Three Weeks Back Now
It seems to have flown. I still haven’t done what I had hoped to do. The reason being that I have been requested to modify and update a number of existing websites. There has also, for some reason been an avalanche of queries for websites which has necessitated meetings hither and yon - about eight in the last two weeks.
Before I forget - a gripe concerning that embarrassment of a national airline. After being bust for drug smuggling into Heathrow twice in four weeks under the heading ‘why don’t they learn?’, I see that SAA may be in danger of losing its landing rights there. I think that they should remove them to focus their attention, particularly before 2010. It’s a disgrace make them land at Southend.
Several years ago I flew to Bangkok on an airplane that appraently predated Bleriot’s. The thing stank, rattled and a sizeable number of the overhead bins failed to lock.
We were sitting in exit seats adjacent to the door to get leg room and were ordered to move our belongings in a very rude and aggressive manner by the cabin attendant. At the safety briefing, she was absent (a breach of international aviation law I would think) and left the other cabin attendants rolling their eyes and shaking their heads.
Just before the plane left Joburg an oriental fellow boarded and with no room left overhead, was told to leave his carryon behind the seat adjacent to the bulkhead. He was three rows forward and to the left. On arrival in Bangkok the next morning, his money and passport were missing. I would lay bets on who lifted them during the night. The general cabin service was execrable - and I had it all to look forward to on the return leg, which proved to be equally disagreeable.
After that, I refused to travel SAA long haul. Just the other day at OR Tambo on the way back from India, we were 5kgs overweight according to the weighbridge at the checkin. I had weighed the luggage and knew we were close - but not 5kgs. Never mind, the check in individual refused to chek the two bags in unless the R130 or so was paid for at the SAA counter.
While I was doing that, he let a black couple on with 60kgs of baggage (according to my wife who read the scale) notwithstanding the fact that they also had the bit of paper with the amount overweight on. Unfortunately a) I didn’t see it and b) we were close to boarding for Durbs otherwise I would have had his supervisor down, demanded an explanation and had the bags retrieved from handling. Coincidentally, in the local Joburg paper on the flight, there was a huge complaint about a related issue from an irate passenger.
On tonight’s Carte Blanche we have yet another ‘official’ telling us all very gravely that ‘Yes, there is a problem’ and that ‘There is a lot of work to be done’. Yet again, another incompetent backside is occupying an expensive leather chair that could be better utilized. We are never told who is doing this ‘work’, what the nature of the ‘work’ is, what the expected end result of all this ‘work’ is, what the projected timeline for all this ‘work’ is. Time after time on Carte Blanche these fat backsides tell us in a condescending tone with as much gravitas as they can muster that there is a ‘problem’ but things are in hand - I could suggest what might be better employed in their hands.
In amongst these debacles with SAA, the ex CEO is being investigated for his shambolic management. Who gave this character the job? What were his credentials - and did they have the slightest bearing on the actual responsibilities required? Who also applied for the position? etcetera . . .