SAA pledges to help affected passengers
Airline moves quickly to deal with fallout from this week’s strike
SOUTH African Airways said it would assist passengers who could not travel to their destinations due to the cabin crew strike, at no extra fee. “We apologise for any inconvenience to our customers as a result of the service disruptions, and we are assisting all passengers who could not travel due to the strike action to ensure they reach their intended destination as soon as possible,” said SAA spokesperson Tlali Tlali.
The airlines urged all ticket holders inconvenienced by Wednesday’s strike to receive assistance with rebooking via any SAA call centre, City Travel Office or dedicated travel agent on condition that the passenger would be rebooking on to another SAA flight at a later date at no extra charge and subject to availability of the same booking class. No change of cabin would be permitted, and tickets had to be reissued on or before May 2.
About 200 flight attendants gathered outside SAA’s head office in Kempton Park on Wednesday to protest against low international meal allowances, causing a number of flights to be delayed, and some cancelled. SAA successfully applied for a Labour Court interdict that declared the industrial action by South African Cabin Crew Association (Sacca) members an unprotected strike, and ordered the strike action to end immediately.
Sacca said yesterday its legal team was working on a review of the interdict.
“Our members have returned to work to respect the law; our legal team is drafting the review, we are just not sure when it will be ready,” said Sacca president Zazi Sibanyoni-Mugambi.
Flight attendants are asking for a $170 (R2 240) international meal allowance, an increase from the $130 they have been receiving for the past six years.
SAA said its board of directors was committed to further engaging with Sacca through a facilitated dispute resolution process over the next two months.