SAA delivers!!
I travelled up to JHB on Monday and was forced due to poor service from the Airports Company of South Africa to wait for a bus in order to board my plane. It appears that someone is unable (despite having a co-ordinated flight plan from all of the airlines) to plan busses to take passengers to their planes at Cape Town International Airport.We finally had everyone seated almost 35 minutes after our scheduled take off time. The pilot (I unfortunately did not take not of his name) kept us informed the entire time. Then (with the help of the jet-stream up to JHB and probably some excess use of the throttle) he managed to get us into OR Tambo just 10 minutes after our original scheduled landing time.
Returning on Wednesday morning then plane left 5 minutes early and landed 10 minutes early. The staff on board of both flights seemed genuinely interested in looking after the passengers and the service was excellent.
I am often pointing out when people do not deliver the service that I expect, but it was great to have had completely good service from both sets of crew. Well done SAA.
Now all we need is for ACSA to plan their busses at Cape Town international better. I fly again next Tuesday so hopefully by then it is improved.
South African August 22, 2008 - 10:34 pm
The airlines generally build in more time in their scheduled flight plans than it actually takes, to make up for the inevitable delays.