Senior Left Without a Place to Sit During Transatlantic BA Flight
Jeff Edwards November 16, 2015
A 70-year-old grandfather says he was forced to stand for much of nine-and-a-half agonizing hours aboard a British Airways international flight.
David McKay hoped the dream trip from South Shields, England to Canada would be a romantic way to celebrate his 70th birthday with his wife Liz, but when she died unexpectedly, he made the decision to take the planned journey by himself. His distress over traveling without his wife by his side was soon replaced by a more immediate problem: his seat broke just minutes into the flight from London Heathrow Airport (LHR) to Calgary International Airport (YYC). When the seat couldn’t be repaired and no others were available, the man, just hours shy of his 70th birthday, was in for a flight that would seem much longer than its scheduled nine-and-a-half hours.
To make matters worse, McKay says British Airways officials seemed unmoved by his plight and originally offered only a voucher worth $30. McKay said flight attendants on the flight offered him a complimentary bottle of whiskey.
“Nobody should have to stand for that long on a flight, never mind a 70-year-old man,” McKay told the Telegraph. “The flight cost about £300 to £400 and offering me a bottle of whisky was insulting.”
The grandfather and retired dock worker says that there was some relief from his up-and-down trip across the ocean. McKay noted that the cabin crew allowed him to sit in their seats for about 30 minutes of the flight. Using blankets to prop up the broken seat allowed him to sit for short stretches of time.
“In total, throughout the flight I was stood [sic] for about three-and-a-half hours but it wasn’t in one stretch,” McKay told the newspaper. “There would have been a real safety issue if there had been a problem with the plane.”
A British Airways spokesperson agreed that “on this occasion we haven’t met our customer’s expectations.” The airline said in a statement, “Our customer relations team has apologized and offered a gesture of goodwill.”
[Photo: Ross Parry]
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Not buying it. There are two many such accounts of self identified frail or disabled people here who describe how the airlines mistreated them with cruelty and callousness which then dissolve into nothing. If his seat was positively 'broken' he'd be moved to any other seating location. Maybe he didn't want anything short of a premium seat of maybe the crew was unconvinced that the seat was broken. Who knows? Offering an apology and liquor is cheaper and easier for the airline than dealing with professional whiners and victims with too much time on their hands, it is not a admission of guilt. I'd need to hear the other side before believing any of these claims.
Send the poor guy a free RT (in First) on the Transatlantic journey of his choice, but require that BA's Maintenance Chief and the Senior FA/Purser on his "standing" flight accompany him on one leg, each required to stand in the aisle for at least 75% of the flight. Apparently, BA, as with all too many modern entities, has no concept of accountability or comprehension of the "It happened on your watch!" doctrine. At 76, with an artificial hip and aa bucket full of TAs behind me, I feel his pain....
This is a compelling story, but I suspect it's just that, a story. If for nothing else than safety reasons, the purser would have found somewhere for this gentleman to sit. Perhaps it's my Detroit cynicism that looks askance when I hear 'recent widower forced to endure torture flight'. That said, don't give Spirit any ideas as they'd likely bill the chap for repairing the seat and charge a fee for blocking the flight crew from performing their duties.
Given that situation, I would have sat down in the aisle till they did something about it. As someone else said, were no J or F seats available? I'm younger than 70, and I recently had to stand for four hours on a hard floor. My knees and ankles were screaming at the end of it.
Mostly I can't believe that on a flight LHR-YYC, in the Fall, there has not been any turbulence with passengers asked to remain strapped in their seats.If the gentleman's seat was inop that would have been a huge violation on BA's part. Not to mention landing, of course, at which time not even crew jumpseats would be available. I believe the seat was not "broken", but only mildly uncomfortable. So that the passenger could use it as safety required. Not that he doesn't deserve compensation, but there might be a lot more than the news report.