South African Airways Reviews 

I flew from Cape Town to JHB… the flight was delayed by 2 hours whilst we were sitting on the plane… no real apologies or attempt to reimburse us… additionally the pilot missed their landing and that added an additional 20 mins to the flight (I mean what professional pilot does that?!?!)

Then on top of this - my return is today and we are already 40 minutes delayed… this is beyond… I understand if it happens once but not twice in a row…

Do not suggest, poor poor stuff…

We had a very short flight, from Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe to Johannesburg. Thank you for the service even on such a short flight, we were given a packed lunchbox with pictures of South Africa and the sandwich and nibbles inside were very good as well as bottle of water. Thank for a safe and pleasant journey on S.A. 041 on the August 21st 2026, thank you to Gillian Kamoo(purser),Lesego Maredi, Karabo Mapailo, Elkana Mkhabela.

Worst experience ever.

My daughter needed to travel with a musical instrument on board the flight, so this ticket could not be purchased online. The call centre is totally incompetent, unprofessional, and absolutely useless. A simple flight ticket took me almost a week to buy. They made so many errors. When they sent me the payment link, they forgot to add the R100 service fee, so they insisted that i had not paid, only to find out that the service fee of R100 was not included. Every time you call in, you need to speak to a different person and explain yourself all over again. No continuity, no notes written if I called earlier. Nothing is recorded. The incompetence is on another level. Do not use the call centre. You wasting your time!

During my last 3 flights with this company, it's been the best experience according to price-quality. The food is very nice in comparison to other airlines. They keep offering drinks and water, which levels up the experience. The staff have always been friendly and with an amazing attitude. Even though the aircraft looks a little outdated, I gotta say that it's still much more comfortable than seats from other airlines, + they recline much more than others. I want to fly with SAA always,and will continue doing so.

Appalling, hostile customer "service" from every SAA representative we spoke to at O R Tambo, including the supervisor our issue was escalated to. We missed a flight connection due to the disastrous passport and security queues inside the transit area. Every legal source I have consulted indicates that, because this was sold as a single ticket on the same booking reference, SAA should have rebooked me onto the next flight for free, but they made us exit the transit area (another hour in passport control in the reverse direction!) and then pay a whopping fee to get the next flight, which was the following day, so we also had to pay for a grossly overpriced hotel. I could almost forgive this if even one member of staff had shown basic levels of courtesy or showed that their business class customers were in any way valued, but in fact they were united in their hostility and outright refusal to assist in any way. Unfortunately I imagine SAA will not be bothered about the many negative reviews as they simply do not care. We will be voting with our feet and avoiding them for the rest of our lives. By far and away the worst airline I have ever used.

I cancelled my flight on 31 March 2026 to fly out on 7 April and the South African Airways refund team send me an acknowledgment email also advising that they will process my refund in 60 days but I am still chasing the refund today 22 July 2026. I went to South Africa early this July on another carrier and asked face to face at the airport to get my refund back but I was passed on from one person to the other since night time I arrived to the following morning and later that following morning was given a piece of paper with typed phone numbers and asked to call. (i will be uploading acknowledgement emails and the paper with phone numbers here soon). I have called this refund phone number several times and am being told that it is a wrong number/department as i end up in the it section not refund section. I keep being passed on from on person to the other. I HAVE COMPLETED THE ONLINE REFUND FORM SEVERAL TIMES AND STILL THEY ARE YET TO GIVE ME MY REFUND BACK. I WILL FOLLOW THIS UP UNTIL I GET MY MONEY BACK.

I have not travelled with SAA for many years and recently took a return flight to Sao Paulo. Overall the service was poor compared to the many other carriers I have used. The planes are very obviously old e.g no USB charging points. Staff are unfriendly on entering the plane and the food inedible. To top it all my luggage did not arrive on my return home. I found the person dealing with lost luggage friendly but unprofessional. Several of us with lost luggage were crowded into a back office / store room at ORT and asked to give personal information in front of all other passengers. Clueless. I won't be flying SAA again if I can avoid it.

On landing ar ORT one notices a large fleet of new SAfair planes on the apron with not a single SAA plane in sight. That says it all.

I was honestly so impressed with the amazing experience going to jhb and coming back to Cape Town with South African airlines. Friendly helpful staff, took time to have a quick chat with me. Lovely to get free drinks and a snack. Flew on time both ways. Will most definitely recommend them. I dont usually comment but felt I needed to.. Ruth Crump

They cancelled my flight few hours before the departure
It happened more than 2 months ago, and now i'm still waiting for my refund !
I even tried to send them an email to know why is it taking so long. Still no answer for the moment.
Never book anything with them !

