South African Airways will charge you excess luggage, especially and in particular if you are not South African, on any flights and connections operated by them. They will also try their best to charge you excess luggage for the totality of the trip even if the SAA flight is just a short connection to your international flight operated by another carrier. What usually skips their mind is to inform you that there is a reduced fee per/kg for sporting equipment that is 1/2 of the normal fee. So if you get stucked with excess luggage be sure that they are using the sporting equipment fee and not the normal fee that they will use by default!!
Airlines part of the Star Alliance thing [where did they get the name from Star Wars??] seem more prone to bother you with luggage excess charges than other airlines.

One way to avoid this is to use British Airways [quite a good presence in SA] which has now a free baggage policy of one 23kg bag + a 32kg [up to] sporting equipment bag free luggage policy [for economy]. The downside is that you will probably transit through London Heathrow and that carries a high probability that your luggage will be delayed or even lost [talk about the Heathrow as "THE" European hub...pathetic].

Also, if you are renting a car [from Hertz for e.g.] be sure when you return it to ask for at least a pro-forma invoice that shows the amount of fuel used (like I did). Still it did not prevent them to try to charge refuelling fees on the final invoice although the car was checked on the spot by Hertz on return and fuel tank verified full.

There are a few more thing to add. Those flying in on PC system of luggage only have to show their reservation and their bags will be charged on the PC system, not the weight system.
Much of the airport check-in is done by SwissPort, which is private company with no ties to the airlines. Always try to speak with the airline rep, esp if you are a high ranked frequent flyer member.
SAA's sports bag fee for domestic is ZAR16 vs ZAR23 per kg for normal luggage.

As for the rental refuel issue, it actually varies a lot. In my experience, Europcar and Woodforde are really a pain about it, to the point they won't check the car when you return it. Then I receive a bill for car cleaning and fuel afterward, which I have my credit card deal with as I refused to accept the charges. The Hertz counter in CPT have never tacked any refuel charges on me, but I always refuel at the airport before returning the car. Realize also that Hertz companies are all franchisees so they are not so inclined to customer service. I've found the hertz in DUR to be relatively honest as well. The problem is also ascerbated by the South African habit of REALLY filling it up to almost overspilling. So they expect the up to the brim fuel fill as well on return, which some of the petrol stations don't do. Some believe it is their way of milking a few more bucks out of foreigners since they have a "penalty" fuel rate which is higher than the market rate.

Hertz are a terrible company. I black-balled them for life when they once did not a car available for my pre-paid, confirmed-booking week-long rental. Not only did they not have a car for me, they would not even try to find another solution to get me where I needed to go. It completely ruined a vacation because it was a holiday week and we were stuck in one location with no transportation. Later, they refused to acknowledge any responsibility and only partly refunded the pre-paid car rental fee, claiming that the travel agent had taken their commission from the amount I paid.

I tell my Hertz horror story whenever the topic of bad service or car rentals comes up in conversations and I often hear people reply with similar stories about them.

Avoid them.

Regards
Peter

And, on the other hand….

On September 11th, 2001, I was marooned in Glasgow (actually the village of Kiffen nearby in Sterlingshire) due to the complete ban on air travel that was imposed at the time for flights to and from North America.

I was scheduled to return my rental car to the local Hertz agency in Glasgow and expected to be without transportation for the time I would have to wait until I could get a flight back to Toronto.

After hearing of my predicament, the fine people at Hertz told me to keep the car until I could get a flight out. Free of charge.

As it turned out, my flight delay was very minimal and I was able to return the car on the date agreed to in the original contract.

While I did not make use of Hertz’s generous offer, I will always be thankful for the kind spirit those people behind the counter at Hertz had for us travelers during a very difficult time.

just like to give credit where credit is due.

I have never had a problem with Hertz, and continue to use them wherever I travel.

I'll bet there are horror stories about pretty much every company out there!

SAA are a bunch of jerks.

We were in SA in 2005, and they were on strike. When they re-started, they cancelled our flight for a couple of days claiming "bad weather" on the other airport (nevermind that other airlines were landing 747s every half hour). They refused to provide accommodation or even an alternative flight. And then, after a week, when we were checking in and ended up 3kg overweight, they tried to charge us extra baggage.

That is the only time I have lost my temper and yelled in public.

Vandit

Sad, because SAA used to be one of the best airlines.

Oh my I yell in public almost any time I go through an airport

Seriously though I've had both bad and good service from almost any airline I've traveled on more than once. Sometimes they are good, sometimes they are crap. I've only travelled with SAA once and had a fairly good experience, so I'd try them again in the future. Some airlines are persistent offenders, but more often than not sometimes it really is just luck of the draw....

Cheers, Simon