Kulula and British Airways ticket holders are in a world of pain right now, their immediate travel plans trashed by the grounding of all flights indefinitely, no instant refunds, and alternative flights being both very scarce and very expensive.
The South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) announced on Saturday that it was suspending Comair’s operations after an investigation into a spate of safety-related incidents on its flights, including engine failures and a landing gear malfunction.
On Sunday the airline told its passengers that, despite it having supplied the additional information requested by the SACAA, the 24-hour suspension had not been lifted — meaning all its flights were grounded indefinitely.
Late notification of flight cancellations led to chaotic, angry scenes at airports around the country at the weekend and a mad scramble for alternative flights.
“There are literally no seats left in the market ... The flying public on Saturday and Sunday were left stranded, so there’s been a tsunami of demand,” FlySafair chief marketing officer Kirby Gordon said on Sunday. “The few extra flights we have managed to load sold out in record time.”
Having initially said that Kulula’s policy “does not allow for a refund and/or compensation of any other costs incurred by the suspension” — only for free rebooking “subject to availability of the same fare class” — Comair did an about-turn on Monday afternoon.
The implications for the aviation sector and the country are considerable, should the suspension continue for any length of time.
— Comair CEO Glenn Orsmond
“Kulula customers will receive a full credit to the value of their ticket deposited in their Travelbank for future travel, valid for six months,” a spokesperson said.
Customers wanting to rebook should email MNContactCentre@comair.co.za
BA ticket holders can claim a refund online, or via their travel agent.
That “subject to availability” proviso is a key one, because, as Comair CEO Glenn Orsmond said, the suspension of Kulula and British Airways flights effectively takes 40% of the capacity out of the market.
“The implications for the aviation sector and the country are considerable, should the suspension continue for any length of time,” he said.
Comair laid on two chartered flights to help “vulnerable” stranded passengers on Sunday, but had no plans for any more.
Bronwyn Hancock of Cape Town, visiting Durban with her mother, was due to fly home on Tuesday on a Kulula flight at about 2pm.
On hearing the news of Comair’s suspension, she tried to book tickets on FlySafair, and was about to pay for two at R1,700 each when she got an error message. When she tried a second time, those tickets had soared to R3,281 each.
“I find it absolutely disturbing that a company like FlySafair would take advantage of something like this,” she said.
Responding, FlySafair’s Gordon said the first seats to sell on a low-cost carrier were usually sold at a loss and, as the aircraft filled up, the seats became incrementally more expensive, with the last seats commanding the highest prices.
In the case of the FlySafair flight Hancock wanted to book, he said of the 166 seats sold on the flight, the average ticket price being R1,081. The cheapest seat sold for R508 and the most expensive was R3,583.
Higher fares were on the horizon for all airlines, Gordon warned.
“We’re all aware of how the oil price has shot up recently due to international developments, and this obviously has a massive impact on the price of jet fuel, which accounts for almost 40% of our cost base,” he said.
“The fares we can achieve are set by market forces of supply and demand, so it’s not really within our power to simply pass costs on to consumers, but the viability threshold of our business does rise and so there comes a price point where it’s no longer economically viable.”
The sudden surge in demand for seats did not give FlySafair cause for celebration, Kirby said.
“Selling those last few seats is good but it doesn’t offset the cost of the long-term damage to the industry,” he said. “SA needs healthy competition among airlines and customers need to know that they can rely on their carrier of choice. Unfortunately, situations like this are not good for anyone in the long run.”
Flights for the coming long weekend are in high demand, many have sold out completely for departures on Friday afternoon/evening and returning on Monday afternoon/evening.
All 14 of FlySafair’s flights from Johannesburg to Cape Town on Friday March 18 were completely sold out.
At the time of writing at about 4pm on Monday, Lift still had seats available from R4,450 on its 4pm flight and from R3,430 on its 7pm flight.
CemAir has eight flights out of Johannesburg to Cape Town on Friday, and they are sold out but for its first one, departing shortly after 6am, selling at R3,534.
Asked to comment on Comair’s legal obligation to its customers who had paid for cancelled flights, the office of the Ombudsman for Consumer Goods and Services pointed out the Consumer Protection Act’s Section 47.
It states that if a company commits to supply services on a specified date and fails to do so, or supply “similar or comparable goods or services” it must refund to the consumer, with interest, plus any costs “directly incidental to their breach of the contract”.
A company can avoid refunds if its failure to supply a service was due to circumstances beyond its control, but not if that failure was a result of its failure — directly or indirectly — “to adequately and diligently carry out any ordinary or routine matter pertaining to the supplier’s business”.
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