srbrenna

A fair point but if you were homeward bound then you would have replacement meds there, no? I would surmise that the thinking would be that they would be home in a short time so no harm putting things in hold baggage. They are also not FT'ers so they could be one of those rare beasts who haven't had an airline lise their bags

clearedforlanding

Not really surprising given my encounters with the BA ground staff at VCE.

Flying Bat

You have to feel for the passengers, they didn't bargain for this.

What shabby treatment by an airline.

Pi7473000

British Airways used to be an airline of excellence with employees who served their customers proudly. Now it is a poor example of a western airline that provides poor service with an arrogant attitude toward its customers.

Northanstar

I experienced the same delay on the same flight with BA last Summer out of Venice. We were totally abandoned by BA without a word of explanation or apology and complete lack of information provided to passengers was appalling.
BA eventually coughed up EU compensation but only after a lengthy battle and some fairly heated email to customer services. I also rec'd 20,000 Avios points which I'm sill to use....

TRAVELSIG

Really? I have had only good experiences with the BA staff at VCE.

The "no hotel rooms" claim is very dubious- the nearby cities of both Treviso and Padova not to mention the area around Pordenone easily had enough hotel rooms this week to serve even a 747- and all of these cities are less than 1 hour on the Autostrada which runs right in front of the airport.

I am really surprised at this whole story.

I wouldn't waste any times filing a legal claim in Italy by the way- the court system is already backlogged for years and years.

TRAVELSIG

The new VCE airport grim? As compared to- where?

VCE is a great airport with a lot of facilities considering it only served 7 mio pax last year.

Often1

No. Let's assume the worst, including the clearcut fact that BA and VCE airport management conspired to strand pax at a time when there were no hotels available. Let us stick with terms such as "abandon" to describe a major airport at a major city in Western Europe.

uk1

Thanks for confirming. I thought it was old age and poor eyesight. The fact that it disappeared merely confirmed it.

Flying Bat

+1

Fruitcake

Not always; it can give superb service.

However, this shouldn't have happened but should have been anticipated earlier in the day, by the looks. Very poor. Bad attitude to customers.

boss315

Ah, that's the British way...stay stoic, carry on and forget all of the distractions around you!

astroflyer

I've never heard of an airline completely abandoning passengers. That's pretty crazy. I hope they're well-compensated and re-routed to their final destinations.

xmassheep

I recently had a poor experience at BLQ (13/05)- although fortunately wasn't abandoned overnight- but I primarily blame the airport contractors as there was no communication for 7 hours, not even to announce the refreshments voucher they gave out (I saw other pax walking off with them so managed to get one for myself). I took matters into my own hands and called the silver line after 5 hours and got one of the last seats on the later flight, and was lucky enough to speak to a helpful lady who phoned me back to tell me my original flight was cancelled well before it was finally announced.

I felt very sorry for those pax who didn't have access to the silver line and who were trying to find out what was happening from the airport contractors - the only announcement that was made was that people should collect their baggage. This meant the check-in queue for the later flight was even worse than usual as people were trying to find our what was happening. I assume they eventually got to a hotel and back the next day, but I was very relieved not to have to deal with the ground staff any longer.

I have received my eu261 cheque (and was telling other pax to claim for it) and am waiting for a reply re the phone charges I am asking to be refunded and my complaints about treatment....

Anyway, long story but given how poor the contractors were at BLQ, I have every sympathy with those stranded in Venice as ground staff just didn't care and didn't feel any responsibility. We didn't see the crew at any point either, so they may not have been able to intervene in Venice.

Panam Clipper

I didn't catch the part where it says that the cabin crew were also stuck overnight in VCE with the passengers. Could it be that they flew back to LGW with the cockpit crew? That would be the cherry on the pie, wouldn't it?