darthlemsip

Couldn't agree more with the bolded bit - they do it even when not seeking compensation.

Earlier this year I flew back from JFK in F on the day flight and the light above my seat kept turning on, even though I wasn't touching the controls. CC said that happens a lot and it will be registered, but would be helpful if passengers reported it as well as it gets more traction that way. Filled in the webform (which itself says complaints and comments), with the reg of the aircraft and said while it was fine on a day flight, I could see how it would be annoying on a night flight so they might want to get it fixed asap. I quite clearly said, before and after describing what had happened, something like "This is not a complaint, I do not want compensation, this is merely a comment for your attention"

BA's response was a standard C&P "sorry to hear about your issue, we appreciate how this can disturb your flight, valued gold member, blah blah blah, here's 20,000 avios"

Maybe the complaints and comments should be seperated out when you log them, but BA could actually try reading what gets sent through

mec72

I tend to agree and would take it - on the other hand, can see how the OP expects First to be faultless - it's not WT+ but F so there is no room for (easily avoidable) mistakes.

windowontheAside

I feel sorry for the lady in question. Whether she was right or wrong to feel concerned about the health risk, it seems she had an uncomfortable couple of days and that's regrettable.

BA made a mistake and that's clearly not her fault. And it's not BA's fault that she feared an unrealistic health scare that blighted her trip and the subsequent days.

I can't really see that compensation is owed, and I'd have accepted a heartfelt apology on board.

DrBernardo

This incident raises a far more interesting issue, or rather opportunity. I had no idea they had pasteurised raw egg on board.

Does this mean that for breakfast the crew could - if they chose - prepare a hangover recovery drink for selected F pax? That has to be worth the extra cost of J-F in itself!

So what's the best recipe to ask for?

DirtyDavey

This is correct - tbh you would be more likely to be ill from bacteria contamination of the ice in the cocktail than you would from pasteurised egg mixture.

While I have no doubt the initial reflex from your wife would have been genuine, and the exprience of a gump of pasteurised egg would not have been nice, to then say that you were both (not just your wife) nauseous and couldn't eat your breakfast I find difficult to comprehend beyond a case of hystrionics.

Personally I think this is a very genuine, and generous, offer. The 17k avious is a short haul ET redemption to somewhere like Paris (not including the £70 taxes).

An almost 'free' flight to Paris for you and your wife for a single gulp of pastuerised egg mix sounds more than a reasonable suggestion to me!

And unless you had a really tight flight connection I would have seen nothing wrong with accepting the champagne and knocking back a couple of glasses somewhere between terminals (classy I know!) - would have got rid of the taste at least!

Allergy implications aside (however I do agree that if cartons are identical more could be done to seperate them), what health implications did you need to have a lengthy chat about?! As mentioned, if pasteurised, you'd be more likely to fall ill due to the bacteria in your ice.

Seriously do you really mean it when you say it COMPLETELY ruined your experience.

And what do you think those sinister things could be?! No, seriously, what do you think they could be?

I think you've been offered more than an acceptable level of compensation (though I'm sure you'd have guessed by now that would be view!).

What on earth are your expectations? 50k Avios? 100k Avios? £200, £500 more?

The CSM was extemely apologetic, offered you a bottle of champagne, and an (almost) free zone1 return flight for you and your wife in Avios points, admitedly in economy.

I'm all for consumer rights and ensuring that customers get a fair deal but it's this sort of mentality that causes companies to clamp down against their customers and 'good will' really goes out the window and those with genuine gripes get tarred with the same brush.

Anyway, I hope you and your wife the next time you fly don't have such a traumatic experience.

UKtravelbear

There is no indication from the OP that their wife was allergic to egg. Indeed it seems she partook in all the the F menu and it is possible that those items contain egg in one form or another e.g. egg in cake or pasta.

If you do have such an allergic reaction then you would more than likely have an epi-pen to hand and would recognise the early signs and symptoms of an allergic reaction

You would also be checking the ingredients beforedrinking / eating any unfamiliar food item.

gcuk

I'm sure my son would volunteer to drink the whole glass of pasteurised eggs if he could fly in First

henkybaby

This (entire) response sort of sums it up for me. ^

MichaelBaku

"Is this a "something fairly minor occurred, how much compensation can I screw out of the airline"

Yes, I believe it could well be.

HilFly

I am surprised that allergy suffers who have extreme reactions from just smelling a food stuff would ever travel on public transport.

Who know what allergens are lurking all over the place from current and previous passengers?

henkybaby

Well, you may need to leave your nuts at home...

https://www.yahoo.com/travel/airline...399512052.html

It raises an interesting point though. As the mere presence of nuts in an airplane cabin can set of an attack in severely allergic patients, on very rare occasions the airline - if they know someone like it is flying - will decide not to serve any nuts on that flight. They even announce it and ask people not to open any snacks that contain nuts or nut products.

I know this from a friend who is the KLM equivalent to a CSD. She had to do it a couple of times.

Dave Noble

becoming left handed?

CarolynUK

I can feel queasy from smelling eggs, but this generally only happens in a place where large quantities of eggs are being cooked and ventilation is poor.

As an example, my daughter and I were staying in a hotel in Greece, the restaurant of which was a vast glassed in room with very few opening windows. at breakfast time, the main offering was eggs in particular scrambled and fried eggs and omelettes which were sitting on one of those open heated buffets and because of the poor ventilation the smell was overpowering - particularly as they were catering for hundreds of people. On the second morning, I couldn't even enter the restaurant as the smell was overpowering even in the entrance lobby.

The small quantities of eggs found on something like airline meals isn't usually enough to trigger the smell reaction, even if someone is sitting next to me, but I tend to have my overhead ventilator blowing most of the time anyway. In any case - the actual smell of them actually cooking would have been at the time of preparation rather than serving.

That said, I can't actually eat the cooked breakfast offering on board (on the rare occasions its offered) due to the presence of the omelette in it, nor things like salade nicoise - even removing the eggs leaves small particles behind.

I'm awkward to cater for on board, as I'm not a fan of the cardboard served as the vegan option, nor of the spicy Asian menu which excludes eggs. I usually take my own snacks with me just in case I can't eat the offers meals. That said, egg allergy is pretty common, so I doubt that I'd be the only sufferer on board one of the large planes.

nux

Would you be happier to receive no compensation but assurance that BA will make the packaging different and labelled much clearer to avoid this happening in future?

DpchMd

£75 or 17,000 avios was too high an offer.

I would expect the OP to receive less than this now that they are pursuing the claim through customer relations.

Bad luck OP!