1 of the toilets was broken when we boarded toilet ran out of toilet paper No option to choose a meal at check-in Dinner roll was a brick No vegetarian option for breakfast Breakfast Croissant was a brick Breakfast yogurt was not nice headphones were broken Headphones are stiff and uncomfortable with crappy sound As headphone uses double mic pin I could only hear through 1 ear with my personal headphones. TV stopped working a third of the way through the flight other TV had issues off and on His remote/controller never worked no real system for boarding plane

On a recent internal Africa journey the SAA systems were down at port of departure so they moved to manual. As a result we were treated as NOT having completed that leg of a longer journey with the further result that we were removed by SAA from our pre-booked seats to London. We wasted half our short en route stay in South Africa trying to sort out at Oliver Tambo their (SAA) problems. The only offer of compensation on return was a small credit lasting a year against another flight with SAA. Worthless!! We are convinced that SAA do not care about their customers and treat complaints as an occupational hazard and at best an irritant. What a shambolic outfit.

My girlfriends and I just returned a few days ago from South Africa. We traveled to and from Jburg from JFK on SA Airways. We made a mistake and read some reviews of this airlines prior, so we had some reservations....Well, I'm here to set the record straight!! The plane was clean, the crew was both courteous and professional, and the food was great! I would choose this airline to fly me anywhere!! From the moment we hit the ticket counter until we disembarked, every employee was friendly and helpful!

I do not know where to start with this but here it is I went to South Africa to meet up with my fiancee'in Durban for 5 days, the flight there was long but nice as could be for a 23 hour flight from Columbus, Ohio my first international flight. BUT 2 days before i was suppose to leave I got a stomach bug did not feel I wanted to be sick on a long flight I called and was told ok we can change your flight we will call you for new itinerary, no call so I called back and got disconnected so I called back and get another person and this person did not know what was going on,and said would call me back no call back, I called back and they said ok we will have you scheduled bring doctor's paper, so I call back to check on new itinerary the actual day hours before flight to make sure I had the change and this person has no idea what I'm talking about so while sitting in the ER for my app and still calling them and waiting on them to call me back I had less than a hour to get further than a hour drive so because of their incompetence I have now been declared a no show and my ticket was given away and now I have to buy a new ticket. let me say my original ticket was 1,495.00 US dollars and this person said a new ticket would be 900.00 I was like no way because I called in to reschedule 2 days previous to change my ticket. so now I will say 20 days later and 30 people in SAA ,2 supervisors 3 managers and and calling further into who owns SAA (Star Alliance) and calling the Embassy(I was told to call them back if nothing was accomplished) and so telling SAA I would further call a news crew my ticket went to 900.00 to 895.00 to 2,000 ( which from ONE SAA manager I was told sorry about the inconvenience and do what you need to do He would call me back with new itinerary, he never called back that night I called him back he left for the day would be back in morning at 6 am I call ask for this manager he's in a meeting they would relay a message I gave a hour I call he's busy I call back can't find him would leave him message never calls so asking to speak to another manager which i turned in that other manager so now my ticket went to 250.00 this manager said she was so sorry this had happened and after reviewing my phone conversations and her actually calling me back 2 times and emailing my new itinerary I was finally going home which I paid I don't understand how she got my itinerary done over night and ready by a afternoon flight that 30 people could not do in 19 days so I paid this 250.00 in fee charges because it was the only way to get home so after transferring monies and time change of 6 hours and the not knowing where to stay no transportation, hungry and only 5 days of clothes thru all this I was leaving 25 days total. Let me just say I'm not a happy person HORRIBLE!!!!! and this my friends is why you get names dates and times...South Africa was beautiful but SAA is Bad! VERY BAD! just ONE thanks is to the Manager that finally got it right OH... and actually this is only half of the story wouldn't let me publish without making a rating SAA don't even deserve one star

I flew from Nelspruit to Johanesburg a few months ago and was FORCED to check in my carry-on. Of course it was stolen- and noone has provided me with answers or even returned my calls/emails. I finally got a check for $320. That just covers my phone bill to call South African Airways to keep asking what is going on!!! Ridiculous. DO NOT FLY SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS!!

On December 18th we embarked on what would be our first trip to South Africa. Our flight was booked thru United Airlines in August of 2012 with a connecting flight from our home in Boston to New York via American Airline. We arrived at the airport from Boston at 8:35am on the morning of December 18th, 2 hours and 5 minutes prior to our SAA flight leaving for Johannesburg, scheduled for 10:40am that morning. However, American Airlines managed to lose/misplace my husband’s luggage. After tracking down a baggage handler and begging him to look for the bag, after all my suitcase arrived on the conveyor belt within 10 minutes of landing, we were able to retrieve the suitcase and making a run to catch the airport 

Booked SAA Flight 208 from Dulles on 2/13/2012. Flight was cancelled late in the evening due to mechanical problems. Flight from previous day had been cancelled for same reason. We were going to the funeral for my mother-in-law who passed away on 2/12/2012. This was earliest flight we could get a reservation for. Flight was cancelled and replacement flight did not leave until almost noon on 2/14 causing us to miss the funeral. The airline didn't care - acted like the cancellation was routine. Gave us a voucher for 25% off a future flight that stated it was good for a year but was back dated two months prior to date we received it so it was really only good for 10 months. Nothing can make up for my husband missing his mother's funeral. Seats in economy are horrible - concave shape which provides no lumbar support, requiring you to sit in an unnatural position and bottom of seat is hard as a board! Complaints to airline were met with same lack of interest - sorry you missed the funeral, etc., etc. Food was awful. Flight attendants all had attitudes and one of them was falling asleep while standing up on our return from Johannesburg on 2/29 on the leg of the trip from Johannesburg to Dakar. How safe was that? We plan to book a group tour in 2013 and will look for any airline other than SAA.

