IS FLY AFRICA REALLY TELLING THE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH?
(Posted 09th December 2015)
The woes of embattled FlyAfrica Zimbabwe just keep piling up as the airline has apparently now stopped answering the phones, no wonder when dozens of irate customers are screaming down the lines to demand their money back after the promised period of time for refunds has lapsed and few, if any, received payment.
While the airline in one of their nondescript utterances tries to explain that their phones are down, have other aviation sources suggested that either the phones may have been cut for nonpayment or else, as also voiced in a passenger complaint, the staff simply no longer answer phones, perhaps because they no longer come to their offices.
Start quote:
Graham Reeves Time for some honesty flyafrica ! According to press reports your staff have all been sent on unpaid leave……ergo there is nobody in the offices to answer the phones. Pretty convenient that the lines just happen to be "down" at the same time. Like so many other people on here, I have booked and paid (on 22nd October) for a return flight from Bulawayo to Johannesburg, scheduled to depart on 20 December. Is there any chance of this flight actually departing ? Be honest now……and if there isn’t any genuine hope let’s get rolling with the refund process right now. Heck, you’re making us wait "30 to 40 days" in any event. Stop messing your Customers around, do the right thing and "Pay Back The Money !!!"
flyafrica.com Zimbabwe Hi Graham,
All flyafrica Zimbabwe passengers impacted by these flight cancellations will be offered a refund for their cancelled flight in the original form of payment. If you choose to cancel your flight in advance, you will receive a refund in the form of a flyafrica.comvoucher as stated in our terms and conditions.
Si Li flyafrica.com Zimbabwe Here we go again, more of FlyAfrica’s speciality – one of its "robotic" replies!
Darlington Ndebele flyafrica.com Zimbabwe same old reply.copy and paste.its like talking to a machine.Please reply my emails.I just need confirmation on my 21st december flight to Zim.Is that too much to ask for?
Tino Machaka Darlington Ndebele if you get any info about flights on the 21st please let me know as i am also scheduled to fly on the same day
Fenna Husselmann I am also waiting for my refund..can you please pay. My flight should take off on the 11th Dec. To Cape Town..please refund!!!!
flyafrica.com Zimbabwe Hi Fenna,
When did you submit your refund form?
Fenna Husselmann About a month ago a week before you closed your office in Auas valley. I also phoned a Joburg no but no response. Please help me because for me as an pensioner is a lot of Money!!!!
Ashton Busani Hi, I would like to know if there will be a flight on Monday the14th of Dec from JNB to BUQ. May you please let us know well in advance if there will be any cancellation so that we make alternative arrangements.
Philip Benjamin Tink From what I can see we all want to know if you will assure a refund? If we make alternative plans to fly on another airline, and flyafrica starts flying in between the date of booking alternative flights and the actual flight, will you still refund us based on the aspect of lack of communication from flyafrica regarding the matter. I among many others, feel that you should still refund us even if you start flying again based on your lack of communication?
Kgaogelo Rametsi Promise us that we will get our refund that us all we want to be assured right now. The rest as hard as it is, we will see how we get around that.
Hilary Jane Alexander-McKenna I have emailed you. I have tweeted you. I have tried to phone you. And I have sent you numerous Facebook messages. All I want to know is: is my flight taking off on 19 December or not? We are rapidly running out of patience and understanding. Your silence on the matter is astounding.
Kgaogelo Rametsi Me and my friends have learned that goed koop is duur koop. We have to pay for SAA flights that we have been avoiding, over and above the amount we paid flyafrica. It was either that or we forfeit our accommodation money. Some of our friends won’t be able to go because of flyafrica and they are liable to paying the money for accommodation
Hilary Jane Alexander-McKenna It’s a ridiculous situation. If we know our flights are going to be grounded, we would be able to plan. But the silence and lack of communication is hindering our ability to do so. I"m sorry your friends have had that experience.
Verne d’Hotman de Villiers The lack of communication with us, your passengers, who have paid up front in good faith, and put up with being ignored and held over a barrel is nothing short of DISGUSTING.
Tino Machaka please let us know in advance when flights are cancellled and how to get refunds if you have paid in cash
Vishal Mistry what a sham….. phone lines have been down for almost 2 weeks and you are only communicating with customers now!!
