The Daily Insider: SA Airlink at the bad end of the service spectrum

A bouquet and a brickbat this morning.

For decades I've dreaded the annual renewal of my car's licence. It required an early morning trip to Municipal Offices in dodgy downtown Joburg, a long queue and wasted hours. Then I discovered renewonline.co.za. For a couple hundred bucks extra, they do it all. Brilliantly. Three days after this year's order, the licences were hand delivered to my home. Also used the service last year and it was freakishly amazing. Same again this year. Take a bow guys.

At the other end of the service spectrum is SA Airlink which was experienced after Omicron forced the cancellation of this week's flight to the Eastern Cape. SA Airlink allows you to cancel online, but requires any refunds be handled by its call centre. Which is appalling. After being bombarded with marketing messages for half an hour – while constantly reminded to stay on the line because my call was "important" – they then cut me off. The airline's CEO Rodger Foster has a big reputation among his peers. Clearly they've never had to use his call centre.

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