We aim to get you to your destination on time. However, occasionally operational or meteorological situations or unforeseen circumstances, require us to change the scheduled departure and arrival dates and/or times.

We will try and minimise the inconvenience caused to you by:

• Providing full and timely information on the status of known delays, cancellations and diversions within 30 minutes of SAA becoming aware of the change in the status of the flight.
• Posting the changes on our flight status pages on www.flysaa.com.
• Doing our best to contact you in advance, using the contact information in your reservation.
• If you are already at the airport, we will notify you via:
  • Updated airport information boards.
  • Announcements by ground staff.
  • Announcements at boarding gates and approximate holding areas.

On rare occasions, safety considerations such as weather, air traffic control, operations or other factors may cause a lengthy on-board delay either prior to take off or after landing. In the event of such a delay, we will take all reasonable steps to ensure you are kept up to date with the latest information available. For significant on-board delays, where safety and security restrictions allow, we will ensure your essential needs are met by providing drinking water, on-board lavatory services and access to basic medical assistance should it be required.

We encourage you to place your contact information both on the inside and outside of all checked and carry-on baggage.

It is always our intention to deliver your baggage on time on arrival at your destination. However, there are occasions when bags are not delivered on time. If your baggage does not arrive at your destination; it is important that you go directly to our Baggage Service desk or make contact with one of our airport staff members to assist in opening mishandling incident reports.

Once a report is filed, we will make every reasonable effort to find your baggage and return it to you as soon as possible. If your baggage is delayed more than 24 hours, we will cover your immediate, essential needs, as detailed under Offering a Fair Baggage Settlement below, while you wait for your baggage to arrive.

We will attempt to contact any person named on a bag when we find an unclaimed, checked bag that contains a name and address or a contact number.

While you wait for your delayed baggage, we will make every reasonable effort to minimize your inconvenience. If you are not a resident of the country you have arrived in, we will reimburse you for reasonable expenses that you may incur when buying essential items, using the following guidelines:

• Reimbursement for essential items will be considered upon submission of receipts. Unfortunately, no reimbursement will be made without receipts.
• The below interim expense allowance, is paid per customer travelling on a SAA operated flight, for a maximum of five days:
  • Economy Class passengers are entitled to 75 USD (or equivalent local currency) per day; and
  • Business Class passengers are entitled to 100 USD (or equivalent local currency) per day.

We commit to providing a fair and equitable settlement to cover losses that you may incur due to lost or damaged baggage. The total liability for a piece of baggage checked is limited by the Warsaw convention or Montreal convention, whichever is applicable based on your itinerary.

We will compensate you for reasonable, documented and verifiable damages up to the limit of liability. Anything of significant value should be packed in your carry-on baggage, including electronic devices, computer equipment, cameras, and jewellery. Our Conditions of Carriage outlines specific items that are excluded from liability if you check them in your baggage.

We will provide prompt refunds for eligible tickets once we receive your request accompanied by all required documentation. If your ticket is eligible for a refund as per the rules of the fare you have purchased, we will refund the appropriate amount to you according to the original form of payment. Refunds for tickets purchased directly with SAA will be processed within 21 business days on receipt of your complete refund submission. If you book and pay for your ticket through a travel agent, you must apply to them for your refund.

You may request a refund by contacting our Reservations Call Centre on 011 978 1111011 978 1111 during office hours, weekdays 08h00 to 16h30 (GMT). If you have purchased your ticket online you can e-mail your request to onlinerefunds@flysaa.com. In submitting your request, please ensure to provide the passenger's name, the address, the credit card number used for purchase, ticket number(s), and the date of travel and departure and destination cities in your correspondence.

We are dedicated to offering convenient and comfortable service to all our customers. We offer a full range of services to customers who require additional assistance such as medical assistance, mobility assistance, travelling with infant or unaccompanied minors.

To ensure the best possible service, please let us know about the type of assistance you require as soon as you book your flight or no later than 72 hours before departure. If you make your flight booking online, please call our Reservations Call Centre to advise us of any special assistance you may require.

Prior authorisation is also required for children travelling alone which must be obtained through our Reservations call Centre at least 72 hours prior to departure.

You can find out more about the services we offer for customers with special needs by visiting the Special Assistance section on this website.

SAA, like most airlines, sometimes overbook flights. We do this because often passengers holding confirmed reservations change their plans without cancelling their reservation or don't turn up for their flight. When a flight is overbooked, it doesn't necessarily mean that customers with reservations will not be accommodated on their flight. In fact, the majority of overbooked flights depart with all the customers who have reservations and are present for departure.

On rare occasions, more customers with confirmed reservations are present than seats available. In this instance, we first seek volunteers, willing to give up their seats in exchange for compensation and a seat on the next available flight.

If there are insufficient volunteers, we will deny boarding customers in accordance with our company policy on boarding priority. We will also provide you with a written statement that explains our obligations and your rights as a customer of South African Airways. Customer's rights vary per country of departure and are in accordance with the applicable regulations and/or acts enforced.

We aim to provide you with as much information as possible about the policies and procedures that may affect your travel. This means providing clear information about important terms and conditions that apply to your ticket fare, including cancellation policies, aircraft type scheduled to be operated on the route and the seating configuration thereto; and terms and conditions of our frequent flyer programme, SAA Voyager.

As such, these policies are available on our website; and on request through our reservations centre; and our representatives at the airport.

Feedback is critical to help us improve our customers' experience. Responses to complaints of a more serious nature will be determined by the level of the required investigative process.

We respect your personal information and treat it with the utmost security. You have the right to verify and correct the personal information we hold about you and we will respond to your request within 10 business days. Find out more about our privacy policy.

SAA is committed to being an environmentally responsible organisation in all our business activities. We aim to minimise the environmental impact of our operations and have targets and commitments to guide our performance. Find out more about our environmental commitments..