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Address
Zürich
Switzerland
9^th June 1998

Ref: BA8107, Sunday 7^th June 1998

Dear Sir,

As one of many customers impacted last Sunday at Gatwick by the delay of flight BA8107 and it‘s subsequent handling, I would like to say how exrtemely concerned I am for the treatment of the passengers and the attitude of the staff involved.

It seems ludicrous to me that a company as large and established as British Airways can allow over 100 customers to wait in a small lounge for almost three hours without reasonable facilities (one abysmal coffee machine and no toilets is really not good enough). In addition to this, allowing smoking in such a small area, continuing to use the lounge for other flights at an adjoining gate and firing the aircraft engines for almost an hour right next to the building contributing to a less-than ideal holding environment for these customers, some of whom were infants and elderly people.

The refreshments provided were pathetic. Just how 100 customers can share three litres of orange juice is beyond me. The biscuits and cakes also did not last long enough for all to get their share. I was pleased to note that the ground staff seemed to blame me when I asked if there was more orange juice judging by their sullen attitude. I did ask politely so I know I did not provoke being answered in such a tone.

The vending machine was switched to free-vend about one hour later than promised. This was not worth the wait. I was grateful that I did not pay 50p for the drink I took, Pepsi Max said the label on the machine, it should be changed to "coloured sparkling water".

Eventually, a full two hours after our scheduled take-off time, it was announced that the aircraft could not be repaired and we would be taking another aircraft to make the flight. Why do you work on a machine for two hours before deciding this? That was two hours of my leisure time, thank you very much. By my calculations, we would have landed in Zürich and I would be on my way home and looking forwards to eating a nice meal. But we will come to that in a moment.

So it was to be, a half-hour later, that we are herded onto a bus to go to the other gate. Gate 10 is a nice, long walk down the terminal so this was a good idea. I was lucky to travel on the second bus, subjected to stand for another 5 minutes whilst the driver stood outside. Then, once he got in, he tested his engine for two minutes on full throttle before taking us to the next aircraft.

Imagine the joy next when we look at the aircraft and see the steps going to the rear exit. We thought we were nearly onboard - but no. We were made to walk up two flights of steps (the people with pushchairs were pleased with that idea) and then had to make a big loop round into the forward exit, making the journey from gate 10 to gate 3 only marginally shorter to go with the bus rather than on foot. But at least at this point we were on the aircraft.

The cabin crew ranged from seeing the bright side to being just as unhappy as some of the passengers. Perhaps you can remind them that they do get paid for what they do? If they had to wait, I am sure they had better facilities than the paying customers on the flight!! There are always job openings at MacDonalds for people with attitudes like that.

Once airborne, I was really looking forwards to something nice to eat. I thought that since we were so delayed and could not make use of the excellent restaurants at Gatwick that some special, nice meal would be presented to us. Tragically, I was wrong. I could not tell you what it was, but it was not tasty and it was not filling.

The final gripe is that we were promised that we would be met by ground staff in Zürich. This was not actually the case. Since there was no possibility of onward public transport, we needed a taxi and we needed British Airways to pay for it. After several minutes, we went to an Information Desk and found that they could help us. Cue another delay of a half-hour whilst the paperwork was done and the taxis called. In my mind, it would have been sensible to use the time at Gatwick to process this paperwork beforehand since it was almost midnight and everyone just wanted to be at home.

Below I list what happened and approximately when. Think if you would enjoy what we endured. The times are as best I can remember.

1700 Check in
1730 – 1800 Enter Departure area
1810 Red Warning of "Flight Closing" on information screens
1840 Announcement telling of technical problem and perhaps 10 minute delay
1910 Testing stops
1920 Testing starts again
1930 Minimal refreshments provided
1940 Minimal refreshments gone
2000 Happy staff member tells me that there is "no more orange juice". Drinks machine eventually goes onto free vend
2040 Announcement about other aircraft
2105 Other aircraft due to land
2020 Loaded onto buses
2130 In aircraft
(Switch to CET)
2330 Land
2340 Find Information Desk which can actually help
2355 Forms finally filled in triplicate, taxi ordered
0020 Taxi arrives
0050 Home, finally

You now have at least a dozen people who would avoid flying British Airways in the future. I can tell you also that many others were very unhappy at the treatment in this situation. It is in your hands as to what you will do, if anything, to rectify this situation. The twelve people I knew on this flight were all expatriates who fly regularly between Switzerland and the UK, twelve people who all know other expatriates who fly to and from the UK and twelve people who are likely to be asked about their journeys with airlines by possible new customers and say of their dissatisfaction with British Airways given this incident.

I look forwards to your replies as do the people listed in this letter of complaint.

Yours faithfully,

Lee Barnett

At least people might agree.....