I am in OR Tambo. In spite of buying my tickets and paying for it 9 months ago, SAA just refused me boarding because I didn't have the credit card on me that I bought the ticket with. Picture ID did not help . Bastards made me buy yet another ticket.

Assuming you paid with a CC, I reckon you should contact the company and query the payment......

Did you have a third party change or make your booking either on the phone or online by any chance?

They tried the same crap with me in Windhoek on my way to Lusaka, via Jo-berg. They asked for the credit card and I produced it. They then informed me it was not the credit card I used to purchase the ticket. They were correct.

I bought the tickets 12 months earlier and the credit card got compromised about two weeks later. Some tires in Nigeria showed up on it and Bank of America froze the account. A new card was issued.

Anyway they said the ticket was no good because the credit card was no good. I said bullshit, you got paid and I can pull the statement up on my laptop and prove it. They sent me to another office and a Black woman with a major attitude and delightful accent called the male supervisor who OK'd my ticket. No bribe involved.

I lucked out I guess.

In Lusaka for the return I had no problem. Teresa with Muchinga knows EVERYBODY!!

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
I am in OR Tambo. In spite of buying my tickets and paying for it 9 months ago, SAA just refused me boarding because I didn't have the credit card on me that I bought the ticket with. Picture ID did not help . Bastards made me buy yet another ticket.

BTW, I would buy the ticket using your credit card and as soon as you got to your destination call your credit card company and challenge the payment. They won't get their money especially if you can show that you already paid using the same card.

Illegitimi non carborundum.

Go shoot a big elephant.

One more reason to fly Delta and pass on the cattle car...of course, I am sitting in Vancouver waiting to get on an Air Canada flight where they rape everyone with a gun for $...so I guess that is hypocritical!?! I did fly Delta here...

On my way home from Harare a few weeks ago, they canceled my business class ticket and tried to move me to coach. Evidently, they had changed to a smaller plane because of decreased demand and had fewer business class seats. I complained to the right people and got my original business class seat, but a whole bunch of folks had to ride home in the back despite paying full fare. There were a lot of unhappy people on the way home.

I have also had them try the same thing with me on the credit card they pulled on you. I was able to get in front of a decent supervisor who boarded me, but it was a major hassle and I almost missed my flight.

SAA has gotten progressively worse over the last decade or so.

after the way SAA screwed me 7-8 years ago(as i have stated repeatedly here), i would swim before i would fly across the pond with those bastards. unfortunately for me i have to fly with them in 2 weeks from Joburg to Bulawayo, as they offer the only way to get there. pisses me off but reality is a real bitch.

quote:

SAA has gotten progressively worse over the last decade or so.

it's called BEE, ALSO KNOWN AS THE PETER PRINCIPAL!!

quote:

Originally posted by Tim Herald:
One more reason to fly Delta and pass on the cattle car...of course, I am sitting in Vancouver waiting to get on an Air Canada flight where they rape everyone with a gun for $...so I guess that is hypocritical!?! I did fly Delta here...

Larry was on the delta plane from ATL. His problem occurred on his JNB to HRE connection with SAA.

I was so pissed off yesterday. I have alerted my assistant to watch for charges on my card after the ticket purchase. Personally I am betting on that as Tambo is a den of thieves. She is also calling Amex today.

Off to catch the charter plane in less than an hour.

Gents:

When SAA screwed me, I flew Air Zimbabwe!

Not sure I would reccomend it!

interesting scam. I flew SAA from Dulles to JoBerg to Harare in December of 2008. They never asked for a credit card or other ID, just the passport. Of course, I let Kathi at Wild Travel book for me. She probably does too much business with them for her clients to be messed with.

Good Luck on your hunt...

Rich

Rich,

I think you'll find there's more chance of it being bad company policy rather than a scam.

We recently bought a ticket for someone to fly SAA and then they needed for him to buy another ticket because the original was paid for by a third party...... I can't remember what happened then but one of us got an automatic refund.

In 08 I flew on FF miles TPA to JNB, bought SAA tickets to WDH, I remember then the call center for SAA told me I had to bring my CC and show them in JNB.

SAA is a shadow of its former self. Used to be a good carrier. Now, it's just another African airline, which is a damned good reason to not get on it.

I'm not going to steal Larry's thunder, but the early reports from the field indicate that Larry's SAA debacle is a distant memory and may have been forgotten altogether.

Just got back yesterday and SAA was terrible. bad plane bad crew and bad service. at one time it was 111 degrees in our section (a hunter from Montana had a thermometer). My fault for trying to save a few buck, won't do that again.

We just got back from our trip on SAA. We had 6 flights with them. 2 international and 4 internal flights. Did not have a single issue and we were never asked for a CC. The tour company made a mistake on our flight from Hoedspruit to Joburg, the ticket agent fixed it and was very helpful. It cost $23.00US to change the ticket. Pretty minor. Like all airlines they have issues. Personally I hate to fly on American or US Air. My preferred airlines are Southwest, United and Air NewZealand. But often we don't have a choice…

These people are some kind of inconsistant! I flew home last week. I walked up to the ticket counter in Bulawayo. Set down three (3) big heavy suitcases....and one huge built up wooden box to be checked as luggage (had a tiger fish in it). THATS 4 BIG PIECES OF LUGGAGE IN ALL. Know what they said.....NOTHING! Just checked them through on 4 different flights all the way to my home airport. I was expecting to pay big time! When you expect things should go as normal.....they don't. When you expect things should be complicated.....they weren't.
FLYING SAA IS JUST LIKE FORREST SAID.....'YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT YOUR GONNA GET'!!!

