Velvet Sky | WhaleTales Blog by Chris von Ulmenstein

The Sweet Service Award goes to Shoprite/Checkers, for refunding all its customers for Velvet Sky airline tickets, bought via Computicket Travel, or at a Shoprite or a Checkers store. The airline has been grounded, and has not made arrangements to refund its customers’ tickets. ‘Despite having no legal obligation to refund Velvet Sky’s fares, we feel strongly that you shouldn’t lose your hard-earned money due to this unfortunate event’, said a letter from CEO Whitey Basson, in a newspaper advertisement.

The Sour Service Award goes to the Pick ‘n Pay BP Express in Green Point. Recently the monthly municipal accounts were paid via EasyPay at this branch and sms bundles were bought for the staff. When the sms vouchers and proof of payment were printed by the cashier one could barely read the detail, as the shop printer cartridge was close to empty. The Manager Darren didn’t want to call the franchisee Paul Schaefer (he is never there in the evenings nor over weekends), so he tried to dismantle the printer linked to the till and swop it with another. He called when it was done, an hour later, so that we could fetch the newly printed and far more legible slips. We had not noticed that the sms bundle vouchers did not have a pin code due to the reprint, and this necessitated a third visit to the branch on a Saturday morning, again finding Mr Schaefer absent. I was asked to return two days later, which was unacceptable, due to the time already wasted over three visits. Mr Schaefer called, explaining that he would have to look through the screen shots of the till screens of the two previous visits, to get the sms bundle voucher pin numbers, and this could only be done on his return. We called Jacques Lombard at the Pick ‘n Pay Head Office, and he immediately instructed Mr Schaefer to issue replacement sms bundle vouchers, which was done, but was accompanied by abusive calls and sms messages from Mr Schaefer, absolving himself and his staff from any responsibility for the problem created. We will not return to this Pick ‘n Pay branch, due to the continued EasyPay incompetence experienced in the past year.

The WhaleTales Sweet & Sour Service Awards are presented every Friday on the WhaleTales blog. Nominations for the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be sent to Chris von Ulmenstein at info@whalecottage.com. Past winners of the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be read on the Friday posts of this blog, and in the WhaleTales newsletters on the www.whalecottage.com website.

South Africa’s newest airline, and lowest cost operator, Velvet Sky, started flying earlier this week between Johannesburg and Cape Town, and Johannesburg and Durban, reports Southern African Tourism Update. Currently there is a daily flight between Cape Town and Johannesburg, at the cost of R802 return, and 12 flights per week between Johannesburg and Durban, at the cost of R402 return.

The new airline’s pay-off line, in its refreshing and funky advertising, is “Love every moment”, something the passengers of other low-cost airlines no longer seem to do, judging by the tweets one reads on Twitter.

The new airline belongs to Macdonald Holdings, an industrial company which has operated for more than 40 years. Velvet Sky Chairman Cecil Reddy says: “Having spent the last two years assessing all trends and demands of the airline industry, we are extremely eager to enter this market and believe that now is, without doubt, the perfect time to do so”.

Planes have been leased from Aergo, and are Boeing 737-300’s. Customers can pre-order in-flight snacks and drinks at R30, bookable online or at the check-in desks at the airports.

First Car Rental has been signed up by Velvet Sky, and the airline is looking at linking up with other partners to offer passengers “amazing package deals when planning their travel experiences with us”, Reddy added.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage