malcliz

We have just returned from a holiday in Arizona and we were so impressed with BA's service that I thought I would share it on here. We were on BA289 LHR to PHX (which was about an hour late leaving because of changing a 'panel'). As we were landing at PHX we suddenly changed direction and went up again and the Captain announced that there had been a sandstorm at the airport as we were landing and we were diverting to LAS. He had hoped to refuel and return to PHX that evening but by the time this had been done they had run out of hours, so it was decided we would stay the night in Las Vegas. This is where BA were so efficient, not only in finding beds for everyone on the spur of the moment in the same hotel on a Friday night, but in providing mini buses to ferry us all there. When we got to the hotel there was a letter of apology from BA already prepared, together with meal vouchers. During the night, we received a text message and an email letting us know that the new departure time was 3 pm the next afternoon which is when we departed for PHX. We enjoyed the journey in the upper deck the next day as there were only 4 other passengers so everyone else who had been there the day before must have made other arrangements! I suppose it was a shame we missed a day of our holiday and had to pay for our accommodation that night as a 'no show' but the way it was handled by BA was really impressive! Presumably they had to do the same for the passengers waiting at PHX for the BA288?

LostAntipod

Always nice when irrops are handled well - mind you, I can't think of a city with better odds (pardon the pun) for serving up hotel room availability at short notice, I think you're quite lucky in that respect.

Fruitcake

It sounds as though BA did what they should do. But did it well. Good stuff. ^

Schultzois

www.ba.com/welldone is a good place to share your feedback as well.

LAS has such an abundance of hotel rooms that I'd almost imagine that whoever does the logistics for the diversion would feel they'd hit the jackpot with that one (sorry, tried to write it without a pun, but couldn't).

To the OP - do you mean only four other passengers on upper deck, four other passengers in CW, or, ahem, four other passengers on the plane?

I'm a little curious. I would think that at least a few would make their own arrangements on landing in LAS instead of PHX, but just curious how many.

jacobitetraveller

looks like very few on here are ready to praise BA

so I will say well done for dealing quickly and efficiently with the issue which arose

malcliz

I meant there were only 6 of us on upper deck. Not sure about the rest of the plane but I think numbers were down generally. Unfortunately no boarding champagne from LAS to PHX though because it was now an internal flight!

razorbite

It's unfortunate you lost one night in Arizona ,but I personally would think it a bonus to get a night in LAS.
What hotel did you get ?
Sounds like BA did everything by the book here.

malcliz

We stayed at the South Point which isn't on the Strip but we thought it was fine for our unexpected visit to Las Vegas!