Some time ago I wrote about the way SAA dealt with delays on the Sunday night of the A1 GP out of Durban. No problem about the delays (after all who can control a thunder storm!) but rather the total lack of information to those impacted by a delay that in my case was actually 4 hours.
But there was another issue I had with SAA: On an international flight out of Jhb to Hong Kong the flight was delayed by 2 hours. This meant that the staff overshot their no more than 16 hour continuous service law. The compromise was to refuse to serve half of the evening meal and breakfast. As I had traded in 35 000 voyager miles to secure business class this response wasn’t good enough. I wrote asking that they reinstate my miles as I had paid for a service that in part I had not received. This is SAA’s response. The saga will not end here…

Dear Mr Coats,

Thank you for your e-mail dated 27 January 2006.
We always appreciate receiving feedback from our customers as this enables us to improve on our service standards. It is most disappointing to note that on this occasion we did not meet your reasonable expectations. We sincerely regret that our flight was delayed. We would like to assure you that our first thought is the safety of our customers and this is not negotiable. While we appreciate that our customers do understand that delays do happen it is imperative for the airline to ensure service recovery strategies are implemented efficiently.
Mr Coats, it is indeed disheartening to hear of your dissatisfaction with the service you received from South African Airways. This is certainly not consistent with our commitment to service excellence and the image we would want to leave with our valued customers. Please accept our sincere apologies for the inconvenience you experienced in this instance. It is unfortunate that due to the crew in flight rest period, you were not served breakfast. You have my assurance that it was never our intention to inconvenience you in any way. While we regret the inconvenience caused we unfortunately cannot accede to your request for the reversal of your voyager miles.
Again, thank you for writing and bringing this matter to our attention. Our desire is to provide superior customer satisfaction, and your input and continued business will help us reach this goal. We sincerely appreciate your business and look forward to future opportunities to better serve you.
With kind regards,
Ashley Petersen
CUSTOMER CARE EXECUTIVE OFFICE