Comair, BA’s South African franchise, is bust – here’s what happens next

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• yonasl says:

  9 Jun9 June 17:42

  “operating to BA service standards” … :-S

• Martin says:

  9 Jun9 June 17:43

  Any rumblings on the other BA franchise, Sun-Air?

  • Rob says:

    9 Jun9 June 18:18

    No. Last year they said they weren’t planning to return until this Autumn, heard nothing since.

    • Nick says:

      9 Jun9 June 19:39

      Sunair have started flying again, albeit only on their semi-private corporate routes. They rock up in MAN most weeks, for example.

    • NDW says:

      9 Jun9 June 21:21

      Sun-Air is doing well. They have not returned to commercial service but have been running private route and charters for companies. Through covid Sun-Air was running an AstraZeneca triangle route. As well some routes for Siemens Renewable resources division.

• SGJNI1961 says:

  9 Jun9 June 17:48

  Is BA not liable for a refund for tickets issued on 125- stock and payments made to BA, not to Comair, for December flights?
  I made new bookings on Airlink last week fearing the worst, i imaging prices will now rise significantly due to limited capacity on the main JNB-CPT route

  • Jonathan says:

    9 Jun9 June 21:20

    Yes, they are refunding and tickets that have been cancelled.

• Simon says:

  9 Jun9 June 17:57

  I have three stand alone Comair bookings one in Nov and two in Dec.

  I have already received a “flight cancelled” email for one of the Dec flights with the option of a full refund but nothing about the other two as yet.

  I am re-booking myself tonight on alternatives (Safair) and will tackle the refunds as and when notified.

  • Simon says:

    9 Jun9 June 18:58

    Just called BA and actually ended up speaking with someone in SA. All three flights now cancelled and fully refunded although the seat cost is refunded separately by the “back office” so will take some time.

    Also three replacement Safair flights booked.

  • SGJNI1961 says:

    9 Jun9 June 19:07

    I have now also received the cancellation email. The Airlink tickets are well up already in J, not so bad in Y. Yet!

• Diane says:

  9 Jun9 June 19:09

  We have a flight booked JnB to Port Elizabeth in October. Can anyone recommend an alternative airline. TIA

  • Dave Gill says:

    10 Jun10 June 07:02

    South African Airlink very reliable.

  • Diane says:

    10 Jun10 June 11:55

    Thanks

• Nick says:

  9 Jun9 June 19:43

  The time limit on rebooking is just because those are the agreements that have been made so far with other carriers. I doubt they’d get away with saying the only option for everyone else is a refund even if they wanted to. As usual in this circumstance, patience is the name of the game. It takes a few days (/weeks) to find suitable agreements for all routes but I’d be astonished if they didn’t sort something out for those with future bookings.

  In any airline (or route) suspension, unless you’re travelling immediately, it’s always better to wait than rush into something you might regret later.

  • yorkieflyer says:

    10 Jun10 June 08:35

    Yes but if you can rebook yourself at a price and timings suitable, why not? You then have peace of mind

• Mr B says:

  9 Jun9 June 23:06

  Best wishes to all involved at Comair, great little set up in SA. Service lounges and product were far superior to BA mainline short haul. Aircraft a little tatty mind you.

  • Mikeact says:

    10 Jun10 June 07:55

    Used them many times…..very sad.

  • JAXBA says:

    10 Jun10 June 14:14

    Comair were profitable every year since their foundation, up until the last few years. The 737 MAX issues (they were planning on receiving them, but switched to wanting compensation instead), the protectionism of SAA by the SA government, the large sum of money owed by SAA to Comair that only got a tiny fraction paid.. and then the pandemic. MN didn’t have low cost agile competition – they had a government backed SAA dinosaur dragging everything down, yet Comair were still regularly profitable…

• Dave Gill says:

  10 Jun10 June 07:00

  What will happen with those booked to fly the first leg Jo’burg-CT-London?

  • yorkieflyer says:

    10 Jun10 June 08:40

    If on one ticket then should be rebooked direct JNB-LHR

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