SAA sells prime Heathrow spot

Very !

My guess is that SAA can't fill their planes because nobody wants to fly SAA any more.

In the meantime BA and Virgin are fully booked, no seats to be had.

Personally I have been flying Emirates of late, even though the stopover in Dubai is inconvenient and the flight takes longer. But at least the service is good and the cost is reasonable.
 
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Jola said:
Very !

My guess is that SAA can't fill their planes because nobody wants to fly SAA any more.

In the meantime BA and Virgin are fully booked, no seats to be had.
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And yet people from Cape Town were complaining and even went as far as suggesting that the SAA decision to terminate the direct route was politically motivated. :erm:
 
JungleBoy said:
And yet people from Cape Town were complaining and even went as far as suggesting that the SAA decision to terminate the direct route was politically motivated. :erm:
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None of this can possibly cover motivation. Not sure where you're drawing your conclusions from...:confused:
 
The slot that they gave up was for the Cape Town - Heathrow flight.

But they could also have used this for Johannesburg - Heathrow.

The short answer is that they cannot attract customers to fly on SAA.

Personally I do not fly on SAA internationally any more (I used to), and I know many people who do the same.

That pretty much tells the story - they are just not competitive !
 
SAA is not a competitive airline anymore imo. I'm flying to the UK in a little over a month, and when i made my booking about 4 weeks ago they didnt even feature. Both BA and Virgin were thousands cheaper, and we also factored in the option of going with Emirates via Dubai. SAA didnt even come into our planning because they ruled themselves out immediately. This probably also explains why they are cancelling routes like the one from Cape Town - nobody is going to pay over the top when there are at least 2 other options that are better. It's really really simple, and I'm amazed they havent cottoned on.
 
Jola said:
The slot that they gave up was for the Cape Town - Heathrow flight.

But they could also have used this for Johannesburg - Heathrow.

The short answer is that they cannot attract customers to fly on SAA.

Personally I do not fly on SAA internationally any more (I used to), and I know many people who do the same.

That pretty much tells the story - they are just not competitive !
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Makes sense. I only fly SAA local. If I goto UK/US I fly Virgin, if I go East I fly Qatar or something.
 
Markd said:
SAA is not a competitive airline anymore imo. I'm flying to the UK in a little over a month, and when i made my booking about 4 weeks ago they didnt even feature. Both BA and Virgin were thousands cheaper, and we also factored in the option of going with Emirates via Dubai. SAA didnt even come into our planning because they ruled themselves out immediately. This probably also explains why they are cancelling routes like the one from Cape Town - nobody is going to pay over the top when there are at least 2 other options that are better. It's really really simple, and I'm amazed they havent cottoned on.
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Precisely. I've done a lot of travelling and haven't flown SAA in many years. At no point at all have I ever considered flying with them. More than just that, when their prices crop up on search sites, they are, as you rightfully pointed out, thousands upon thousands of rands more expensive. They don't even feature in airline rating awards either, so why would you pay the premium?

Their CEOs have completely cocked up the SAA brand, in every single way...
 
DJ... said:
Precisely. I've done a lot of travelling and haven't flown SAA in many years. At no point at all have I ever considered flying with them. More than just that, when their prices crop up on search sites, they are, as you rightfully pointed out, thousands upon thousands of rands more expensive. They don't even feature in airline rating awards either, so why would you pay the premium?
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My experience exactly.

And their best cabin staff now work for Emirates, so guess who has the best service ?
 
The only reasonably priced SAA flights I've ever seen have been to South America.
 
Flights to SA are overpriced, regardless of airline. Would rather fly to the EU/Turkey or the US/Canada. Its about £300 cheaper to fly to Miami, than Joburg. Why would anyone pay £300 more to fly to Joburg of all places ??

You can fly to the US for between £500 and £650. The cheapest ticket I have seen to Joburg is £815 via Dubai. And the Med countries including Turkey etc are even cheaper. Very popular with European tourists.

SA is way too expensive to travel to. I know its far and "out of the way", but you would have thought hotels etc would have come up with more packages offering discounted filghts to get tourists in. Or maybe they just dont want foreigners. If thats the case, its working as intended :D
 
DJ... said:
Their CEOs have completely cocked up the SAA brand, in every single way...
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Swap SAA with Telkom/Eskom - there's a scary trend!

The last time I flew to the UK was on Etihad. Was a great flight for around 8K. SAA wanted 23K for the flight! :sick:
 
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