Duncan Haworth Your lines have been down for the last 2 weeks..Agree…TIME To FRONT UP AND BE HONEST>.Your credability has taken a HUGE hit and no one is falling for your lies any more..No flights are scheduled for the next few days, yet you still say they are going ahead as per schedule…Refund…yeah right…Give me one name of someone who has received a refund..All im reading is where is my refund….
Allison Ndlovu You are full of nonsense you flyafrica people wats a voucher going to help if e airline has been grounded. You are stealing from us. This is pure con robbery!!!! I am disgusted by ur airline. Now i am sitting here with a voucher i can not use. Give me back my money because you already charged a cancellation fee so why can you not just refund the difference.?????
Brian T. Ndhlovu Probably you took them off the hook. I would too if I wasn’t paying people back their money. Anyway thanks for my refund a month later. Good luck in your future endeavours
Duncan Haworth So you actually got a FULL refund in cash..????
Patrick McKenna Just answer the question FFS!
Brad Straiton And you have 2 Facebook pages…. Flyafrica.com Zimbabwe AND Flyafrica.com Namibia ??? Confusing to say the least!!
Fenna Husselmann I want my refund also…I paid them on booking so why must we wait for our Money!!! So Please!!!!! Pay our Money!!!! Kind Regards!!!!
Tendayi Gwatiringa Can we trust these guys ever again??? I wonder!!!
Heinrich Hellmann Just pay back the money!
Henriette Labuschagne My flight is on Friday 9th December from WHK to Cape Town where can I go to get my refund back?
Belinda Van Niekerk I want my refund?????
Appeals for honesty, as made by not just one Graham Reeves but others too have clearly fallen on deaf ears as the airline has repeatedly refused to answer questions posted to them, first on their Facebook page and then here after they blocked this correspondent hoping he or his regular reporting on the mess the airline is in might go away. Well, it did not and it is only getting worse by the look of it.
The Namibian Director of the DCA Miss Simana Paulo, in a recent mail confirmed that FlyAfrica Namibia remains grounded there too as a series of questions need answering, all of course linked to the initial grounding of the airline in Zimbabwe. An initial wetlease approval was withdrawn, leaving the airline without an aircraft and without approvals to operate flights into Windhoek and from there to the destinations in South Africa they have advertised and continue to advertise. The Director of the Namibian DCA further advised that the suggested timeframe for restarting flights from Namibia is highly unlikely in view of the continued grounding of the airline in Zimbabwe and, if ever that grounding is lifted, they (DCA Namibia) need to first carry out the prerequisite inspections of FlyAfrica Namibia’s bases and facilities, maintenance arrangements and ascertain the competence of accountable managers, which will require time in order to do such inspections diligently.
In view of all that, and the nondescript statement given on the FlyAfrica Zimbabwe Facebook page, one must again ask searching questions of Mr. Adrian Hamilton-Manns, such as:
‘What, if any refunds have you paid to customers who have fallen victim to your flight cancellations to and from Zimbabwe’.
‘Going by comments made by your customers on your Zimbabwe Facebook page, are you and your staff telling the truth about the phone outage and what arrangements have you made for your customers to be able to reach you?’
‘Are you running a Ponzi scheme Mr. Hamilton-Manns, selling tickets to raise cash for refunds and to keep paying executives?’
‘Will you, considering the mess your Zimbabwe and Namibia airlines are in, accept responsibility and quit?’
These and many other questions need answering, not just to this correspondent but to the many customers who trusted the airline’s assurances, bought tickets and were then told to apply for a refund when perhaps tickets should never have been sold for flight departures which were either uncertain or already known to be impossible.
The by and large self-inflicted misfortunes of FlyAfrica in Zimbabwe and Namibia have been described by customers and other aviation personnel as a complete disgrace and as a massive dis-service to the concept of low cost airlines, portraying them as untrustworthy, maybe even unsafe considering the words of the Justice of the High Court in Harare who cited safety concerns from a document which the CAAZ had submitted to court.
It can only be hoped that the news about the woes of FlyAfrica Zimbabwe and Namibia are reaching those customers in time who may still consider buying tickets and parting with money for flight departure which may never take off. Clearly, getting money out of the airline for refunds is an uphill struggle and it is high time that the authorities and consumer protection organizations step up and put an end to such practices.
Watch this space for updates on this saga as and when available.
