Complaints.com

From: Message Author
Date: Thursday, 31-Aug-06 19:05:55 CDT

Business Info

Dear Sir/Madam

I have written to BA and only received a standard reply not

addressing my complaint. After which I have written to them three

other times and not received any response. I have even emailed the

CEO, Willie Walsh, and still no response. If you don't get a response

from the top, then I suppose that one is all "walshed" up. The

following is copy of what I have written to them and the first and

only reply, then my own response to that.

Willie Walsh

CEO

British Airways

RE: 4655173

Dear Sir

I travelled with my family from Nairobi, Kenya to London on 18th May.

Unfortunately it was not to be a pleasant experience. I had conveyed

the matter to British Airways Customer Relations and received a

conventional response. I wrote the following (I find it simpler to

inform you by inserting the letters rather than sending them as

attachments):

To Whom It May Concern,

I travelled with my family from Nairobi, Kenya to London Heathrow on

18 May. With me were my elderly parents, my wife and daughter. We

received the first seats in economy class next to the emergency exit.

My wife sat next to the window, my daughter in the middle and another

passenger on the aisle seat. My father received a seat in the middle

of the bulk head middle three seats. My mother sat behind in the

middle seats with an aisle seat and I sat next to her.

It was a night flight. My father was not permitted to sit near the

exit. Sitting next to him were a mother and toddler. The flight took

off at 22:45 and as my father was extremely tired, he needed his rest.

However much he tried to doze off, the child next to him would tap

him or touch him, cry or in some manner wake him up. This occurred a

dozen times. Economy class was full and even we, his family, were

unable to change seats as he could not sit in the middle nor near an

exit and my elderly mother also required an aisle seat. The flight

attendant (Antoinne), while not rude, was certainly not polite nor

accomodating nor sensitive. I had no other option than to purchase an

upgrade to Club Europe at an astronomical price of two hundred pounds

for one way. The journey had begun two hours earlier.

I had purchased five seats in economy believing that each seat would

be comfortable enough for a night flight especially for an elderly

traveller.

(I had written more, however, I failed to copy and paste the remainder

of the letter)

The reply I received is as follows:

Dear Mrs Bakhrani

I am very sorry your father was disturbed during his flight to London

Heathrow. Thank you for writing to us about it.

I know children can be annoying sometimes in the confines of a plane.

If our cabin crew become aware that a child is disturbing others, they

will take it up with the adult in charge. In the end, though, there

are limits to what we can do, as I'm sure you can understand. Where

children are concerned, we can only rely on the courtesy and common

sense of the people accompanying them.

Thank you for contacting us about this and I hope you and your family

will fly with us again soon.

Best regards

Fay Coutinho

British Airways Customer Relations

Your case reference is:4655173

My reply to that was as follows:

Fay Coutinho

British Airways Customer Relations

Dear Ms Fay Coutinho,

RE: 4655173

I am not satisfied with the reply I received from British Airways

Customer Relations. I believe it was quite unnecessary for me to pay

two hundred pounds for an upgrade which, if possible, I could have

avoided. Due to the fact that there were no other seats in economy, I

was forced against my wishes, but for the health of my father, to

upgrade inflight.

I have always regarded British Airways highly and I am certain that it

is dedicated to upholding its policy of customer satisfaction. I hope

that we can resolve this matter amicably.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you.

I apologise for the delayed response. I have not had complete access

to a pc for quite some time.

Sincerely,

Mrs Shahista Bakhrani

(I regret being unable to use italics to make this letter more clear,

however I hope that you are able to discern the separate responses.)

I have not to this date received a response from BA Customer Relations

even though I sent the same email again. Thus I found it necessary to

bring this matter to your attention. I hope that you will endeavor to

resolve this issue.

Thank you for your time and I do look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely

Mrs Bakhrani