I made the mistake of buying a return ticket to Johannesburg from Cape Town with kulula.com. The internet site was a bit broken but a few refreshes got it going again and I thought it would all be fine - I should have just given up here.
I got to the airport nice and early in order to get a good seat but unfortunately there were not a single kulula.com person anywhere to be found. The queue for checking in was already nearly out the door. Eventually after a while someone arrived saying we should be patient but split into 5 queues as there were 5 desks. Another 10 minutes later they came ready to start boarding but the computers were having hassles and so we had to turn into 4 rows instead.
The row I was in had a stand-by passenger as first passenger and amazingly the checking clerk helped him first. This standby passenger had none of his personal details on the system and the checking clerk sat pecking out all the details on the keyboard with his one finger, this means that we were boarding quite late and many of the good seats were gone. You would think they would board the standby passengers last!?
When my turn eventually came I was told there was a 2 hours delay. I asked why and was informed that it was bad weather in Johannesburg so people cannot land. I immediately spoke to someone in Johannesburg who confirmed it was all clear. On pressing the matter further with the guy behind the desk he admitted that it was bad weather earlier that morning that put their plane behind schedule and now all flights are suffering. He also insisted that it was not just a kulula.com situation but that all the airlines had a 2 hour delay. Needless to say when I looked at the board I noticed 30 to 70 minute delays, nothing nearly 2 hours but he wouldn't comment further - merely insisting that it affects all airlines and that it is bad weather.
I got sent to a help desk where I could collect a food and discount voucher, here too I asked what the reason for the discrepancy in delays were and was informed that they had in fact had a 1 hour delay earlier due to a technical problem with the aircraft, combined with the delay caused by weather they were 2 hours behind schedule! So who am I supposed to believe? I wish if companies have a policy of lying to customers they would at least agree on the lies.
I got a R250 discount voucher for my next flight - as if I will ever set foot on another one of their planes - and a R35 voucher for the Spur. I had my dinner and a drink and waited. Shortly before boarding time the time moved on by another 30 minutes - and obviously no kulula.com representatives were around to give us any information. By the time that this 30 minutes has completely passed and we were 10 minutes away from the departure time - without boarding yet - an announcement were made to inform us to "please be patient".
Eventually 3 hours later than the initially planned departure time we started boarding, we left Cape Town 3:30 late.
Of the 15 to 20 different airlines I have flown with, I can with confidence say that the client service, the lies and the time I was delayed all combine to make kulula.com the worst airline I have ever flown with, that says a lot considering how much I (and many others) hate SAA.
Hi, it just sounds like you just had a very bad exeperience.
I fly kulula.com all the time, actually since it opened, and yes I did exeperience some delays, which is beyond the staff's control (especially due to bad weather). Sometimes the weather is not bad in Johannesburg, but maybe in Bloemfontein, or anywhere nearby.
As for technical delays I would rather sit and wait for the aircraft to be fixed and safe to fly, even if it means being VERY late for my meetings, even if I have to reschedule.
As for the staff not informing passenger's, I personally do not believe that, as I was ALWAYS informed on what the estimate time of departure was to be.
Lastly the reason that you did not see the kulula.com representatives is because they are in British Airways uniform!!!!!
I just think that Kulula are the bestse. We all have problems so why not airlines. Relax as there is nothing we can do if flights are delayed. You are great and I will always fly with you.
Yes, delays are unavoidable, especially weather ones. Lying to your customers however are not. As for the BA uniforms, that might be now, then they were all in ghastly fluerescent green and blue.
ALL OF US ARE HUMANS, AND UNFORTUNATELY MAKE MISTAKES SOME TIMES, WITH ALL DUE RESPECT, IF YOU WANT TO FLY CHEAP, SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES!
I disagree with you all. I think that if even R1 leaves your pocket that the person who receives the money is obligated to ensure that what you are paying for is done, or atleast obligated to good customer service. If I am treated fairly and not told 10 million different stories I would be patient enough to wait but when different stories arise one cant help but have suspicion of what is really happening. Yes afterall we are all human but are you saying that all humans lie because I would disagree with this quote too.
On March 11 2007 I, and number of other 'Kulula' passangers were to depart from CT to JHB on or around 6pm.
The flight was delayed, as the kulula.com staff explained, due to 'technical problems'. Initially a delay of 30min was announced. 30min later, a futher delay of an hour was announced for reasons they stated as: 'technical'.
