This smacks of what was done to Richard Branson/Freddie Lakar by BA. Someone from Nationwide should see who their enemies are - Read Richard Bransons autobiography

Well, it has cost me dearly to visit my kids in the UK. Firstly, my booking made in January vir Virgian Atlantic, went horribly wrong through the inefficiency of an Agent at Flight Specials. Correspondence to get my money back from Virgin has now ensued. I then booked a flight with Nationwide on Friday the 25th to leave on Sunday the 27th. Now, so soon after my arrival here to see my grandchild, this news from SA with yet another financial loss. Any attempts to contact Nationwide via telephone or email, are in vain as there is no reply or simply messages that all flights have ceased. We are left in the dark. So, here I am now until 'who knows when'. Will I ever be able to get back home? My thoughts and prayers are with all employees and all other passengers now stranded. I have flown with Nationwide for the past 5 years and staff and service levels have always been great. It is such a pity that this had to happen.

I feel sorry for all the innocent passengers who have been left stranded with the demise of Nationwide and especially the loyal staff who remained with the airline after it's grounding last year. It's all due to bad management and been money hungry. To all the stranded passengers, DON'T hold your breathe while waiting for a refund as I'm still waiting 4 months on for a refund for tickets booked then cancelled when Nationwide was grounded in Nov/Dec 2007. No one is/was bothered, all empty promises. Management have got what they deserve, failure.

LAST WEEK MY WIFE AND I WERE ABOUT TO BOOK AND PAY NATIONWIDE FOR A RETURN FLIGHT TO LONDON WHEN WE WERE OFFERED A BETTER OFFER FROM EMERITES.THANK HEAVON.MY WIFE QUERIED AND SAID WHY USE NATIONWIDE ,WAS IT NOT RISKY.MY REPLY TO HER WAS DEFINITELY NOT AS A BEE GROUP HAD MADE AN ANOUNCEMENT THAT THEY WERE FINALISING THEIR BID TO COMPLETE A MAJOR INVESTMENT IN THE COMPANY.BASED ON THIS STATMENT ONLY WE WOULD HAVE BOOKED AND PAID FOR OUT TICKETS.I ADVISE THIS BEE CEO IN FUTURE DONT MAKE ANY ANNOUCEMENTS UNTIL YOU HAVE SIGNED ON THE DOTTED LINE AS YOUR STATMENT GIVES FAULSE SECURITY TO THOSE OF US WHO WERE CONSIDERING USING NATIONWIDE.

Concerned SA citizen seems a little confused. SAA operates 2 Boeing 737-200 (the older version with JT8D engines) as dedicated freighters. Both these aircraft WERE grounded until they were inspected!

Ekse...you've got your facts wrong. Nationwide is privately owned... they are not a by product of British Airways. So by saying you prefer SAA because they are South African is incorrect - Nationwide is owned by Vernon Bricknell who is a South African!
Furthermore... old aircraft does not mean dangerous aircraft, or that they are not considering the safety of their passengers. Old aircraft mean - not enough capital to invest in new aircraft. Why can SAA afford new aircaft? They CAN'T!!! But they've got loving taxpayers who pour cash into that flop of an airline... and we all sit back and enjoy our flight as they are mangling, loosing or just plain stealing our baggage! It's so sad that Nationwide had to come to this... Why can't SAA just figure out - it doesn't matter how many Sun Air's/ Nationwides/Star Express' you close down...you will never ever be profitable! (And no, i am not an employee of Nationwide/SAA/BA/Comair/1Time/Mango/Kulula)

Nationwides grounding, although very sad indeed, should never have happened; if the Civil Aviation Authority had doen their jobs better. It turns out that they could have let Nationwide fly as per normal after the engine failure. Informaiton, from a very reliable source, has it; that if an engine on that type of aircraft finds itself under usual stress it will dislodge itself from the mounting, as a safety precaution. Funny that SAA, who use the same type of aircraft were not grounded (which woudl have been normal practice to ground all aircraft of the same type), but allowed to fly. Further info has it that SAA, once again is behind the grounding of another south african airline; as they have done in the past with the 1st SunAir and other private commercial south african airlines that followed afterwards. It seems that SAA is determined to get what it wants, at all costs. One starts to wonder if SAA is going to go after Comair as well and try and ground Kulula.com, as well as 1Time.com; so that their Low Cost Carrier MANGO can do better. It's a shameful way of doing business to try and stay above the waterline. An airline that has proven itself like Nationwide, does not deserve to go through this, at all and my heart goes out to one and all at Nationwide

strange how BA doesn't have a low cost airline in their Europe markets. in SA they have two, Kulula.com and Nation Wide. it was SAA's response with the introduction of Mango that allowed them to regain the lost passengers to BA and its other companies...

i prefer SAA, its firstly South African and secondly, they invest in new planes, giving me the comfort that they care about our safety. some of these low cost Airlines are a disaster waiting to happen. its better for them to close down without taking lives, then to be forced to close because lives are lost. as was almost the case with the refurbished plane NW bought from South America, which lost its engine....


i'm saddened by the loss of jobs, i hope that they find something soon....

Patrice Motsepe step in, please!!! How can we allow this situation to prevail? It is quite clear that the Civil Aviation Authority is in cahoots with SAA and that is why Nationwide was grounded last year for a long period of time which made them lose money, passenger loyalty and credibility. If the govt had not rescued SAA with our tax money, they would have long been in the same position Nationwide finds itself in. The last thing we need in this country is Airline monopoly. Without another carrier, we as passengers will suffer unreasonable price hikes from our other airlines. Sir Richard Branson, i beseech you to start a low cost domestic airline... afterall, these BEE companies can't put their money where their mouths are! Jane

Guess the SAA executives are jumping with glee. Considering the need for airlines to be operating for 2010 - would have thought Government would have assisted. Also, why didn't one of the other airlines step in with a rescue bid as seen in Europe lately? Presume their attitude is typical of SA thinking and that is to acquire the assets at rock bottom prices on liquidation.

Most BEE transactions are not backed by cash so any hope of a rescue from that quarter was wishful thinking!