Greeff said he was staying an hour-and-a half from the airport while other fellow stranded passengers were closer to the airport.
“When they took my ticket stub, they said SAA will be responsible for accommodation and food until we get another flight to SA.”
However, Greeff said SAA then changed tack and said this was not a SAA service, but a SA government repatriation service, and therefore SAA will not take responsibility for the 45 people it left behind.
SAA was not immediately available for comment.
Beverly Schäfer, of Home Away from Home, said these South Africans who found themselves stranded have been waiting for months to be repatriated and could not afford to incur any extra costs.
Schäfer said the incident happens at a time when SAA was returning leased aircraft to lessors.
Schäfer said the organisation will try to see whether stranded South Africans could be put on other flights to SA next week.
“SAA must take full responsibility for leaving these South Africans who have paid for their flights home. It must take a plane to Europe and pick up the stranded South Africans and bring them home,” she said.
SAA apologised for leaving the passengers and explained how it happened.
It said on Friday evening before departure from Frankfurt to Moscow, one of the aircraft doors indicated a fault with its emergency escape slide, which is an important functionality for emergency evacuation purposes.
“We took a decision not to operate the flight on the day (Friday) hoping the situation would be resolved (the) next day,” SAA spokesperson Tlali Tlali said.
He said in this case, as the aircraft door could not be fixed in a short space of time. On Saturday, SAA implemented the prescribed passenger-to-aircraft door ratio and regrettably had to leave around 45 passengers behind.
“Those passengers were ticketed and were impacted by the aircraft door that could not operate the emergency escape slide. They were not part of the unticketed group,” Tlali said.
He said while the aircraft door could still open and close, SAA could not discount a possibility of an emergency, however remote or unlikely.
“We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused to our passengers and trust they understand that we took that decision in the interest of their safety and of our crew.
“The aircraft was at all times airworthy and landed in Johannesburg on Sunday morning with 270 passengers from both Frankfurt and Moscow.”
Tlali said there were consultations under way to determine how best to assist the passengers who were left behind.
“Our team in Germany is in touch with as many of the passengers left behind to provide required assistance, including accommodation,” Tlali said.
BY ERNEST MABUZA
