FlySafair is under investigation by the National Consumer Commission (NCC) for the overbooking and overselling of tickets.
This comes after customers took to social media platform X to express their frustration with the airline's overbooking of their flights.
Thato Miles Nsala expressed his disappointment on X after arriving at the airport for his booked flight, only to be informed by the airline that there were no available seats.
“So we show up at the airport and @FlySafair says we don’t have seats for the same flight we paid for. If you have 200 seats why take payments for 300 passengers,” Nsala said.
FlySafair offered compensation to passengers who were unable to board their booked flights and apologized for the inconvenience caused by overbooking.
“We would like to extend our sincerest apologies for the inconvenience and unpleasant experience. Whilst we understand the importance of passengers reaching their destination on time and on the flight that they have paid for,” FlySafair said in a tweet.
“We do overbook flights to ensure we keep our tickets as affordable as possible for our passengers. We do see how inconvenient this can be and therefore offer compensation for passengers that were not able to take the flight they’ve booked.”
FlySafair shared a published article that explains the reasoning behind overbooking: https://www.forbes.com/sites/benbaldanza/2023/06/02/overbooking-airline-seats-helps-everyone-when-done-correctly/
The NCC said it has initiated an investigation into the conduct of overbooking and/or overselling by FlySafair to assess and review compliance with provisions of the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 (“the CPA”), in particular sections 19(2)(a), 22 (1)(b), 41(1)(a), 47, and 48(1)(b).
The NCC said it has contacted the airline and requested relevant information to begin the investigation.
Acting Commissioner, Hardin Ratshisusu said: “The NCC will prioritise this investigation given the nature of the allegations. Consumers affected by this practice are urged to come forward and provide information that could assist the investigation.”
The Star