. I am officially putting this on the record - Do not waste your time with TAAG. I will also ensure that my complaint gets to TAAG executives - absolutely unacceptable
Type Of Traveller | Solo Leisure |
Seat Type | Economy Class |
Route | Cape Town to Rio de janeiro via Angola |
Date Flown | July 2023 |
Seat Comfort | 12345 |
Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
Food & Beverages | 12345 |
Ground Service | 12345 |
Value For Money | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"delay after delay after delay"
Benedetta Janse van Rensburg (South Africa)
✅ Trip Verified | Absolute worst airline ever, delay after delay after delay. 3-times this week on my return trip from Cape Town to Lagos and back, still stuck in Lagos, not flying out. Same thing happened on Monday and I missed a crucial day of business in Lagos. Returning now and booked in bed & breakfast in Cape Town, paid for, not going to be in time and have to fly out from Cape Town to PE, booked, paid and going to loose my flight home.
Type Of Traveller | Business |
Seat Type | Economy Class |
Route | Lagos to Cape Town via Luanda |
Date Flown | July 2023 |
Seat Comfort | 12345 |
Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
Food & Beverages | 12345 |
Inflight Entertainment | 12345 |
Ground Service | 12345 |
Wifi & Connectivity | 12345 |
Value For Money | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"the most horrible experience"
Solomon Okewole (Angola)
Not Verified | We were scheduled to fly on Monday 24th July at 8:30pm, on getting to the airport, I realised the flight had been changed to 11:15pm without any prior notice from TAAG. We did not start boarding until 1:00am Tuesday 25th July. After being in the plane for over an hour, we were asked to come down without any proper explanations. It was like they took us on the plane that wasn't working just to stop the passengers from getting more agitated. The plane was full of mosquitos and very hot while we were seated. We came out of the plane and waited until around 3:30 am before we were taken to an hotel. I was traveling with my 2 kids aged 14 & 11 and I can tell you the experience was nothing short of trauma. Imagine being at the airport for over 9 hours? Airline did not even offer water to the children nor any any empathy from the staff on ground. This is the most horrible experience I and my children have had traveling.
Aircraft | Boeing 737 |
Type Of Traveller | Family Leisure |
Seat Type | Economy Class |
Route | Luanda to Lagos |
Date Flown | July 2023 |
Seat Comfort | 12345 |
Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
Ground Service | 12345 |
Value For Money | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"I am stuck in Luanda still"
Benedetta Janse van Rensburg (South Africa)
✅ Trip Verified | They will delay your first flight with 3-hours to give you a taste of what is to come. Then they will delay it with 5-hours, then they will let you board the plane and wait another hour and half on the plane, while not taking off. Then they make you get off again, the last people at the airport, to tell you they have problems, which they do not really divulge to you. They keep on talking nonsense that is not true. Their Lunch pack is a bread roll, an old nartjie and a piece of cake. The aircraft is filthy too. Currently I am stuck in Luanda still, it is now 9am on 25 July 2023.
Type Of Traveller | Business |
Seat Type | Economy Class |
Route | Cape Town to Lagos via Luanda |
Date Flown | July 2023 |
Seat Comfort | 12345 |
Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
Food & Beverages | 12345 |
Ground Service | 12345 |
Value For Money | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"disaster of an airline"
M Mannion (South Africa)
✅ Trip Verified | A complete disaster of an airline. Over 1 hour delayed flying out of Johannesburg to Luanda. The return trip was even worse with a 3 hours delay because of a broken plane. Poor communication and it just seems like a disaster waiting to happen! No inflight entertainment, no wifi! And the fleet of planes is from the 80’s if no older.
Aircraft | A340 |
Type Of Traveller | Business |
Seat Type | Business Class |
Route | Lisbon to Johannesburg via Luanda |
Date Flown | June 2023 |
Seat Comfort | 12345 |
Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
Food & Beverages | 12345 |
Inflight Entertainment | 12345 |
Ground Service | 12345 |
Wifi & Connectivity | 12345 |
Value For Money | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"Disappointed with the experience"
P Kalniwe (South Africa)
✅ Trip Verified | Disappointed with the experience. The flight was scheduled to depart Johannesburg at 16:30. An hour later, we were all sitting in the cabin with no communication whatsoever.
