Office Address:
Comair Ltd,Cnr. 1 Marignane
Drive and Atlas Road
Bonaero Park,
1619 South Africa
Support:
Phone:feedback@kulula.com
About Kulula
Kulula is a South African airline that commenced operations in 2001. The budget airline operates from its main hubs at OR Tambo International Airport and Lanseria International Airport. Kulula has a fleet of 11 aircraft and connects to major cities within South Africa and also to neighboring countries, with more than 411 flights a week. The airline was awarded ‘Best Low Cost Airline’ in the international Airline Excellence Awards in 2014.
Within South Africa, Kulula’s routes include Johannesburg, Lanseria, Durban, Cape Town, East London, George and Port Elizabeth. International routes, operated by British Airways (Comair), include Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, Mauritius and Kenya. Kulula also has codeshare agreements with Kenya Airways and Air France.
Tickets for Kulula flights can be booked online through various modes, including MasterCard, Visa and Diners credit cards. Payment can also be made using cheque, gift cards, internet banking, or using cash at any retail store. Besides flight, the Kulula website allows booking of hotels, car or a holiday package within South Africa or outside. Look for discounts and combo offers that come with great bargains.
Once a ticket has been confirmed, fliers can manage and make changes to their booking directly on the website. One can also check-in online 24 hours before a flight to avoid the airport ques. During check-in, fiers can also select a seat and print a boarding pass. The same features can be availed using an app or by accessing the mobile website. The add-ons that can be selected during confirmation of ticket include extra bags, pre-paid seats or insurance.
As for baggage, Kulula allows one free checked bag weighing up to 20kg and one cabin baggage weighing up to 7kg. Extra bags can be booked online or at the airport. For bag dimensions and price read the baggage guide here.
Discovery Card members can earn and redeem miles every time they fly with Kulula. Members of the oneworld frequent flyer programmes also can earn points and miles. Find out more on the website. For more information or queries on payment, refund, cancellation, group booking or lost baggage, reach the Kulula customer service.
We booked Kulula flight tickets for the 23rd of October 2022, we are a group of 10 adults. We have been trying to get into contact with Kulula offices since June 2022 without any success. Up to this moment no one bothered to update or contact us concerning our booking refund.
I don’t book an airplane to sit and camp at the airport. If Kulula cannot honor the times booked you must stop making these available for us to book. There are other airlines that commit and stick to the times booked by passengers. It is unacceptable that i had to be at the airport by 11:00 to check in my bag only only to receive an sms 20 minutes before boarding that my flight is delayed. To make things worse the flight time changed from 11:15 to 13:15 to 14:30 to 15:30. This is unacceptable and kulula must stop flying if you cannot stick to your times. I lost so much sitting at the airport chair when i am supposed to be in Cape Town at 14:15 and its now 14::50 and no sign of leaving Johannesburg.
I have booked a wheelchair online for my 85year old mother on the day of our booking, a month before our flight, then made a date change to our return flight 7 days before our flight. I then again requested wheelchair assistance online, I had no feedback. I went online again 3 days before, completed the application for a third time. The day prior to our flight I phoned them, spent more than an hour on the phone to be told that I was supposed to phone them and not fill in the request form online, as this part of their website does not work and I now might not get a wheelchair because my request is to close to my flight (30 hrs in advance). This is poor customer service, not having correct info on the website and not having sufficient people dealing with queries as response time to calls often exceeds 40min.
During our flight from Lanseria to Cape Town (MN 453, 08 May) my suitcase was broken into and my Panasonic DMC-FZ70 camera was stolen. Other than the time the suitcase was in Kulula’s possession the suitcase was totally under my control. I did not discover the theft until I was in Cape Town. Since I had no method of communicating with Kulula I decided to wait until my return flight (MN 456, 15 May) to file the claim. This seemed justified since the return of a stolen item is around 0% chance of recovery. On the return flight your people at Cape Town told me to file the claim with baggage after arrival in Lanseria. After arrival at Lanseria the baggage people told me I must file the claim in Cape town (the original destination). Your employees were of no help, were uninterested in “my problem” and proposed an unreasonable solution given that I will not be returning to Cape Town. Since I have travel insurance with Allianz that covers personal item theft I thought I was covered. However, they want the original claim against the carrier and will cover what is not paid by your insurance. It is obvious that I will not be able to file a claim with you since Kulula’s personnel just give me the run around and your employees are totally unconcerned about the theft from baggage during handling/transport. This makes it impossible for me to file a claim with my insurance carrier. I have original purchase receipts for the stolen item but must apparently just accept the loss. I have never experienced such a lack of concern by any companies employees. I did notify the travel company that booked the flights for my wife and I (Go Touch Down) and they were concerned about the theft but were not able to do anything about it. The camera was a key element I was going to use during our safari tour.Meedless to say the loss impacted the overall satisfaction of our South Africa tour. Given your customer relations concern evident during our trip I do not expect you to assist me in my claim effort. Just wanted you to be aware of the impact this type of performance has on customer satisfaction.
