Silver Fox

Probably not worth them going anyway

lattegirl13

Don’t let this disease stop you from traveling. I am sad to hear not only of the crew’s response, but of some of the comments on this post. Telling someone to stay home because they may need to frequently use the bathroom is parading your ignorance. These idiots clearly have no understanding of a chronic disease. You unfortunately can’t “schedule” GI flares. OP: you will be in remission sooner than you think. I hope you have the confidence to know you have every right to travel. You can control the disease not the other way around.

IAMORGAN

You’re right of course. I suppose my fundamental point is that whatever assurances the OP was given, it is often practically better to speak to the people at an operational level on the day (the cabin crew) rather than / as well as management. The crew will know at the start of the flight how busy it is likely to be, whether all of the washrooms are serviceable, whether there are any other factors at play - in short, they are the ones best placed to make operational decisions on the day as they run the show in the cabin. In this case, at least had the crew agreed with the OP in advance to just come straight forward and use the CW toilet or told him to push to front of WT queue, or whatever, the rather odd exchange in the CW cabin wouldn’t have happened, and had there been an accident (which I very much suspect there wouldn’t as there are multiple washrooms and one of them would have been vacated within a few minutes) the crew would have been aware of who the OP was so at least the OP’s dignity would have to some degree been maintained.

It sounds to me as though the full message didn’t reach the CSD or the CSD misunderstood them / didn’t prioritise them. Ultimately normally the person who shouts the loudest (metaphorically) gets attention and if the Op had introduced themselves to the CSD during pre boarding the OP would have been on the radar with the CSD able to clarify what was needed and as the airline’s flying management rep, worked out a way of best meeting the OP’s needs based of course on the limitation that there are x loos and y passengers! In the op, it sounds as though no support on board was offered and in all my years of flying BA, yes omniserve / ground handling can be crap but I have always seen BA crew go out of their way to look after people with additional needs (ranging from nervous fliers to people with medical issues), UMs and so on. Put simply, if the crew don’t know, they can’t help; if they do know they can at least try, even if they are limited in what they can do. And that’s not a criticism of the OP - but just because BA know at a corporate level does not mean that the message has made it to the crew on the day!

knav2013

Briefed or not, the CC member is no way fit to be serving in that position. Something has horribly gone wrong in the recruitment process.

Posters blaming OP for flying should take note that he did speak to multiple teams at BA and was reassured that his unseen disability won't be an issue. He has been let down through a communication breakdown or through the incompetence of the CC staff member, or Both.

BA should hang their head in shame. Something similar (although, not of the same magnitude) was reported on this forum a year ago:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/30320003-post1.html

Clearly the judgment call made by the CC on your flight was less than satisfactory. (I believe this is an understatement)

If you look at the thread above it has a link to Civil aviation authority guidance for airlines on assisting people with hidden disabilities.

On there it says If BA does not provide you with adequate recourse, I strongly believe you can take legal action. Either way, I will be interested in the outcome, so please do keep us posted - because as it is, i'd rather be dead in a ditch than fly with British Airways.

Silver Fox

If I never hear "dead in a ditch" again it will be too soon. The mind bleach is fecking useless at the moment!

navylad

Many thanks for your reply and link to the other post.

Looking at the CAA website, as it is a non-safety related issue, they will only look at it if you have already complained to the airline and it hasn't been resolved.

I will endeavour to update as I can; email from CR received today, to say they are still working on a solution in conduction with the GGL team (at least that implies they are at least talking to each other now).

navylad

So sadly, a further response received from Customer Relations via email.

In short, they've offered to change my flight, for £4577.00

How one can go from enjoying an airline, to despising it in the space of a week...

fransknorge

It is at this stage you could start thinking about going to the CAA, meaning you would need a deadlock letter from BA confirming this is their final offer.

florens

Que? What were you expecting? A free upgrade due to your condition?

Not sure how flying J as opposed to WTP would improve anything - the core problem of immediate lavatory availability or lack thereof persists.

navylad

No I wasn’t expecting a free upgrade to J, BA’s response was a free upgrade to J but there is no availability on my flight.

The cost quoted isnt for an upgrade, it is to move my flight earlier, the fact that it is more than the cost of buying a one-way J ticket seams to be lost.

Quite frankly, I just want to be at home after what happened.

I’ve done that in reply.

knav2013

No. The onus is on airline staff or contracted ground handlers to re-confirm with OP (if necessary). Have a look at:

http://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/33/...sabilities.pdf

Note that the above is not my opinion. It comes from the Civil Aviation AUTHORITY.

You can see that it says re-confirming may be done (by staff) when OP first comes in to contact with staff at the airport and that it should NOT be necessary to repeat this over and over to other staff unless the OPs needs have changed.

trueblu

I mean this with respect navylad, but I think you are conflating several separate issues.

One is that BA's CC on your outbound behaved in an unacceptable way. You have pursued what you consider appropriate reparations: a free change of flight time to suit you, and in an upgraded cabin. BA has refused and offered something else that is of lesser value to you.

The second is that, in your most recent post you intimate that you want to get home asap...I presume that you have a considerable bank of e.g. Avios: is there no availability, even in Y, to get you on the next flight back? Failing that, a one-way ticket for cash? I genuinely don't think that class of service is an issue with regards to risk-mitigation of further accidents occurring, and I'm sure that if you had a patient who demanded a physician-note asking to only fly J+ for a similar chronic illness, you might agree with me?

Third is the (appropriate) anger that you feel at BA, and also how to increase awareness/ training of staff.

I personally think these are all separate and separable. If your holiday is not proving to be the tonic and rest that you hoped for, just get back to Blighty: in Y if necessary, or on another carrier. Take reasonable precautions and make reasonable adjustments and hopefully the journey will be mishap free.

Once you are home, you can pursue reparations against BA whether that be through CS or a legal avenue etc.

Good health!

tb

Ancient Observer

It seems to me that BA have behaved very very badly in so many ways.
As usual, their Service Recovery has made it worse!
I cannot believe that a senior person in CR has been responsible for that response. Oh, well, maybe I can.

As BA have effectively washed their hands of responsibility on this, perhaps it is, reluctantly, time to feed the sharks of the media?
The Times have recently been critical of BA's slide in standards. Maybe e-mail the Times about it?

trueblu

How will this help the OP get back home, which appears to be his most pressing concern?

tb

DYKWIA

The flight back tonight is $2030 in WT+ or $3655 in J. Bookable on BA.com. Maybe book one of those and worry about the rest once home? A lot less expensive than BA are offering.