NFH

I flew with my wife and daughter from LHR to GIB recently on discounted CE tickets. As soon as we were 20 miles from GIB and the captain had even got the point of announcing what we'd see out of the windows during landing, we did a sudden U-turn shortly after which the captain announced that we were diverting to AGP. This is a common occurence which I knew happened from time to time, and the reason on this occasion was sudden fog and a radar failure at GIB. The captain informed us that the MON and EZY flights were likewise being diverted to AGP, and true enough we saw the MON flight sitting right alongside us at AGP, all well away from the terminal building.

One of the first things the captain did was arrange refuelling of the A319 which seemed to take rather a long time while the tanker parked in front of the left hand wing. This prevented an attempt by an airport bus to stop to the front left side of the aircraft, so no passengers could get off. The long time taken to refuel suggested to me that the aircraft had enough fuel to return to LHR and may be too heavy to land on the one-mile runway at GIB. There were no BA ground staff at AGP except for an unhelpful woman from IB who couldn't even tell us where to find baggage trolleys (landside with re-entry using a boarding pass and travel document). When I protested at her prediction of a 3-hour coach journey to GIB, she said she was following instructions from BA and refused to provide any faster means of transport to GIB even for CE passengers. Although we landed at AGP at 12:32 (scheduled 11:55 at GIB), the two coaches to GIB did not leave AGP until 14:45 and arrived at GIB at 16:25. Furthermore, there were no BA ground staff at GIB when we eventually arrived there.

While on the coach between AGP and GIB, another passenger heard from a friend that the MON flight had taken off from AGP and landed at GIB. When we finally arrived at GIB, the fog had cleared and there were clear skies. Clearly BA could also have flown from AGP to GIB, but I suspect the aircraft had too much fuel to land there. The aircraft had to wait at AGP for the GIB-LHR passengers to be taken by coach from GIB to AGP, but it would have been quicker for BA to fly it to GIB and pick them up from there.

During the 4½-hour delay, we were offered no refreshments, not even water, contrary to EU Regulation 261/2004. We had been given breakfast on the flight which left LHR at 08:00, but had received no lunch and no opportunity even to buy other food or drink until reaching GIB at 16:25. After paying for CE tickets, I expected much better treatment and care from BA. I even phoned BAEC from AGP asking for their help and telling them that time was of the essence, but they failed even to call me back.

BA might argue that these were circumstances outside its control, but the MON flight managed to land eventually at GIB, well before BA's coaches arrived there. These circumstances are very common and the procedure is supposed to be well rehearsed, although the crew seemed to have little idea what to do. I accept that things can go wrong, but one of the reasons I pay more to fly BA, particularly in CE, is so that if things do go wrong, BA normally treats people a lot better than budget carriers. What as a Silver EC member and CE passenger should I expect from BA in recompense for this bad treatment?