The Customer Service and Staff training is non-existent at Kulula. My flight MN104 was due to depart Cape Town at 14h30 yesterday. We departed at !8h30. A 4 hour delay. When we spoke to the person checking us in as to why, she answered “It”s not my fault”.
When boarding the aircraft 4 hours later, we asked again and was told by the flight attendant, “I am also 4 hours late”.
We pre-booked our seats on row 15. When we checked in we were split up to rows 27 and 29 and middle seats. When wanting to know why, we were just given a shrug of the shoulders.
I am totally disgusted at the service from Kulula, my son was booked from Johannesburg to Durban on Christmas morning at 6:30am. He booked in-online then when he got to the airport at 5:30 waited in a Que as there was quite a few people booking in. When he got the front of the Que eventually after 6am he was told it was too late and he could not book his luggage in and had to take the next flight out and pay for another flight. He told the customer service lady that he was on Vitality and wanted the discount, to be told its too late he has to pay the full fare and take the BA flight at 7am. This is totally unacceptable as we are on gold status and receive 30% discount on flights with Kulula.
Surely this is not how Kulula operations, i would like a reply to this unacceptable service.
Regards
Tracey Gibbon
Really disappointed on a flight from Durban , leaving on Tuesday(23/10) 8.10am
Flight was delayed and only left at 8.40am. No one ever apologised or informed passengers what the delay was about. This was a business trip and as a result I missed my first appointment and my colleague had to park, instead of a pick up, paying R84.00 for his parking ticket.
To add insult to injury, it took 25 minutes before I could fetch my bag.
I live/work between Midrand and Ballito and travel quite frequently with other airlines as well. Each and every time there was a delay, the captain starts off by apologising to passengers. How dare you think that my time is not as important as yours is ? This is indeed quite cheeky. I am dreading my flight back home on Saturday.
On the 29th of August at approximately 12:35pm, I contacted the Kulula.com contact center to enquire about travelling with an infant and the baggage allowance for the flight. I was told that since our connecting flight with Emirates is within 24hours the same baggage policy as with Emirates applies to my flight with Kulula. However, when we arrived at the check-in counter I was told that I had to pay R990.00 for the extra luggage since we had three bags weighing approx. 26KG between the four of us (My wife and two children). The allowable luggage weight on an Emirates flight is 30KG per bag.
I sent Kulula the reference numbers for the calls and till date got no response from them.
I have yet to interact with such a useless team as the Kulula Card personnel administered by FNB. I have meade 8 calls and spent time worth more than the spend limit on my card trying to get a pin pout of these people over 6 weeks with false promises and zero action. While i might continue to use the airline, the card division is an unmitigated disaster in terms of customer service and should use the logo, “You don’t matter, we don’t care”
My wife and I (70) were booked on Kulula flight from CT to JHB on Sunday 14th Jan at 11:20am. We were on our way to London that same evening and told the bookings people that. On arrival at the check in desk our luggage was weighed and we were 6kg overweight….the amount that BA allows is 23kg BUT the Kulula flight only allowed 20kg. We were ‘fined’ R600 for being overweight despite showing the desk that we were on our way to the UK. Once on the flight I took special notice of what passengers were bringing aboard. One guy had a case so big it would not fit into the overhead space. Many people had had cases that the flight attendants could hardly manage to lift. 7kg….my arse. Other passengers obviously had ALL their luggage in one case to be stored in the overhead compartment while others had a case and a bag of tennis rackets. One guy had what looked like a duvet or mattress that was too big for the overhead YET, we were ‘fined’ for being over the 20kg limit. I wonder if I should ask for a refund OR just do what everyone else does? Pack it in your cabin luggage that is not measured or weighed by your uncaring staff who are without empathy for travellers that are leaving on a plane later in the day bound for London or elsewhere. Its just a money making racket that needs to be seriously addressed by management as it stinks. I feel like I have been scammed by your airline and I know what I will do when next in SA and at a dinner party with friends.
