I am having a bit of a family emergency and hope that someone out there might have recommendation that could help.
I booked an E-ticket as a last resort with SAA after having a phone operator drop the line twice (this was after I had waited for more than 20 minutes to get through to these dropped calls).
Today my cousin collapsed with a critical brain tumor & needed emergency surgery, brain damage and blindness were all likely outcomes if the procedure wasn't successful. Death was an option. She is the closet thing to a sister i have and was alone in JHB. I immediately tried to delay my trip to the UK and get to JHB. It turns out that under no circumstances will SAA change a ticket. SAA call center staff were confused and gave me conflicting info, some saying change wasn't a problem others saying it was impossible. Their best advice was to go to the airport, which i did. I went with a letter from the Doctor highlighting the critical nature of this case, pictures of her, and proof of my relationship with the ill person. The airport simply made me call the same call center again and speak to the supervisors (the ones who I know can change tickets in extreme
situations) but they refused to speak to me. SAA was unconcerned to the point of being rude. No compromise was offered, i was willing to upgrade my ticket, to pay for anything that needed to happen to change the flight. No one budged, there was no sympathy or compassion - absolutely no humanity in any of the interaction i experienced today,
despite the fact that i was begging in tears to get a chance to see someone who might die before i saw them again if SAA didn't look at this exceptional case with compassion.
I went out after my ordeal with SAA and approached Emirates, Virgin Atlantic, BA, KLM and interestingly enough they all promised that in situations like this, they would do their best to accommodate me. Only SAA was unable and unwilling to try. I'm quite sure this would interest the general public.
Still I'm stuck leave for London on Friday, on a ticket that no one will let me change - HELP!