Very very poor service….would not ever recommend this airline…id rather walk

Customer service at ticket sales in King Shaka Airport - A lady named Nomvu was extremely rude (bare in mind I’m in crutches with a broken foot), refused to give me a wheelchair for my Dad to wheel me around airport - whilst there were literally 20 wheelchairs available next to the ticket counter. Her extremely sour attitude proceeded to tell me that their phones “weren’t working”, then she was using the phone to call another division 5 minutes later.
We needed help with tracking down my suitcase that was lost on SAA yesterday and I was told it would be delivered by today to Durban. The baggage claim counter had told me to come up to Ticket Sales to help - yet Ticket Sales was telling me to go back down to baggage claim. (Bare in mind I’m hobbeling around on my crutches & broken foot - and not allowed a wheelchair). We went up & down between the 2 counters twice. Still no suitcase - still no hope.
Got to love South Africa :(

UPDATE: 2nd July, the supervisor called me to assist with moving my flight to one that accommodates dogs. Thanks.

1 Star – Broken Process & Poor Customer Service
I have never experienced such a frustrating process with an airline.
Months before my flight, I contacted SAA by email, reached out to multiple departments, copied senior staff, and made numerous phone calls to confirm whether my booked flight could accommodate my dog. I either received no response or was told pet requests could only be processed 24 hours before departure.
I even explained that my employer needed confirmation before booking my work travel, yet my emails were ignored.
After months of trying to obtain answers, I was only informed days before departure that my flight could not accommodate pets. I was then told I would need to change my flight and could be liable for the change penalty.
When I escalated the matter, the supervisor repeatedly interrupted me, spoke over me, and argued with me instead of trying to resolve the issue. I even had to ask for an opportunity to finish speaking. My concerns were dismissed rather than investigated.
My frustration is not that a particular aircraft cannot transport pets. It is that SAA's process lacks transparency, customers receive inconsistent information, emails go unanswered, and customer service fails when assistance is needed most.
This entire situation could have been avoided if SAA clearly indicated which flights accommodate pets before customers book.
Very disappointing. I expected far better from South African Airways.

If I could give them negative points I would. The customer service is non existent. I wrote three emails to ask about flights being changed. No response. I enquired at the desk at the airport. We can’t help with that. It’s a shame as the flight staff are very good. If there are other airlines or modes of transport fly with them. Customer service is non existent.

I transited thru Joburg My luggage was opened.They took all valuables.JBL speaker,powerbank,lotions,snacks,sweets for my kids.When i asked them they are not cooperating.

When you transit through Or tambo be careful.

This is the worst airline I have ever used in my entire life. There is terrible communication and failure to have good hospitality. Our flight was delayed yesterday and we missed our connecting flight so we had to stay in Joburg for the night. -1/10 never again, please do not use this airline if you care about your mental health and peace. SAA do better please💀

Cancelled flights of mine without any request made on my part.

Call centre contact doesn’t work, at all.

Abject, holiday plans now completely ruined.

Refund team not responding .
Communication extremely poor or No communication at all .?Cancelled 5 refundable tickets 30days before flying out due to middle east disruption which had affected our flight from london to SA. They are not responding to my emails about a refund . I’ve use emails and calls but still zero response. Only standard response of acknowledgement of the email .Worst when it comes to finances email they dont respond to calls at all.

If I could give 0 stars, I would.
Customer service not great. Needing 60 days to process a refund is insane to me. Said refund not even 20% of original ticket price.
Also have a problem with their policy of return tickets. Bought a return ticket in a single purchase to Durban, missed departing flight but managed a different flight to Durban, wanted to fly back from Durban with my SAA ticket, only to find out I cannot use that ticket since I was not on the departing flight. SAA never let me know that my return ticket is not valid anymore, I only found out when I tried to check in, also had to still log a refund even though they were the ones who “cancelled” my ticket.

I have a bad experience flying with SAA, they canceled our flight on the 5th April 2026, and I missed my connecting flight from Johannesburg to London and had to purchase another ticket and they did not help anyhow they just said sorry, the staff was unbothered by the inconvenience they caused, no refund, not responding to our emails nothing was done 😕

Worst flight I have ever had. I flew Qantas from Sydney to Cape Town, and they used SAA for the Joburg to Cape Town section. It was awful. The staff were all great, but the seats are so small and uncomfortable, they have tried cramming in way too many seats into such a small plane.