Passengers with confirmed check-in on the TAAG flight, which should have left Lisbon on Monday night for Johannesburg, via Luanda, saw their ticket canceled about 14 hours before departure, on Monday morning. fair, and the Angolan company refused to organize an alternative, a Portuguese detained in Portugal told Lusa by telephone.
"They called me at 07h52 to say that the flight was confirmed and that I would have to 'check-in' three hours before, despite having already done it online and in possession of the boarding passes, but they called again 15 minutes later to say that the flight from Luanda to Johannesburg was suspended and if I still wanted to fly to Luanda ", he reported.
The Portuguese, who asked for anonymity, explained that she had scheduled the trip to South Africa more than a month ago, for professional reasons, noting that although TAAG has been in possession of the ticket since November, and of all procedures fulfilled in a timely manner, including the negative covid-19 PCR test, the company refused to organize another alternative to place it in South Africa.
"TAAG refused my placement on a flight of another company, it also does not say when it will resume its flights, it does not explain the reason for the cancellation of the ticket, since the airspace in South Africa has not been closed and it does not explain who will support it. now the expenses of the new covid-19 test ", he told Lusa.
"[TAAG's] call center told me that the only options would be to wait for their flights to resume, or accept a 12-month 'voucher' for the same amount and 50 euros 'bonus' to purchase a new ticket also at TAAG ", he explained, stressing that if you want a formal clarification" that you request it by 'email' ".
The citizen said that she is now obliged to buy another trip with another company to travel to South Africa, without receiving a refund of the amount paid to the company, "which does not guarantee its immediate payment or in 30 days, and may take up to six months ".
The TAAG spokesman denied Lusa the cancellation of flights "in the nick of time", stating that there is a joint decree from the ministries of Health, Transport and Interior to account for the closure of the air border with South Africa.
"That we canceled the flight at the last minute is not true, it was as soon as a joint decree came out, TAAG also issued a statement to report the cancellation of flights for reasons of the pandemic, either to Johannesburg or to Cape Town ", said Carlos Vicente.
The official stressed that in situations like this, the procedure requires passengers to contact ground services to find alternatives.
"And this cancellation is good to say, it does not have to do directly with TAAG, of course, passengers should contact our services on land to immediately know what is going to be done," he said.
According to Carlos Vicente, while the joint decree is in force there is no connection between Luanda and Johannesburg. "It is a matter of understanding, we have to comply, it is a law and we have to comply", he stressed.
On the 25th, TAAG issued a statement, following the announcement by the authorities of the suspension of air, land and sea passenger connections from South Africa, Australia, Nigeria and the United Kingdom, in which it realized that all flights are suspended bound for Johannesburg and Cape Town.
However, the South African Government denied having closed the international airspace announced by the flag carrier to cancel its weekly flights to South Africa.
"There is no closure of international airspace as part of the level 3 confinement announced last night by President Ramaphosa, airspace remains open until further notice to the contrary," Ministry of Transport spokesman Ayanda Allie told Lusa. Paine.
Aviation companies Emirates, Qatar, KLM and Air France continue to operate all their flights to Johannesburg, a source in the commercial aviation sector in Johannesburg told Lusa.
