Travel, Airlines - South African Airways hours of delay, poor experiences

Complaints.com received the following e-message on February 4, 2001:

From: Email User

RE: South African Airways

To whom it may concern, Subject: Urgent complaint regarding South African Airways. I recently travelled on flight SAA 212 from Atlanta on December 6, 2000, into

Johannesburg for the Christmas holidays. I found my in-going flight to be an

enjoyable one- quite the opposite to every other form of contact,

communication and flight thereafter with South African Airways. Complaint 1 On December 20th, my family and I were passengers on SAA Flight 327 from

Johannesburg to Cape Town. We experienced hours of delays (approximately 5),

which resulted in us missing an entire day of our long awaited vacation, and

were left feeling annoyed, frustrated and angry at the sub-standard service

of South African Airways. - We were shunted back and forth throughout the airport with no real

information regarding our replacement flight. - There was a distinct absence of amended flight information regarding SAA

327. - The inability to decipher any announcements made by SAA was frustrating and

unacceptable. Airline staff were unhelpful, difficult to understand and

posessed no real information regarding our flight. - Lastly, the frightening thought that it was through a random aircraft check

that a problem with the fuel pump was detected makes me reluctant to fly

South African Airways in the future. Complaint 2 My father passed away on January 3rd, 2001 ( in the U.S.A.) during the same

vacation in Johannesburg. I urgently required a date change to my return

ticket into Atlanta which was originally booked for January 11th, 2001 ( SAA

211 .) The same day my dad died I contactly SAA in Johannesburg to try and

get the soonest possible flight back. - After conveying my situation to the SAA representative and pleading for a

sympathetic date change to the next possible flight, I was met with rudeness,

insensitivity and the uncompassionate reply that there was nothing available

for days. It was apparent to me that this individual was completely

disinterested in his job and made no effort to help me in this difficult

time. I was told to call back the next day. - I then went on to contact alternative SAA and Voyager offices in

Johannesburg who gave me the complete runaround. By this stage I simply did

not have the energy to continue as I was emotionally drained and angry. - My family and I are still appalled with South African Airways. I was forced

to buy an entirely new ticket with British Airways ( $1080.00 ) whom in

comparion were friendly, helpful and efficient. I am outraged with SAA and

feel that I should be compensated for a flight that cost me $1045.00. I am hoping that you will somehow be able to pass on this letter to the

appropriate person/s that could help me resolve this situation, so I can put

it behind me. I am coming to you, as I forwarded my complaints to SAA's head

office in Fort Lauderdale, Florida but have not as of yet received any

response. Thank you for the opportunity to let the public know of the bad experiences I

have had with SAA. Kind Regards, Catherine Keller