bittihuduga

final update:
as mentioned by another user here, she was safe n sound in the special assistance waiting area in T5.
i had contacted BA customer care and LHR twitter.
BA informed she was rebooked (which i knew from BA app) to next flight
LHR twitter tried their best and i was told she was fine.. not sure if it was just to keep me quiet.

i managed to get contact number for special assistance on google. contacted them and they helped me.
i was able to ring the guy who was at the waiting area. and spoke to my mother.
she was fine. waiting for the flight.

she arrived in dublin 7 hrs later.
thanks for all your help here :-)

according to my mom, after she landed in LHR, she was moved from one area to another to take her connecting flight.
may be she got delayed while changing 4 wheel chairs.
after getting new boarding pass, she was in one area and she was fine.
although no food or drink was offered. she didn't complain much though.

corporate-wage-slave

Thanks very much for the update, she comes across as resourceful and not the complaining type. Information black-outs are disconcerting, but by the looks of it she was fine. She was almost certainly transferred to the Lichfield Suite, which is by gates 20 and 21, which is a medium sized seating area set back slightly from the main departure floor. There is someone on the front desk, monitoring departures and arranging the final gate transfer. There is a coffee machine (not free though) and a water cooler in the corner.

If she was delayed by more than 2 to 4 hours (depending on the total flight length) then she is actually able to pay for food / drink and potentially claim it back from BA. Worth bearing in mind for next time.

windowontheAside

Do the staff there go and get food and drink for the passengers in such cases? How do they handle payment? Or do they take the passenger? My recollection is that there weren't spare people around to be able to assist that.

Not being snarky, just thinking through my limited experience of accompanying a wheelchair user through T5.

corporate-wage-slave

No the Lichfield Suite staff can't do that, but if someone wants a bottle of water as they get moved around the airport, the Omniserv staff are usually ok to make a quick pitstop at Pret or wherever.

orbitmic

Freudian slip?

DYKWIA

I find it incredible that somebody could be left for 5(?) hours in an airport without the offer of any food or drink. We're not living in the dark ages here.

I guess it's HAL that's responsible for getting the passenger from flight A to flight B, but surely BA should be aware that they have delayed passengers that need assistance?

kileysmom

As a mobility limited person who transfers through LHR somewhat regularly, I can tell you that the service is pretty patchy. Sometimes it's quite excellent but others it is truly dismal and not much more than rude and inconsiderate. It took HAL over 3 hours recently to help me from a T3 arrival to a T5 departure. I spent a long time sitting at one of the "Holding" areas without any comment, offer of a cup of water or anything - by long time I mean nearly two hours. Shameful to say the least. A cup of water from the dispenser would not have gone amiss! Others were there before me and there when I was taken to T5. The service could be much better on the whole and BA should be onto HAL to get it up to par.