NCC deems FlySafair's overbooking of tickets 'illegal'

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NCC investigation underway

The FlySafair overbooking saga continues with the National Consumer Commission (NCC) now revealing that overbooking and overselling airline flight tickets is illegal in terms of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA).

As reported by Moneyweb, Hardin Ratshisusu, acting commissioner of the NCC and deputy commissioner of the Competition Commission, said that there are specific provisions in the CPA that deal with overbooking and overselling.

“I just need to emphasise that the CPA prohibits a supplier from accepting payment for goods or services that do not exist,” Ratshisusu said in a meeting, as per Moneyweb.

“So suppliers must not offer services or products that are not there to consumers because the CPA will kick in.” he added.

He also revealed that given the nature of the current allegations against FlySafair, the investigation was a priority of the NCC’s, and he urged consumers who are affected by this overbooking practice to come forward and provide information that could assist the investigation.

Ratshisusu said that the initial plan was to conclude the investigation in the first quarter of the NCC’s 2025/26 financial year, but given the volume of information to analyse, the investigation is now planned to be completed in the second quarter of 2025/26.

FlySafair in hot water

This investigation basically comes after a displeased passenger shared his experience with FlySafair’s practice of overbooking flights in January.

Miles Nsala took to X to share his vexing experience with FlySafair.

“So we show up at the airport, and @FlySafair says we don’t have seats for the same flight we paid for. If you have 200 seats, why take payments for 300 passengers?” Nsala said on X.

The airline has since responded to Nsala’s complaint, by apologising and also admitting that they did indeed overbook flights.