Summary: SA Airways has just launched a new product, known as Step-Up, which allows customers to bid in an effort to upgrade their seat from economy class to business class.

JOHANNESBURG, 8 April 2015 - SA Airways (SAA) has recently launched a new, innovative product that gives customers the opportunity to upgrade their seat from economy class to business class through a ground-breaking bidding system.

The product, branded as Step-Up, allows customers to bid online for an upgrade for an upcoming trip where business class inventory is available.

‘Step-Up’ follows fresh on the trail of recent innovations such as the launch of SAA’s newly designed Fly SAA Duty Free online shop: www.flysaadutyfree.co.za, where you can shop at your leisure with purchases delivered directly to your seat the next time that you fly on SAA’s regional (except Victoria Falls and Maputo) and long-haul flights.

“Innovation has become a key component of SAA’s customer experience enhancement programme. Besides these latest innovative offerings, our customers can expect many more exciting product offerings in line with the strategic aim of improving customer service,” says Nico Bezuidenhout, SAA Acting Chief Executive.

Step-Up works as follows:

Customers will receive an email seven days before their scheduled departure informing them of the possibility of available seats in business class.  The email contains a link to the Step-Up tool where the customer will be able to place their bid. The minimum and maximum bid range is dependent on the original ticket purchased and where the passenger is flying. 

All bids stop 72 hours before departure, and customers have the ability to view, modify and cancel their bid before this cut-off.  Nothing is confirmed immediately, as the system creates a prioritised list of all of the bids.  Hereafter, customers will be notified 24 hours before departure of the outcome of their bid.

For successful customers, their credit card will be charged with the amount that they have bid. For unsuccessful passengers, they retain their original itinerary and pay nothing.

If the email in the booking is that of the travel agent’s, the travel agent may follow the link and bid on behalf of their customer.  Alternatively, the travel agent may pass the email onto their customer and the customer may bid for themselves. The programme has been launched on selected routes and will be extended to include more routes in the near future. 

More information about the programme can be found at: http://www.flysaa.com/cms/ZA/step-up/index.html.

About South African Airways (SAA) 

South African Airways is a Star Alliance member that offers flights to 38 destinations worldwide. Domestically, SAA operates 544 flights a week between Johannesburg – Cape Town, Durban, East London and Port Elizabeth. Regionally SAA offers 24 destinations across the African continent and its international network creates links to all major continents from South Africa through 10 direct routes. In the regional category, SAA has received the Skytrax ‘Best Airline in Africa’ Award for 11 consecutive years.                                                                                  

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