RobertP
TPer Emeritus
- Messages
- 11,726
- Name
- Robert
- Edit My Images
- Yes
Came back from 2 weeks in SA this morning having flown overnight from Cape Town. Thought I was going to be stuck in Cape Town for at least another night after being lied to by SAA....
We were among the first to the airport and the check in queue for the flight. Before getting to the desk we were stopped by a SAA man to say that there was a problem with one of the engines on our plane home and it was uncertain if it would leave on time or even if it would go at all. Being a caring airline they had arranged an alternative route to avoid the waiting - internal flight to Johannesburg, Air France to Paris, some other flight to Heathrow.
Fortunately (as it turned out) we refused the deal and said we would wait on the repair, checked in and went to the departure lounge.
2 hours later - great news... the flight will be leaving on time
Get on what is obviously a smaller plane and pilot then explains there never was any engine fault. The 250+ seat airbus plane was damaged by a loader at Heathrow and never came to cape town. The only plane they had was smaller so 80 passengers had to go. The lie was to get them to go of their own free will and not be eligible for compensation (he didn't say those words but he clearly wasn't happy with his employers)!
Once they had the 80 diverted they dropped the lie so later passengers did not know about the 'faulty' plane.
I would like to go to SA again some time but it will not be via SAA!
We were among the first to the airport and the check in queue for the flight. Before getting to the desk we were stopped by a SAA man to say that there was a problem with one of the engines on our plane home and it was uncertain if it would leave on time or even if it would go at all. Being a caring airline they had arranged an alternative route to avoid the waiting - internal flight to Johannesburg, Air France to Paris, some other flight to Heathrow.
Fortunately (as it turned out) we refused the deal and said we would wait on the repair, checked in and went to the departure lounge.
2 hours later - great news... the flight will be leaving on time
Get on what is obviously a smaller plane and pilot then explains there never was any engine fault. The 250+ seat airbus plane was damaged by a loader at Heathrow and never came to cape town. The only plane they had was smaller so 80 passengers had to go. The lie was to get them to go of their own free will and not be eligible for compensation (he didn't say those words but he clearly wasn't happy with his employers)!
Once they had the 80 diverted they dropped the lie so later passengers did not know about the 'faulty' plane.
I would like to go to SA again some time but it will not be via SAA!
