RafKa

SETTING:

All looked normal last night at checked in: BA 248 GIG - LHR overbooked, I volunteered to get bumped off as I actually would have preferred to fly the next day. Was told next day's flight was even more oversold, but maybe they could put me on TAM, at which point I thought it would be too much trouble and declined. Should have gone for it...

BRIGHT NOTE:

Since AA moved to T2 in GIG, the other OW airlines were left orphaned and use a third party lounge. Its cramped, but ok. Boarding on schedule for a 22:50 departure. At boarding I get opped-up to WTP. Pretty happy at this stage, as I am tired and hungry while I peruse the WTP meal selection.

TROUBLE BREWING:

Once everyone is boarded, we get word that there is a technical issue with the 772. Something about a faulty engine generator. They are in touch with engineers at LHR, and they estimate a 2hr delay. Luckily, IFE is working so I watch Django untouched to kill time.

Every now and again, we get word that they are still working on it, sending pics to LHR, and trying to sort it out. The delay turns into 3hrs, then 4hrs, then finally People in WT seem to be getting increasingly anxious, and to be fair, there are simply no announcements being made in Portuguese, when it seems a good 25% of passengers speak no English (or at least not sufficient English to understand the muffled announcements). Tempers start flaring…

THE PLOT THICKENS:

Hurray! At 3:30AM local we’re all set to go. Only by then there’s some sort of mutiny, with people demanding to get off the plane. Seems like it’s led by some mad-scientist looking German fellow, who prophesizes that the plane isn’t actually fixed, and we’re going to crash into the Atlantic. He claims he's got "inside knowledge". To me, frankly, he looks more like one of those people who spend their lives writing about conspiracy theories on the internet. Naturally, there’s some not so well-travelled folk on board who get sucked in, and declare they won’t be flying either. Fine, I say, just get off.

Only problem is that crew are now dangerously close to going over their working hours limit. They say that if anyone gets off at that stage (4:00AM, a full 5hrs after scheduled departure) and they have to look for their luggage, the plane won't be going anywhere. And that's exactly what happens...

RESULT:

I grabbed some taxi vouchers, my bag, and made a run for a few of the available cabs at that hour. The unfortunate ones had to wait an extra hour for buses to take them to a hotel...

Departure scheduled for 18:00 today. As I always look at the bright side, at least I will be able to use the Galleries arrival lounge, which is usually out of bounds for me as BA 248 normally lands at 14:00.

TAKEAWAYS:

Obviously everyone is rightly fuming at those people who chose to get off, as in their selfishness they prevented 300 people from flying. Worse yet, they don't realize they will be flying on the very same faulty plane tonight!!

Am I unreasonable to think that nevertheless BA didn't handle the situation too well, by making us board, and then keeping us in the dark for a full 5hrs? I'm getting ready to be flamed, but am I entitled compensation (after all my 5-day trip to London just got curtailed by a day, and I didn't get any sleep last night).

GaryK84

A friend was on the same flight. He said it was quite the chaos. He claimed that once the plane was (finally) on the runway, a passenger started screaming that the plane was unsafe just before takeoff. This then turned into a stampede of other people then demanding to be let off, as you said.

Sounds like a true nightmare, I have to say!

FlyingNelly

Interesting tale! Presumably BA didn't know the plane had gone tech until after boarding?

AIUI, you are entitled to compensation for the delay under EU261.

Littlegirl

Sounds horrid for you.. These kind of delays are commonly known as 'creeping delays'.
Sometimes a problem only shows up when the flight crew start to do their checks and it is hard for the flight crew to know how long it will take to mend a problem often.

They are notoriously hard to manage because if you decide to disembark but then the aircraft gets fixed quickly, you often find it hard to gather the passengers back together again. Just the process of disembarking and re-boarding can take over an hour on a longhaul aircraft. So in delay situations where you are confident of mending the problem it is often best to keep everyone on board.

Shame this man caused the delay to put the crew completely out of hours, just what you all needed after that long wait.

I hope the new flight home is un-eventful for you.

bioblot

A difficult situation but at the end of the day it was those passengers' right not to travel if they had become fearful of doing so.

It does sound like better communication from BA might have helped.

Herman ze German

oi!

RafKa

Apologies, but just stating the facts (he could've been Austrian, in hindsight).

RafKa

We never pushed back from the gate, but there was definitely screaming, and I heard someone got punched, although I didn't see police involved at any stage...

RafKa

Yes, just found the very helpful thread on this, and think I may have a case, after all, at the time they declared the plane fit for flying we had already been there for 4:40.

I agree, but surely they could have made up their minds perhaps 3hrs into the delay. In fact, if they were so skeptical of BA's ability to fix the plane, they should have jumped ship earlier, and not bringing everyone down with them...

They usually have a Brazilian crew member on board (necessary as Brazilians are very needy of attention when flying), but last night must have been their day off.

FlyingB1975

The last Austrian who was mistaken for a German caused a lot more trouble.

holtju2

Sounds like easy 600 euros per EC 261/2004. I am sure that BA was following the rules and handing out the leaflets @ GIG?

Bear96

Rubbish. Your "right" to change your mind about traveling terminates when the aircraft door closes and changing your mind inconveniences others.

Jet Ranger

Interesting you say that... The following is a US DoT Rule for US airlines.

I was on a AA flight last week from PHL to MIA. Boarded. Doors closed, backed out. And waited. And waited. Really bad weather led to awful delays on the airfield.
We finally departed 2hr 45 late, having been on the plane for that whole time. The FA told us that at 3 hours they have to ask the passengers if anyone no longer wants to travel and if so, the plane has to go back and allow them to be offloaded.
I don't know if similar rules apply for uk airlines....

Sigwx

The US DoT rule applies to all carriers whilst on the ground in the US. The above however is generally correct (except in the US). Your right to 'self-offload' ceases when the doors are shut.

LiviLion

So, once the doors have been closed and the plane is still on the ground the airline can keep you captive. I don't believe that for 1 second and I think the police would take a dim view as well if you were being kept against your will.