My Grandfather is [now found] at heathrow
 

My Grandfather who has been over in England from Canada for Christmas is currently lost alone in transit at Heathrow airport. He was flying from Newcastle to Heathrow then Heathrow to Montreal but his flight BA0095 to Montreal yesterday at 15.30 was cancelled due to the weather. He has never really travelled before and doesn’t understand his rights as a customer so wasn’t particularly pushy with British Airways to help him. They therefore fobbed him off and he spent the night at Heathrow airport. He called us last night from a pay phone to tell us what had happened but b that time BA’s service desk was closed and he hasn’t called again since. We are really worried about him particularly because he is an elderly man who is on medication which may be running out as I write this. His only contact phone is a Canadian mobile phone which has run out of battery so we are relying on him to get in touch with us. We are really upset at British Airways for not looking after him better, although we understand it’s probably chaos in Heathrow a man of his age should not be told there is nothing they can do for him and be made to feel like it’s his problem his flight was cancelled. If anyone is reading this from Heathrow airport please keep an eye out for an old man wearing a cap with the symbols O.P.P on the front, camouflage trousers and a Napanee raiders coat on and if you do see him tell him to call his family in Newcastle. There is a policewomen looking for him and a tannoy at terminal 5 requesting he contact us but as of yet we have had no response although this may be because he is pretty deaf. Any help or advice would be most appreciated. Thank you.

Wish you sucess in locating him shortly, please report back once you've found him.

Where do you live? Do you know if he is airside/landside? The best thing you can do is either get to LHR by plane or to drive/train and buy the cheapest or a fully-flexible ticket you can cancel (even when airside).

I know it's a bit late now, but you should have requested priority assistance for him - if you do get down to the airport you can request assistance there so he can be taken to the gate when his flight finally leaves.

When you say stuck at the airport, do you mean he was put in a hotel room by BA or slept at the airport terminal?

Finally, don't assume the worse, he could quite easily be sat down somewhere having a coffee and enjoying himself.

Thanks for your comments. British Airways told him they woiuldn't sort him out with a hotel so he stayed in the airport over night. Still no word from him as i write this. We live in Newcastle and wouldn't have let him leave Newcastle if we knew BA would cancel the flight, they cancelled it as he arrived which we knew immediatly but he didn't call us and tell us what was going till 7 hours later and there was no way to contact him. BA didn't update passenger info so we couldn't tell if he was at the airport or had got on another flight. Now we are told BA have no space on flights to Canada untill next week. I'll keep you updated as to what is happening.

Well he shouldn't be hard to spot.

I wouldn't worry he'll be just fine.

Call BAA Heathrow Airport to see if they can help to locate your grandpa. They could call your grandpa's name and locate him. In the meantime talk to BA Heathrow T5 operation and they may be able to locate him and give assisstance on the ground of old age and need assisstance.

Call the police at Heathrow. They were very helpful with tracking down my Nan when she got "lost" under similar circumstances. A very nice police woman was assigned to the situation and (as far as I could tell) her only responsibility for the duration was finding Nan.

You could try ba97.com and see who is at LHR and PM them to keep a look out.

I'm sorry to hear of your Grandfather, not a great situation.

I hope he is found soon. Do you know whether he is booked on today's flight?

Let's hope a Gold card holder spotted your grandfather and took him into the lounge. I hope he is well and that you can quickly get in touch with him...

Update
 

Just a quick update. Still no word from him at Heathrow, at this current point we have got the police on board. Thay have pictures and have got a whole team looking for him. One thing that may of happened is that he has lost our numbers somehow and is trying to get back to Newcastle on his own. The one thing i'm sure of is that BA have been completly useless. I understand there is a lot of people stranded at the airport but they have a responsibility to help customers, especially those who are in need, such as the elderly. Thank you all for your helpful comments. Will post again when all becomes clear.

I wonder if he had exited "out" of the UK border and was then not allowed to go back landside, hence no hotel?

It is very chaotic in T5 and I can understand that you feel that grandad should have been looked after, but there are so many people who fall into that catagory it is a real challenge. The manager of zone E has also been passed the description and if he is seen she will take him to one side and sort him out.

His lack of contact with you doesn't necessarily mean he is in trouble in fact he may be having a great time.....stop worrying needlessly.
How old is he anyway? I'm only 53 and could be a grandfather.

All sounds fishy to me.

You mean you don't know...? :D;)