SAA resumes flights to US

Following the Hurricane Sandy in the US which resulted in some flights being cancelled, South African Airways (SAA) has resumed its operations on its Johannesburg to Washington DC (via Dakar) route.

The first flight from Johannesburg to Washington DC departed from OR Tambo International Airport this morning at 0100 and is expected to arrive in Washington this afternoon around 1320.

According to SAA, a bigger aircraft had been deployed in order to accommodate those passengers who could not fly yesterday.

Based on the forecast, weather conditions are expected to have subsided at the time when the aircraft arrives in Washington DC.

"SAA will monitor the situation and will resume other operations between South Africa and the US as soon as conditions are deemed safe for air travel," said SAA spokesperson Kabelo Ledwaba.

SAA has apologised to its customers for any inconvenience caused by flight cancellations.

According to SAA, all passengers who had already bought their tickets and were affected by the New York and Washington flight cancellations will be offered assistance either via the airline's call centres, city ticket offices, airport ticket offices or the travel agent they have booked with.

Affected? Rebook your flights

The affected passengers will be able to rebook on the next available flight, subject to space availability. The following options are available to passengers: a full refund only via the issuing office of the original ticket, a waiver of all date and flight change fees and a waiver of all cancelation and administration fees.

Passengers are also advised to note that this allowance will apply to South African Airways tickets only, i.e. 083 ticket numbers and not on any other airline tickets or separate tickets held and that the offer must be taken up and tickets re-issued through an SAA office by 31 October 2012.

If passengers opt to travel on a later date, such travel must commence on/before 07 November 2012.

For more info, passengers are advised to call the South African Airways call centre in Johannesburg on (011) 978-1111 or 0861 606 606 from Mon - Sun from 6am - 10pm and in North America they can call SAA call centre in Fort Lauderdale on (1) 800 722 9675 from Mon - Fri from 8:30am - 8am (local time) Sat - Sun: 8am - 4pm (local time)