SAA has come under re for
charging for a bag-wrapping
service before it was
implemented. The charge is
included in ticket prices.
Speaking to John Robbie on
702 Talk Radio recently, SAA
ceo, Monwabisi Kalawe, said
the airline had implemented
an airfare increase in
November last year. He said
it was calculated using an
algorithm that included supply
and demand, competitor
behaviour and changes
in operating costs, which
included the baggage service.
Monwabisi was responding
to a report by City Press that
said the airline had been
charging passengers for a
bag-wrapping service that was
only introduced in January.
According to the report,
the service was introduced
as part of a three-month
trial, where SAA is paying
Bagport South Africa R30 a
bag. The gures are based
on correspondence between
SAA and Bagport. An internal
email also suggested that
SAA had been charging R60
for domestic passengers
and R100 for international
passengers.
Monwabisi disputed these
gures. “If you go directly to
the company that provides
these services, they charge
you R60 per bag. In our
case, we charge R50 per
passenger.”
SAA spokesperson,
Tlali Tlali, told TNW the
trial was introduced to
address the pilferage and
damage to baggage, which
inconvenienced passengers
and caused “considerable
nancial loss and
reputational damage to the
airline”.
Tlali said it was not
mandatory for passengers
to have their baggage
wrapped. “In the same way
that passengers can decline
meals offered on board, they
can decline the wrapping
service,” he said. However,
the fee will still be charged
on their ticket.
The airline has also been
criticised for entering an
agreement with Bagport
without putting a contract out
to tender.
Unathi Batyashe-Fillis, Acsa
spokesperson, conrmed that
Acsa was aware of the trial.
“According to Acsa, explicit
guidelines are in place
that stipulate that baggage
wrapping should be provided
independently from airlines to
passengers who opt to use
the service,” she said.
Asked whether Acsa was
considering legal action
against SAA because a
tender was not put out for
the service, Unathi said: “We
are considering all options
as, from an airport operator
perspective, we want to
ensure that the commonuse
area at the airport is
utilised to the benet of all
stakeholders and within the
agreed management rules to
maximise the efciency of all
services offered within the 49% terminal building.
