Johannesburg
Trip Start
Jun 08, 2008
1
14
28
Trip End
Aug 15, 2008
Johannesburg,
Gauteng,
South Africa
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Woke up at 8, had a leisurely breakfast and even had time to make myself some lunch sandwiches before heading to the airport at 10:15 for my 13:30 flight. I arrived at the airport nearly two and a half hours before my flight's scheduled departure but was a bit disappointed to see that my flight wasn't even checking in yet. I was assured by the airport staff that I would be able to check in "soon".
When a flight that was departing later than mine started checking in, I started to worry. I then went back to the airport entry area to look at the flight departure board - AND MY FLIGHT WASN'T ON IT! I then went to the Zambian Airways office at the airport - and was told - to my shock - that my flight had been canceled - and hadn't I received the e-mail notification they sent a few weeks back? I assured the lady that if I had received the notification, I wouldn't be standing there then - trying to get on the flight.
The lady then called her boss, who assured her that an e-mail had been sent to all passengers notifying them of the cancellation of the flight. At that moment, another passenger in the same predicament walked in. He also didn't receive the cancellation notification e-mail and like me also expected to be transported to Jo'burg today.
In such a situation, I figured the resolution would be simple: Since I didn't receive the notification of cancellation, I assumed the airline would put me on the next flight to Johannesburg, a South African Airways flight that was leaving just twenty minutes after the departure time of my originally scheduled flight. But no! The lady told me that since I was notified of the cancellation, Zambian Airways had fulfilled its obligation to me. So not only did I not have a way to get to Jo'burg for my tour that is starting tomorrow morning, they wouldn't even give me a refund for their own canceled flight for which I didn't receive the cancellation notification! How's that for customer service?!
Seeing my very expensive, already-paid-for, departing-from-Johannesburg-tomorrow-morning safari tour melting away before my very eyes, I was certain of one thing: I had to get myself to Jo'burg - today. My best chance was with the imminently-departing South African Airways flight, so I went to the SAA office to talk to the lady there. She informed me that a ticket on that flight - assuming I could get on it, as it was full - would cost US$419! (About three times what I paid for my well-researched, advance purchased Zambian Airways ticket.) But at this point I didn't have much choice. It was either fork over the money for this ticket - or lose about US$2,000 worth of already paid services (tour and return ticket home). So as painful as it was to let Zambian Airways fluck me over like that, I decided to get the ticket and deal with Zambian Airways later once I get back home.
Not so easy, though, because as I said, the SAA flight was full. So the best I could do was get myself on standby. At the very last minute, I was able to be confirmed on that flight and had to run to the SAA office to pay for my ticket. Since I had to pay in cash - and since I didn't quite have US$419 in cash on me, the lady was kind enough to sell me the ticket for essentially all the cash I had: US$363. I felt like I was being raped, but I was in no position to bargain or complain. I also felt like Zambian Airways was taking advantage of my absolute need to get to Jo'burg today. I hope to someday make them pay for screwing me like this.
At this point I was so frustrated that I had even contemplated flying home immediately from the Lusaka airport. I checked the flight connections and there were two options for getting to Bangkok: Via Nairobi with Kenya Airways, or via Addis Abbaba with Ethiopian. A one-way ticket with either of these airlines would have cost me about a thousand dollars. In the end, rationality prevailed as it would have meant paying an extra thousand dollars in order to abandon three more weeks of travel and, as mentioned, two thousand dollars worth of already paid services.
Eventually I made it to Jo'burg, only a half an hour later than planned, in spite of this massive cock-up. I have to say that I am proud of myself for doing it how I did. I somehow managed to not lose my cool and to do the reasonable thing - even at the risk of losing a significant amount of money. In fact, I think I should be given an award for not killing the Zambian Airways lady. But somehow my survival instinct kicked in and I knew that I had to get to Jo'burg today no matter what. There was no time to quibble over four hundred dollars - although I did spend the flight thinking about all the other ways I could have gotten to Jo'burg from Lusaka for nearly four hundred bucks. (Such as by a chauffeur driven limousine with a bottle of champagne and a naked lady, for example.)
From the Jo'burg airport, I still had to get to my hotel for the night, the Fly Inn, from where my tour would be departing tomorrow morning. I managed to find the free shuttle to the hotel, only to be told by the shuttle driver that the shuttle would only take me part of the way to the hotel and then I would have to transfer to a taxi for the remainder of the journey. WTF? A free shuttle is supposed to mean all the way to the hotel! Upon further discussion the driver told me that in fact the "taxi" connecting to the shuttle would not cost anything as both hotels belonged to the same owner and it would amount to an "internal" transfer - for free. Why didn't he tell me that in the first place? Probably because he wanted to see my reaction to his comment about taking a taxi the rest of the way to my hotel. If I hadn't t balked, I think he would have charged me.
Upon checking into the hotel, I met in the dining area a German woman who had just finished doing the same tour that I will be joining tomorrow. We talked about her experience and compared it to my previous experience. She told me that her tour was totally different from mine and that she had made lots of friends on her tour and was really sad to be leaving them behind, etc. Were we talking about the same concept? This didn't sound like any tour that I have ever been on!
We were joined later by Claudia, another German woman who will be on my tour tomorrow. I also told her of my experience on my previous tour and Claudia seemed so understanding and "normal". I immediately got the feeling that this tour will be different from the last one.
If I had wanted a room to myself at the Fly Inn, I would have had to have paid about 70 dollars - versus staying in a dorm room for free (paid by the tour company as compensation for canceling my previous tour at short notice). I chose the dorm room and was pleasantly surprised to find that I had two roommates: Two young Dutch women, one of whom (Nicole) would be joining my tour tomorrow. We all went to bed at about 21:00, exhausted from our respective adventures.
Comments
J'hn
I liked that one.
Good pace - entertaining.
Fair ending.