I am so dissappointed in Kulula’s service and staff in general, not helpful at all, i booked a ticket to Cape Town on the 23 November 2017 coming back on the 28 November 2017, i have booked well in advance, only to be told at the checkin counter that the plane was fully booked and i have to go with the next flight, as my daughter had to fetch me from the airport taking the time off from work i refused to go at a later time, it took your staff at Kulula an hour to figure out what to do with my booking that was paid for well in advance and was told that they have booked someone else in my seat in case of cancelations to get the plain full. The gates was nearly closing when i was handed a boarding pass for a seat on the same scheduled trip, by that time i was furious and i had my expensive leather jacket over my arm and at the boarding gate they grabbed it and placed it in a separate tray than my handbag, as i was anxious to board the plane before it was too late i grabbed my handbag and my leather jacket stayed behind in the tray, i have had numerous calls even when i was on the plane to get it back but it was gone. I went to the lost and found section when i came back after phoning from Cape Town numerous times for them to check if it is there, but it was gone, stolen, where else would it be. This was all due to the delays at Kulula and the stressed time i had to endure getting on this fricken plane. Kulula needs to teach their staff better people skills and the general attitude was one of them doing me a favour by flying Kulula. If they do have any decendsy they would contact me in this regard, but i seem to wonder if it will ever happen. Coming back was a delay of 2 hours, i will never fly Kulula again and will tell people not to.
Please advise why after payment made and confirmed for seat 2F on flight 504 I was unable to secure that seat when it came time to fly because when I did mobi check in 24 hours before departure it defaulted to 12F and did not allow me to edit seat- so in essence although I had booked and paid for 2F it refused to allow me to check-in for 2F only for 12F.
I then contacted your call centre who also advised me they could not help and when I requested they escalate the problem advised that they had no authority and were not prepared to assist in trying to remedy the issue.
I then emailed my complaint through – a consultant contacted me and advised that although the system showed I had booked and paid for 2F they were unable to change my seating so advised I should wait for a few hours and try again and when I did this time my seat had been moved to 32F I again contacted the call centre we moved me to 8F which is the seat I flew in however my complaint is why after paying additional amount to reserve front row seat I was kicked out of it and it could not be resolved.
Really concerns me as I am a frequent flyer and therefore when booking front row seat and paying the additional cost why was I removed from it without any explanation – what was going on and how do we ensure it does not happen again as Kulula advertises that it offers the service of booking front row seats provided a the premium is paid.
Please advise what went wrong and what compensation is available and lastly how does one ensure it does not happen again in the future.
I sent this mail to you on 13 November and have not had the courtesy of a reply.
Dear sir/madam
A return ticket (CT-JHB-CT) was issued to me on 10th August 2017 – see attached documentation.
I did not use the CT-JHB ticket because at the last moment, I had to get to JHB earlier for a different meeting on that same day. The meeting organisers arranged my flight but I did not cancel nor arrive for the original flight which was issued on Kulula. When I arrived at the Kulula check-in on the return leg, I was informed that, as I had not used the CT-JHB leg of the travel, Kulula had cancelled the return leg. I was sent to the ticket office where they made me pay for a new ticket to the amount of R1710. I had no choice at all.
I was subsequently informed that this is the normal course of events, something which I find absolutely unacceptable. I had paid for the original ticket only to be told that I would have to pay for another one.
What troubles me is that the return flight (JHB – CT) was not even full.
I look forward to your assistance in this matter
Mark Philp
I wonder if anyone at Kulula will read these and respond.
It is clear from the above that Kulula does not have a Customer Service department. What it does have is personnel who will give you a very rehearsed answer from a script – after following a scripted question and answer session. These ‘robots’ can barely listen to your issue before reading the script to you.They are not required to think and are clearly not empowered to make a decision.This is a customer processing facility – and has little to do with Customer Service.
As I am writing this, my sister who is visiting me from London, is sitting at King Shaka airport – having arrived on time to catch a 8.15 flight to Lanseria. Only one snag – I, who have booked hundreds of flights on Kulula – via website, accidentally booked an 8.15pm flight instead of a 8.15am flight. (My eyes?/complete mystery?)
After waiting at Lanseria for a good 45min I inquired about the lateness of the flight – only to have the error pointed out to me.
