BA's PA Blunder
 

Silly Australian press just love to wind things up. Although I know if I was on the plane in question, I would have grabbed the prettiest girl and a bottle of champagne :)

http://www.theage.com.au/travel/trav...117-1q3xx.html

I would have thought that most people on the aeroplane hearing that the aeroplane was going to crash into the sea would be very worried and hardly seems an article "winding things up" but reporting from what news reports reported

Seems to just be repeating exactly what was posted in http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ht-London.html and close to http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...g-message.html

But obviously the fora can never let an opportunity to try and blame the Australian press for daring to report events

What he said...

Me too, although might have needed the Champagne bottle to subdue her by now irate boyfriend. ;):D

I think a round of champagne, or spirits for the whole plane should have been in order after that!

I love the picture of a BA shorthaul airbus :D

These PA's happen every so often and always get the same sort of press reports, i wouldnt be surprised if the main content of the article isnt exactly the same each time it happens, just with different reports from people on the plane !

Slow news day me thinks

cs

Daily Mail is becoming a scarily dominant theme on this forum. I appreciate thatb this would have been briefly traumatic although frankly if the plane was flying straight and level with no other obvious signs of distress you might have guessed it was an error.

Not sure what said family wanted at the time beyond and apology (individual pyschotherapy? - should BA carry these on board as an alternative to the VS masseur to provide solace for those distressed by warm champagne etc.) but for a paper that condemns ostensibly the compensation culture, why are they giving prominence to a family who clearly are angling for some dosh to compensate for their distress.

You probably would have had to wait until the Champagne was properly chilled:D

I've no idea how I would have reacted and hope I never have to find out! I hope I would have acted with dignity and hugged my lovely wife.

Dont start me with warm champagne! Bling Air is notorious for serving it warm. I didn't think a classy airline like BA would ever commit such a crime :)

Be interesting to know if the switches had been tampered with. On the 747 the emergency announcement buttons are covered with a plastic guard and sealed with a copper wire, difficult to set off accidentally.

A question for BBB et al. How easy would this be to do? Is it just another button on some panel somewhere that activates this announcement - and hence could easily be pressed instead of something else - or something more complex?

Update: Seems the poster above answered my question before I got time to ask it

See above, both of us posting at same time.

On the 747 they can and have been set off by passengers deliberately. This was one of the reasons the plastic guards and seals were put over the buttons.

On the 777s the announcements are controlled via the inflight entertainment system and as such are not accessible to the general public.

I must be missing something, because that sounds exactly like it was accessible to the general public.

Not the in flight entertainment system at passenger seats, the announcements are controlled from the crew terminal that controls the IFE.