Mailbox: Law-breaking Safair’s predatory policies have to be stopped

Key points:.Unsafe and illegal pre-screening practicesInconvenience and financial loss due to boarding issuesToxic company culture.The interviews with Cemair CEO Miles van der Molen about Irish-owned Safair's cavalier approach to South African aviation sector regulations has evoked considerable debate on the various BizNews forums. A veteran airline pilot and seasoned traveller weighs in here. He is well known to the BizNews editor but has requested anonymity as he is still active in the industry. His insights will resonate with many who have been on the wrong end of Safair's approach..Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here..The seventh BizNews Conference, BNC#7, is to be held in Hermanus from March 11 to 13, 2025. The 2025 BizNews Conference is designed to provide an excellent opportunity for members of the BizNews community to interact directly with the keynote speakers, old (and new) friends from previous BNC events – and to interact with members of the BizNews team. Register for BNC#7 here..If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here..Anonymous author*.Good morning Alec, I enjoyed your discussion with Miles about overbooking. .Safair has another bad habit that MUST be stopped. Their practice of 'pre-screening' security checks at boarding gates, giving a coloured disc, is not safe or legal. The law says that pre-screened passengers must be segregated from the general departure area for security purposes, as is done by TSA checks for flights departing to USA. .Safair does this in order to expedite boarding but does not segregate. Nothing stops someone handing their disc to another person after being screened..This practice cost me dearly last year. I was near the boarding gate & as no passengers had been through the gate, I went to the toilet. In the three minutes I was away, the entire queue (pre-screened) filed through to the other side of the glass wall & stood there, waiting for the aeroplane to be readied. .I was within earshot, calling for the door to be held as the last passenger filed through, but I was gleefully told by the keyboard warrior that the flight was closed. .I thus stood there watching the accepted passengers for 11 minutes as they stood waiting on the other side of that glass wall, merely two metres from me. .No refund, new ticket bought…..As an aside, the staff said that the boarding time had passed. I might add that the departure time on the ACSA board was incorrect with the correct (later) time merely added as the 'updated' time. .My friends at Safair speak of a terrible 'blame' culture, and that those check-in staff would never dare to have opened the flight again, even though they could see that had they accepted me, I too would have stood waiting on the other side of that glass wall..Read also:.FlySafair's claim all SA airlines overbook like them is rubbish – Miles vd Molen MicroStrategy: The world's riskiest hedge fund or just a Bitcoin bet with a premium price tag? – Sean PecheSean McLaughlin – A peek into SA's possible future: Parallel towns.*The writer is a long-standing airline pilot & seasoned traveller.

Mailbox: Law-breaking Safair’s predatory policies have to be stopped

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