I then phoned Kulula Customer Service to see if I could get my sister on an earlier flights. What a complete and utter waste of time – talking to robots in this so called, ‘customer service’ department with their scripted, uncaring response.
KULULA – WHY BOTHER???? get a programmer to write a computer response…..press this button if you have this issue….followed by a computer generated response….your answer is….do this / pay this etc.
My family and I are regular and frequent passengers on Kulula. I expected a sympathetic ear (it was a simple and honest mistake)and a solution offered.
Instead…the ‘semi-automated’ response was that they could not waiver the change-your-ticket charge (R399) and that I will be charged for the increased cost of the new ticket. This amounts to roughly the same cost as the original ticket.”We dont care,we cant help you and buy another ticket”….would be the concise response.
So thank you Kulula for your ‘Customer Service’.
My advice – read up on Southwestern Airlines and upgrade your ‘customer service’ with fewer more qualified people (that the airline can trust and who represent the brand)
People who are empowered to think and act.
So disappointing – from a brand I have admired (surviving in the industry, in this economy and against SAA / ANC gov.
To whom it may concern in customer relations
My husband managed to contact your customer relations person Mbali telephonically, who gave us an email address that keeps bouncing back. I, however need to vent my frustration and let you know about my ordeal no matter what the outcome is of this experience I had at OR Thambo Airport this morning. I was absolutely heartbroken and outraged this morning and am trying to put this situation in perspective. I had booked two tickets (booking reference LQXUNU on your Kalula.com website (in the past I have only used your airline, but at this point don’t think I ever will again!) on the 28January 2017, your printout headings, issuing agent and issuing airline state Kalula.com. I had no idea that the ticket number indicated the airline, my assumption from past flight experiences with your airline was that if I book a Kalula flight with you I fly with on a Kalula plane. I confirmed our tickets telephonically a week ago and all seemed in order. So my husband and I were in the Kalula queue this morning on time and ready to go to Cape Town, but when we eventually got to the counter your friendly ground staff informed us that we needed to go to the BA counter, (as apparently BA is one of your carriers) which we did, that queue was short but by the time we reached the counter the boarding gates were closed. Although We had no luggage to check in, I realize and respect airport rules which are no boarding after gates closed. Another issue for me which is very upsetting is that we heard no calls or announcements calling for our names, or telling us the boarding gates were closing. So we missed the flight, and I have missed the opportunity of saying goodbye to a friend of mine who has terminal lung cancer and who is flying back to New Zealand on The 1 March. When we got home, my husband managed to phone Mbali at Kalula customer services and she did send an email stating that the refund query we made will take 6-8 weeks. She indicated this would be a refund for airport taxes only. The refund query ID number is 21345.
This aside, I needed immediate help today because the reason for this flight was immediate and urgent, but unfortunately things did not work out for us.
I would like to let you know that after being directed to the BA ticket counter thereafter to “fix this issue” and spending another 20 minutes trying salvage this mess so that we could book two one way tickets to Cape Town, the BA staff sent us back to the Kalula counter to do this! Which seems that it was not only me who didn’t understand this all properly. At the Kalula ticket counter, there were no flights available today except one flight for one ticket (which meant I’d have had to face this ordeal of saying goodbye to my friend alone without my husband) this ticket however, was through Lanceria airport which I couldn’t manage to get to today. We were then told we had 30 minutes from “missing the flight” to buy another ticket in order for the return flight with Kalula (or is it BA I’m still not sure which airline???) on 26th February to be valid. 30 minutes of which I’m sure 20 minutes had already passed given the BA staff sending us back to Kalula, of running around to all airline counters to try and get an affordable and available flight to Cape Town. So Kalula or BA, you now have two return tickets to resell and profit from and I am an out of pocket for R 3 976 (not easy on a teacher’s salary but that isn’t your concern) and I am now completely heartbroken because I know that I can never say goodbye to my friend in person again.
With Disappointment, heartbreak and disenchantment
Theft n flight MN802 from East London to OR Rambo. Padlock broken off husbands suitcase and a carton of cigarettes were stolen. Secondly only ONE VEGGIE Bun for Sale. As a first time flyer with your company it’s not a good reflection. Awaiting your response.
Kind regards
S.Tessendorf
On flight MN 802 East London to OR Rambo, my husbands suitcase s lock was broken off and a carton of cigarettes was stolen. I would appreciate a response from you. As this is unacceptable. Secondly there was only ONE veggie roll on board.
Regards
S. Tessendorf