aardvarkdave

Contrast with Lufthansa's approach to Doctors where they provide discounts, extra frequent flyer points, a training course which gives CPD points, and they also register volunteer doctors on a database so the crew know who's available and what their skills are.

http://www.lufthansa.com/uk/en/Doctor-on-board

PETER01

Me neither but some folks can be over analytical when it's really a very simple issue.

In my company, a very large one, someone senior would have taken this on. Spelling the passengers name wrong, and twice!, is really very unprofessional.

crazy8534

Well done to your wife for helping out. ^

Said in jest I'm sure but actually if the call was made by BA onboard and they asked for medical assistance she is entitled to invoice BA at her usual emergency call rate.

A close friend of mine helped someone who was unwell and was given 80k avios as a 'gesture of goodwill'. He hadn't asked for anything but found the suggestion that 4hrs of his time was worth that pretty insulting. I wouldn't have minded so much!

But, if they sent me a generic letter spelling my name incorrectly twice and with no reference to what had actually been done (and I were a GP) I'd be sorely tempted to ask my practice manager to send them an invoice.

Gomac

I think a space available upgrade to F would have been a very fitting gesture by BA. But how does the system go about this, is it something the CSD could put a request in for?

WouldLoveToFlyFirst

Slightly off topic but does anyone know what BA's medical ground team consists of? Do they have doctors just sitting about waiting to take calls from the planes?

Flexible preferences

Hang on a minute!

I'm not quite sure what is wrong with me reading the OP's post like that in the first place! So what if they wanted a recognition for the doc's service on board?

And secondly to my eyes there were things in the OP's post that looked like they may have been hoping for something more. For instance, the 'joke' about being upgraded to F. Often when we joke about things they disguise an underlying truth (hence the expression 'never a truer word said in jest').

Also the clear disappointment at the 'creation and message' of the letter, whilst understandable, just made me wonder if there had been a tangible expression of thanks in there it may have not been so objectionable. Also, that the OP feels aggrieved enough to start a thread about it here, so clearly some feelings are running high. Again, no judgement on this, but that is why I wondered if there was a hope for an upgrade between the lines.

Banana4321

I got one of these letters too. For far less effort. Sounds very much the same as yours. I too was surprised that there wasn't any acknowledgement for assisting in a medical emergency. However it only took 2 mins of my time. If it took 40 mins and I was on "standby" for the remainder of the flight then I might have been slightly peeved.

Flexible preferences

Can you please explain?

paul4040

Well, they should probably have spelled her name right (!), and it would be nice if a named senior person could have made the message a little more personal. But that's about it.

HIDDY

The lack of compensation is what lies behind most rants you see on here when it comes to boilerplate replies received from customer services.

PETER01

He made a wee joke. That's how I really see it/read it, honestly.

badoc

A team based in Phoenix operate most, if not all of airlines on board medical 'issues' comms. It's a very sophisticated operation and one of those behind the scenes bits of an airline that fortunately many people won't have the need for.

On a side note, I am a consultant anaesthetist and my wife is a GP. We have had to help out in many a similar situation and have never had a bottle of bubbles or a letter. I'd say you got lucky!

schwarm

I doubt the laws are exactly the same, but in the US, if you receive compensation -- either monetary or in-kind, you may lose protection from good samaritan laws, which prevent malpractice claims.

My surgeon colleague in the UK was recently telling me that, without having had a claim, his annual malpractice insurance rates have increased from £15,000 to nearly £100,000 over the past few years. So litigiousness is apparently spreading from the US to elsewhere.

rareair

Most airlines use a specialist supplier such as MedLink (MedAire) who provide an on call doctor who is patched into the call between the plane and the airline's ground ops.

710 77345

This is typical of the way BA manage these situations, there have been very similar sets of feedback to yours posted here over the years. They had a phase of including a cheap pen (similar to the BA First one) with the letter of thanks too.

From the anonymous feedback provided by the medical community here, it's clear that BA are missing the mark by a considerable margin - which is a real shame as these volunteers are saving BA a fortune in divert costs.