Check-in in Cape town an unbelievable hour long experience in biz class. Lounge there fine but in JNB, totally unmotivated unhelpful lot. No separate buiz class boarding and a "herd" of people. Seat was roomy and comfortable. 18 hours on the plane and 3+ hour stop in Dakar. Cabin crew on both legs sometimes helpful but other times prone to argue - my pillow not seat, can I have a pillow = big discussion - how about another pretzal bag -"oh only 5 in the plane"! IFE intermittently working ( seems to be a regular feature -some on my daughter's inbound). Overall, the concept of customer service seems lacking in this airline. Would fly within Africa - other choices worse; but would find an alternative on long-haul.

This was my first time on an international flight and it was a very positive experience for me. I would definitely suggest this a airlines to friends and family traveling to South Africa. The food, service, and entertainment were excellent! Although the flight was long, I was comfortable for the majority of the flight. If I could, I would fly on this airline everywhere!

DO NOT USE South African Airways - if possible

I had a terrible experience with SAA before flying. Essentially I needed to change the return leg of my flight. Being a business class ticket costing over £4k this should be straight forward. Unfortunately their customer service provided the worst service I have ever experienced.

1. It is an international number (SA) - so you are paying alot to speak to them
2. They cut me off several times on answering (boosts their answer rate)
3. They couldn't change the ticket today and asked me to call back the next day
4. On calling back they said they had no record of my request and I would have to call back the next working day (AGAIN) - this time 3 days way due to the weekend
5. I said this was not practical and asked them to please make the change
6. They said this was not possible
7. I asked to cancel my ticket
8. They said of course but I would have to call back on the next working day as they can't help (AGAIN)

Absolutely useless. Cancellation fee for the privilege of not being served 25% or £1000. Thank you SAA - DO NOT USE THIS AIRLINE.

Flew to South Africa from Heathrow. At check in, asked for a window seat (for those who have never flown, you should get a window) and i got 46A with...a massive pillar! The sort of redemption was the A340 600 has a Tail camera. Food was good and On demand entertainment was Very Good. The staff were too friendly towards one passenger but he laughed, Typical South African!

On the way back was horrible. Boarding was delayed, Cape Town Passport control was very bad to put it mildly! Yet again asked for a window seat and got a pillar but i got a little extra free...a stiff neck trying to look out the nearest window!

Flew the A340 300 which is like a Bus powered by a Nissan Micra! Take off role was LONG. when we leant back to climb, the scariest noise from the aircraft ever. In flight entertainment was old style, movies rubbish. However did discover some great Music like Journey, Johnny Clegg although why the heck put modern noise on the rock channel? You can't compare The eagles with Dizzee Rascal!

Over all, not the best and will consider another airline Next Time.

As a family we dreadedflying with SAA after reading review also with a 22month baby, But everthing was very good, we were put on the plane first so we could settle the baby, the pushchair was the last thing to go, and the flight attendants could not have been more helpful, food good, entertainment good. Seats as comfortable as can be on economy flight.

My wife and I flew from New York to Windhoek with a transfer at JFK to visit her family. We checked in two suitcases that had locks on them. While we made the connecting flight those did not. The bags were delivered to us by the airline a few hours after we arrived in Windhoek. At first glance everything seemed fine. Then when we opened the bags we discovered that almost all of the gifts we brought with us for the family, $1300 worth, were stolen. We promptly filed a complaint the next day. It took over a month for the airline to process our claim. They have decided not to reimburse us for the stuff their employees stole.

I will never fly with this airline again and I encourage everyone not to either due to the corruption amongst it's workers. They say that the stealing is a minor problem but I beg to differ because on the flight back to New York they cut the plastic off of one bag and went through out stuff again. This time we were smart and only packed clothes so nothing was stolen. The airline claims to have integrity as one of it's core values but as far as I can tell that is a false statement.

2 July 2010: SAA flight from Lagos to Johannesburg
Boarding gate opened late and after sitting on an unmoving plane for 4 hours the flight was cancelled at 03:00 because of an engine problem. Passengers were taken to hotels but not allowed their luggage, only after a crew bus left first - all luggage in tow. No informat...ion given on when our flight would be, when we needed to be back at the airport and information telephone number provided to us did not exist.
3 July 2010: SAA eventually gives information at 12:30 that all passengers will be collected at 14:00. Arrive at airport and again boarding gate is opened late. Sit on unmoving plane for another 3 hours after which we are told we'll need to get off and they'll try and get us on one of their other flights - 400 passengers VERY unhappy! 45 minutes later we're told actually we will be flying and plane eventually leaves 4 hours late, only after we have been shouted at by the crew who tell us they are tired and running out of patience - pity they seemed to forget that they were being paid to handle this situation while we were paying to be treated so badly! Eventually arrive back at 04:30 South African time - a full 24 hours later than we supposed to BUT the worst bit by far was the incredibly rude, unhelpful and uncaring treatment from staff. NEVER again!