Type Of Traveller | Business |
Seat Type | Economy Class |
Route | Johannesburg to Luanda |
Date Flown | June 2023 |
Seat Comfort | 12345 |
Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
Food & Beverages | 12345 |
Inflight Entertainment | 12345 |
Ground Service | 12345 |
Value For Money | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"not worth the money"
Quinton Seemann (United Kingdom)
✅ Trip Verified | Booked flight through GotoGate. TAAG (Air Angola) cancelled flight and offered a refund or change of flight. I was unable to travel on the alternative dates, so requested the refund option. According to GotoGate, TAAG did not process the refund. I waited 5 months. I followed up with TAAG and GotoGate repeatedly, including visiting TAAG's offices. I ended up claiming the money back through my bank. This took a many hours of following up. TAAG blamed GotoGate and GotoGate blamed TAAG. The flight itself was awful. Angola airport is terrible. Very basic facilities, it was very hot in the terminal. The planes were very dirty and old, with no inflight entertainment. I am normally happy with basic travel, but this was not worth the money. Two lessons learnt: 1) Don't fly with TAAG again. 2) Always book directly with the airline
Type Of Traveller | Solo Leisure |
Seat Type | Economy Class |
Route | Madrid to Cape Town via Luanda |
Date Flown | January 2023 |
Seat Comfort | 12345 |
Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
Food & Beverages | 12345 |
Inflight Entertainment | 12345 |
Ground Service | 12345 |
Wifi & Connectivity | 12345 |
Value For Money | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"doesn't value your time or money"
H Carter (Austria)
✅ Trip Verified | I recently had the "pleasure" of flying with TAAG, the Angolan airline that makes you wonder if time actually exists. Seriously, their flights are so delayed that you could have time to write a novel or learn a new language while waiting for your plane to finally take off. And don't even get me started on their customer service. When my return flight was delayed by more than 7 hours, I knew I would miss my connecting flight in Luanda. But did TAAG care? Not one bit. They wouldn't refund my ticket even though I didn't even take the flight to Luanda because I knew I would be stranded there without a visa to enter the country. But hey, at least their ticket prices are high enough to make you think you're flying with a premium airline, right? Wrong. In fact, after flying with TAAG even Ryanair would feel like a premium airline. In all seriousness, if you're looking for an airline that doesn't value your time or money, then go ahead and fly with TAAG. Otherwise, save yourself the hassle and choose a different airline for your next trip.
Type Of Traveller | Couple Leisure |
Seat Type | Economy Class |
Route | Luanda to Sao Tome Island |
Date Flown | December 2022 |
Seat Comfort | 12345 |
Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
Food & Beverages | 12345 |
Ground Service | 12345 |
Value For Money | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"It was filthy to the extreme"
L Pearson (South Africa)
✅ Trip Verified | I have never seen anything like the plane that we flew from Luanda to Cape Town in. It was filthy to the extreme, the seats were grimy and threadbare and broken, the footrests were broken as were the armrests. The bathrooms had no hand towels and could not have been cleaned in weeks. It was actually quite unbelievable how a plane was allowed to fly in that state is quite beyond me. The cabin staff just did not seem to care. The plane was also full.
Type Of Traveller | Couple Leisure |
Seat Type | Economy Class |
Route | Luanda to Cape Tow |
Date Flown | March 2023 |
Seat Comfort | 12345 |
Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
Food & Beverages | 12345 |
Ground Service | 12345 |
Value For Money | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"hand luggage remained at Lisbon Airport"
E Lamaduri (United Kingdom)
✅ Trip Verified | I flew from Luanda Angola to Lisbon with my two daughters aged 17 and 5 yrs. We had three hand luggage all of the same size when we got into the when we got into the plane. Two of our hand luggage could not fit in the overhead luggage rack and thus the cabin crew took the bags to the check in luggage despite my protests that the luggage was not labeled and that I was in transit to the UK. When i reached Lisbon i tried to reason with TAP air officials for me to get my hand luggage from the belt to no avail until I left Lisbon for London. As a result my two hand luggage remained at Lisbon Airport. I need assistance to trace and return the two bags to me.
Type Of Traveller | Family Leisure |
Seat Type | Economy Class |
Route | Luanda to Lisbon |
Date Flown | February 2023 |
Seat Comfort | 12345 |
Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
Food & Beverages | 12345 |
Inflight Entertainment | 12345 |
Ground Service | 12345 |
Value For Money | 12345 |
Recommended | no |