Despite some positive comments on SAA I suppose I will just go with Delta and pay the extra airfare. Next June will be my first time to Africa and I want it to go as smoothly as possible since I will have firearms and such.

More than anything, I appreciate the first person reports on this and other forums! It really helps novice international travelers like me.

I am just back this morning.

In Harare, no such request was made.

I changed my ticket. My assistant e mailed me the documents. They did say to bring the credit card. Perhaps we were both guilty of not reading this.

Just returned from a quick trip to South Africa using South African Airways and while standing at the check-in counter at OR Tambo for flight to Cape Town I head the agent next to me ask passenger to produce credit card used to make the reservation.

I asked the agent why they have to produce the credit card and from what I understood it was to combat credit card fraud for tickets purchased online at the SAA website. When you book online you must produce the credit card you used as proof it is your credit card and you authorized the transaction. This basically rules out anyone purchasing a ticket for you using their credit card!

When booking through a travel agent you do not need to produce the credit card because if the travel agent did use a stolen credit card, or the credit card owner disputed the charge, the airline in turn sends a debit memo to the travel agent for payment. When booked online there is no one to send a debit memo to and so the airline ends up eating any losses!

Interesting. I had not thought of that issue.

I got the cost of my extra ticket refunded without much difficulty.

I can understand in certain circumstances. For example, if the ticket was bought the day before travel. However, in my case, the ticket was bought months ahead of time. If fraud had been involved, I would have complained as soon as the credit card bill was received. Obviously I didn't.

AIA once again!

Last year I had to produce the credit card I booked with when flying from J'burg to Vic Falls and as I recall it was pretty apparent at the time of booking that I would be required to do so. However, for my trip this past September I did not have to do so for my flight from J'burg to Durban. I assume this was because I booked through Expedia as opposed to directly through SAA.

Doing some online bookings at the SAA website and these notes come up at the time you enter the credit card information.

Notes
The card holder must present the credit card used for this booking at check-in along with positive identification which must also be produced by all other travellers in this booking. Failure to comply with any of these requirements will result in the boarding pass NOT being issued.

Should your Credit Card not be present at the time of check-in you will be asked to purchase a new ticket and an inclusive administrative fee of ZAR285 or equivalent in local currency will be raised to refund the first ticket.

The credit card does not have to be present when a credit card is pre authenticated (lodged) with SAA. Changes can be made and paid for with cash or private credit card.if the Company Travel Administrator is not available.

Infants turning two en route must be seated on their own chair. The applicable ½ infant and ½ child fare will be raised. Flight reservations of this nature must be booked through your local South African Airways office.

Sponsored bookings
The credit card used to pay for this reservation does not have to be presented when collecting the boarding pass on the day of travel. On the day of departure the traveller must only present a valid form of identification such as an ID book, passport (for international travel) or drivers licence and the e-ticket receipt. Failure to comply with any of these requirements will result in the boarding pass NOT being issued.

For departures within the next 8 hours: please click here to download an authentication form which must be completed by the credit card holder and faxed to the SAA office in the country where travel commences.

For travel from Ghana: If the credit card holder is not travelling or the credit card used for purchase cannot be presented at check-in, please click here to download an authentication form which must be completed by the credit card holder and faxed to the SAA office in Accra (++233 (0) 30 278-3561).

Changes to sponsored bookings: Payment for sponsored booking flight upgrades or changes can only be made with the credit card used for the original transaction through your local SAA call centre. You will be asked to fax through copies of the front and back of the credit card and ID book or passport, as well as an authentication for sponsored bookings which can be downloaded here.

Changes to pre-authenticated (lodged card) bookings: If the company travel administrator is not available to make the changes online using the “lodged card”, the changes may be made and paid for by the traveller using a private credit card or cash.

Failure to comply with any of these requirements will result in the boarding pass NOT being issued.

Note: Authentication cannot be completed at airports.

I purchased an internal SAA flight last year with a CC on-line and it was pretty clear on the Invoice you had to produce the CC you used.

Also flew SAA to Bulawayo and Air Zim back again. Never a problem. In fact I was suffering from Gastro on the Air Zim flight and everyone was very concerned and helpful.

Last year in JNB I was waiting for my much delayed SAA flight to board. I went to the departure gate where there were 5-6 non- reflectors joking and dancing around. I asked when my flight was going to leave, and was told that if I wanted to know that info, I should fly British Air.........

[CODE 4]
Also flew SAA to Bulawayo and Air Zim back again. Never a problem. In fact I was suffering from Gastro on the Air Zim flight and everyone was very concerned and helpful.[/QUOTE]
Yeah! In reality no-one was keen to have to mop and clean-up in midflight.