Then approx an hour later they announced yet another delay, passangers were informed that flights scheduled prior to ours had priorety and that we would leave shortly.
As with Mr. Pienaar, we were given vouchers (which I will get to in a moment), and a meal voucher.
After that, a further delay was announced... and the reason for the delay.... the plane has a technical problem... another voucher was handed out to the passangers.
Later, after many customers had complained with anger, a further delay was announced as 'the plane had been fixed and is on its way from Johannesburg!! Wait, initially they delayed the flight by 30min, if the plane was in JHB obviously they would not be able to get it to CT in 30min.
To cut a long story short, Kulula staff knowingly & deliberatly lied AND passangers, not all, had only boarded the plane past 1am the following morning. Kulula arranged for a taxi service to drop the pasangers off at home. I got home at 5:45am.
Below is a letter I had received from Kulula via e-mail explaining their version of events:
Dear Oded 13 March 2007
We are sorry and embarrassed, but most of all we are sorry.
Delays do happen when aircraft go technical and this causes much stress upon operations, but this does not excuse the unacceptable length of delay you were subjected to on Sunday, 11 March. We are fully aware of this fact and words cannot express how truly sorry we are for the anxiety, frustration and inconvenience that we caused.
When we established that the flight was going to be delayed, an estimated time of departure was given by our engineers. However with further investigation into the problem, we were then advised to do an aircraft change to an alternative aircraft as the original aircraft could not be used at all to operate flight MN 460. We then were faced with a crew resource problem, which we certainly did not anticipate but was due to regulatory flight and duty hours expiring, thus causing a further delay on your flight. As safety is our number one priority there was no compromising these standards.
We are committed to you, our valued customers, and are taking immediate corrective steps to regain your confidence in us. We have begun putting a comprehensive plan in place to provide better and more timely information to you, more effective aircraft and crew scheduling contingency plans and improved procedures for handling operational difficulties in the future. We are confident, as a result of these actions, that kulula.com will emerge as a more reliable and even more customer responsive airline than ever before.
You deserved better—a lot better—from us on Sunday. Nothing is more important than regaining your trust and all of us here hope you will give us the opportunity to welcome you onboard again soon and provide you the positive kulula.com experience you have come to expect from us.
Kind Regards
kat marokane
customer relations
kulula.com
Now, regarding the vouchers. Each passanger received 2 R400 vouchers during this ordeal. To make use of the vouchers, one would need to book within 3 months from the date of issue of the vouchers. I did so, for JHB to CT and back. I had missed the flight from JHB to CT. I understand that I had lost out on the trip from JHB to CT. However, I wanted to re-schedule the return flight. Upon contacting kulula, they had informed me that even though I still had a few days before my scheduled return flight, my vouchers are no longer valid as I missed the first leg of my flight.... and they say in their letter that nothing means more to them than to regaine my trust in them haa. I THINK NOT!!
I will be regestering a website whereby comments (good and bad) can be posted. I am interested to see how many good comments there are as opposed to the bad.
When I register the site, I will post the link here.
A few months ago my wife and I were, much like in the stories above, held up in Durban for 5 hours waiting for our flight to Cape Town. We were also blatantly lied to. The voucher and meal story exactly as above.
Yesterday, my parents were delayed nearly 10 HOURS for the same flight. They were lied to about the reasons for the delay and at this point have not received any vouchers.
I agree that when you buy a cheap airline ticket you expect a "no frills" service - however, you expect a service that at its bare minimum, takes off and lands approximately on time.
I have flown Kulula 5 times this year and had 4 delays, though admittedly they range from half an hour to 1 hour other than the long delay noted above.
This is very different from having to pay for my coffee on board - I may be an underpaid clerk, but in future I will save up and pay the extra few hundred rand, because my time is worth far more than the supposed savings from flying Kulula!
I was taking a BA flight from Capetown to Vic Falls, stopping through Johannesburg. Half of our group of 40 checked in at the BA desks, half at the Kulula desks. Out of our group of 40 people, 7 lost suitcases...all of them were served by the Kulula representatives. My suitcase has still not been located after 10 days. Coincidence? Probably not.
I wouldn't say Kulula is the worst airline, however, That title is reserved for Aerolineas Argentinas.
I dont think you have flown kulula lately as they are actually very very good.
They are friendy, approachable and have always been on time when I have flown them