Sweta mishra

Hi , my parents are traveling from hyd to Phoenix via LHR flight no is BA 746 . Can u please let me know weather there will be someone present to take care of them from that flight to connecting flight as I the reviews are not good about the assistantance provided ..

Doc Savage

Someone needs to contact the airline ahead of time to let them know what assistance is needed.

This would likely get more expert answers in the BA forum, as many of its members actually live within LHR, or at least seem to. I'll alert a moderator to move it to that forum.

Safe travels, and welcome to FT!

cblaisd

We'll move this to the BA forum where you can get answers.

And, welcome to FT!

cblaisd
Co-Moderator, Technical Support forum

NWIFlyer

Sweta mishra, welcome to FT & the BA board. I think you probably mean flight BA276 from HYD to LHR, perhaps connecting to BA289 on to PHX?

As has been said, you (or your parents) will need to request special assistance from BA using the Manage My Booking function on BA.com. Alternatively, if they've used a travel agent to book the flight, they will be able to help you.

As it seems you're concerned with the transfer at LHR, you might find it helpful to know that the assistance is provided by the airport itself, by a company called Omniserv. You can find some details about the type of assistance provided on LHR's website: http://www.heathrow.com/airport-guid...ow-to-get-help.

If your parents are entitled to lounge access, either because they are travelling in a premium cabin or have status with oneworld, Omniserv will collect them from the plane, take them to the lounge, and collect them again to take them to the plane. They'll get priority boarding so they can get sorted and settled ahead of the other passengers.

At PHX, the handling company there will pick up the assistance requirement, and will be able to collect your parents from the plane and take them through immigration.

flatlander

I see our reputation spreads...

The main things I can advise are:

* Do book the assistance ahead of time - use the BA "manage my booking" feature or call BA's call centre to ask.
* Ensure your parents keep an eye on the time and on their departure gate to ensure they are moved to the gate at the right time. If they have lounge access and are mobile enough, they can request to be left to move around the lounge themselves and then collected at an appropriate time.

The reported performance of Omniserv varies a lot, unfortunately, although on the bright side there are reports (from those in the know) that poor Omniserv performance is both something BA's management care about and that it is improving.

To prevent cheap airlines from shirking their responsibility for assisting with mobility needs, the UK has shifted the responsibility for mobility services to the airport, hence at LHR there is only the one choice, Omniserv (for better and for worse).

NWIFlyer

It's also worth emphasising that there's a terminal change from T5 to T3 required here, which will complicate the transfer between flights a little given the need to head through flight connections.

The Omniserv team will help with this, although the positive spin is that in some ways it makes the arrangements easier because - if I've identified the flights correctly - the connection time is very close to the minimum, so it's likely your parents will be taken directly to the gate. Many of the issues with Omniserv arise because they fail to collect passengers from the lounge, but in this case it might well be that just a single continuous 'trip' is necessary.