Cape Town - An Ironman South Africa participant’s custom-made sports gear that went missing on connecting flights from Argentina to Joburg has been found.
This week the Cape Argus reported on Argentinian triathlete Carlos Catuogno’s call for athletes to boycott SAA, which he said had ruined his experience of the South African leg of the international triathlon series by losing the bike and other gear valued at about R120 000.
SAA accepted responsibility and offered to compensate Catuogno about R17 000, but Catuogno insisted his bike be returned to him.
But SAA spokesman Tlali Tlali said the bike case was never handed over to SAA by baggage handlers at Sao Paolo international airport in Brazil.
”On 2 April 2014, our Johannesburg baggage claims service desk logged a missing bag claim and a reference number was generated accordingly. SAA notified and made contact with all parties in the value chain in effort to establish and recover the missing baggage,” Tlali said.
Tlali said TAM, the Brazilian airline that flew Catuogno from Buenos Aires to Sao Pao, found the case at a warehouse at Buenos Aires Aeroparque Airport.
Catuogno e-mailed the Cape Argus on Wednesday to confirm that he had received the bike and accompanying sports gear.
“Incredible. After two months, they finally found the bike! Today they gave me the box with all the stuff in my house. Tomorrow I (start training again)! Thank you very much.”
”We truly regret the unpleasant flying experience endured by our passenger,” Tlali said
“Our insistent engagement with TAM is a confirmation of our resolve towards customer satisfaction. We knew we were not in receipt of the items but pursued the matter with TAM until they were recovered.”
Cape Argus