Rapper AKA has lashed out at South African Airways (SAA) for poor in-flight customer service saying the airline's financial woes cannot be an excuse for bad service.
Real name Kiernan Forbes, AKA took to Instagram to vent about his experiences with the airline.
"It starts with a flight to Munich that I took a few months ago. As usual, I decided to fly SAA to my destination. I was jolted out of my seat and out of my sleep by a particularly rude woman. There's something about being woken up with a big shock that really rattles you and gets your day off to a terrible start. I decided from that moment that I would try by all means to never fly SAA ever again... I didn't even have the energy to complain because I felt that it wouldn't even make a difference. Good service costs absolutely nothing," he said on the post.
Forbes added that, "The national carrier is supposed to be a source of pride. It's supposed to make you feel welcome when you return home from overseas and make you feel valued as a South African. It is for this reason that I was shocked to learn that SAA had made foreigners the faces of their Voyager campaign instead of using prominent South Africans such as myself and others".
He said after flying Emirates on his recent trip to New York, he was pleasantly surprised.
"I was inspired to write this post because I have just finished flying Emirates to New York and back home, and I was struck by the warmth, professionalism and service on this airline and started wondering what the excuse was for all the bad experiences I have had on SAA. It was also cheaper to fly Emirates first class than to fly SAA on business class to New York," he continued.
But, according to AKA, it's the rotten tomatoes that spoil the whole lot.
"Eighty percent of the staff I've dealt with on SAA are friendly and go beyond the call of duty to do their job professionally, however, the other 20 percent is giving this airline a terrible name. The crew that literally smack your seat back into position as the plane enters final decent. In the middle of a long haul flight. The crew that makes you feel they are doing you a favour by getting you a drink or a snack late at night. As a patriot, and as a supporter of all things South African, I want to take pride in our national carrier and support it as a person who travels a lot. So come on SAA, do better. Make us proud instead of forcing us to go elsewhere with our hard earned money. This isn't about food or wifi but about taking your people for granted. You represent our country to the world. Make us proud again," his post read.
AKA's beef with the airline comes barely three months after his girlfriend and media personality, Bonang Matheba also complained about the airline on social media.
Matheba took to Twitter in April to complain about the food on the airline:
SAA's initial response was rather, umm, see for yourself:
The airline soon retracted its first response and apologised to Matheba:
And so we await SAA's response to Supa Mega's words of advice.