Passenger Says SAA Staff Rude while Airline Admits Some Don’t Even Exist!

There’s something up with the employees at South African Airways (SAA). While one South African passenger was left fuming after the treatment she received from SAA staff, it’s been revealed that several SAA staff members don’t actually exist at all!

SAA Chairperson Dudu Myeni admitted to a parliamentary committee Wednesday that the airline has uncovered employees on its payroll that don’t exist.

Addressing the Standing Committee on Finance, Myeni said: “It was a grave concern for the board to discover ‘ghost employees’. For instance, we’ve had employees in Malaysia where we don’t operate. So, those are areas that this board is working hard to address.”

Meanwhile a Free State financial manager and her fiance were left fuming after a recent holiday to Mauritius, when they accidentally forgot their camera on board.

Nicola Coetzee sent a letter on 11 November 2016 to SAA saying: “Never have I been more ashamed and disappointed by my own country than in the last 24 hours.”

She detailed the efforts she went to to retrieve her camera after realising she had forgotten it when she was on the bus between the airplane and the terminal.

“I forgot my camera for 5 minutes. As soon as I realised it, I asked the bus driver to please take us back, he didn’t but said he would do it himself. When my fiancé spoke to him over the phone he said he was on the plane but refused to give his name.”

The first security help desk had a “no care attitude” and appeared bored, probably “due to their shifts ending”, says Nicola.

After being directed to the SAA help desk through passport check, Nicola says: “The lady working on the 18:00 shift was so rude and unhelpful.” She kept the couple waiting 20 minutes (after which a woman “walking at snail pace” informed Nicole there was nothing on the aircraft); and made no effort to call the bus driver or ask security to check.

“Her rude, unaccommodating and complete negligence toward passengers and human beings shook me to the core.

“To make matters worse I stopped a security guy – Thabang – and pleaded with him to please help me in finding my camera. He was friendly and helpful and made me wait on the other side of passport control while he went to the aircraft.

“Standing and waiting I observed our ‘Immigration Officers’ – eating Nik Naks and licking their fingers while stamping our passports, listening to music on their iPods and reading the newspaper…”

Calls to SAA went unanswered.

“My camera in its bag, with 2x lenses, memory cards and adaptor is worth R20,000. The photos and memories are worth far more and not something I could just replace.

“I conclude by saying that South African Airways is a complete disgrace and disappointed. If this is the entry to my country and the impression of us as ‘a nation’ is built on, I bow my head in shame.”

Nicola has since received a message from SAA apologising for the loss and employee behaviour, but saying “unfortunately SAA does not take responsibility for personal items left on board”. The airline said corrective action will be taken “to ensure a more proactive response from our employees”.

SAA has been battling in recent years with a loss of R1.5 billion ‘welcomed’ this year after the previous year’s R5.6 billion loss. Revenue is reportedly up by 1%.

Several SAPeople members from SA and abroad reported that they’ve had very good service on SAA. Mike Viveiros, who now lives in Taiwan, said: “Recently flew SAA, wonderful service. As soon as we got on the plane it felt like we were already home.” Momin Lok agreed: “I travelled with SAA on 30 October. Staff was fantastic, caring, patient and I am disabled. The staff have improved a lot, thank you for the great service.”