Karen762

Firstly I would like to say that BA's Special Assistance is GREAT and I would find it difficult if not impossible to fly without them. However I have had the same problem happen twice and nearly happen a third time and would like to know if anyone else has had a similar experience and where would be the best place to feed it back to.

I only travel once or twice a year on long haul holidays which are usually evening flights. I have ME/CFS as well as a couple of other issues which means a lot of rest is needed between doing anything so we tend to arrive at the airport fairly early - 4 or 5 hours pre departure.

Special Assistance get me to the Galleries lounge with no problems. However when it comes to picking me up for my flight in the past 5 years they have
1 forgotten me - had to travel very fast by foot to C gates which left me feeling very unwell
2 nearly left without me - hubby had to chase after bloke with empty wheelchair
3 (last Saturday) forgotten me until hubby asked Reception after pick up time had passed and then they got the most energetic wheelchair assistant ever who raced me to C gates using the train as opposed to the tunnel buggy

Hubby *thinks* it's because we arrive too early and it's all done on paper lists and they don't notice? Anyone know?

Is it worth reminding Galleries Reception 30 mins before pick up time? Don't want to annoy anyone!

Any advice as it tends to get a bit stressful waiting for them and it's great in every other respect. Never had any problems with post-flight or return flights - just the lounge pick ups.

corporate-wage-slave

I suspect 3 bad lounge meet-ups in succession probably is just bad luck.

One option is to give up on the BA lounge and use the Assistance lounge by gate 20, since that's staffed and you can easily raise attention if you think you've been forgotten. The other extreme is to relax about this, if the Assistance people screw up then BA will rebook you on to alternative services. In between is to turn up a bit later and see if you get to go straight to the gate given that they become known about an hour before departure. I don't think it harms to be pro-active, so even if you are 1 minute past the pick-up time you go to reception and ask for Assistance to show up. And maybe try to get collected about 5 minutes before their first suggestion. Final suggestion is to use South lounges, so that if they are a minute late then it's a relatively short trip down to the Assistance lounge - and the reception staff - by gate 20, mostly by lift.

IAMORGAN

I have limited experience of this, travelling with my dad a few years ago. The very simple answer to your question is “yes”. Remind them when you arrive at the lounge, and keep reminding. If something isn’t clear, ask. This is the same advice I give to all travellers. It shouldn’t be this way but in my experience it is the best way to get looked after! Also if you have a travelling companion try to find out in each airport where the central wheelchair assistance ‘hub’ is, so they can be dispatched to literally chase them up!

The first time we used the service we seemed to get ‘forgotten’ in galleries at T3 and this was in spite of me going up to the desk in the lounge 3 or 4 times to check. As you say, it *seemed* to work on an agent writing something on a piece of paper but then that agent would disappear etc. Anyway we were flying to Lisbon and ended up arriving at the gate mid way through general boarding - with me pushing the airport’s wheelchair as the contracted wheelchair team had nobody immediately available. Arrival in Lisbon was fine.

This highlighted to me some of the challenges faced by people with disabilities and how easy it is to overlook needs of others.

I also follow a youtube channel of Doug Paulley who is relatively high profile in calling failures out where they so occur. The recurring theme / reality seems to be that you have to confirm and reconfirm at every stage. It would be great to have your insight on the process and reality in 2022 as I’m sure this could be a great help to many others, particularly hearing it from a service user’s perspective.

https://m.youtube.com/c/DougPaulley/videos

Soupey202

Yep, we have had problems sometimes including being last on the plane, them sending a buggy that takes four to the lounge to collect five people and getting to the gate (we had got the wheelchair from SA and Mr Soupey was pushing me) to find that the gate had been told I didn’t need a wheelchair and could do stairs. However, we just confirm at the lounge reception when we arrive and then again nearer the flight and keep an eye on the board so as soon as a gate shows we are back making a nuisance of ourselves. So far we haven’t missed a flight which is good as there is often only one a day to our destination so it would seriously impact our holiday.
If there is someone travelling with you who is willing to push getting them to give you a wheelchair can be a good strategy.

MaxFlyer

My wife needs a wheelchair when she travels which is once or twice a year.

My usual frustration is waiting a long time onboard or at the jetbridge for the wheelchair to come.

Once in the lounge I tell the person that I’ll be taking my wife to the gate. That way we are in charge of our own schedule and can pop into shops on our way to the gate etc.

Rich74

The only time we had to use them we were flying First. Husband managed to limp to CCR and once he was seated I asked at the reception who pointed me to a separate assistance desk (my guess is Galleries also has one of these). I checked him in at that desk and we were given a pager which buzzed and glowed when it was our time. They did leave it quite late, which made me make repeated visits to the desk to check, so my repeated visits might’ve helped in us not getting forgotten!!

docdee

My now elderly mother is flying from T5 to BHD next month in CE. She will be travelling alone. She cant walk long distances anymore so I have booked assistance. Would she be better requesting to go to the assistance lounge mentioned above rather than galleries club (or even to the gate if it is known). I want to try to let her know what to expect and do so she doesn't panic over anything.

corporate-wage-slave

It depends what sort of traveller she is. If she is inclined to fret then the easiest option is the Assistance Lounge, not least because there is someone on reception there who is immediately on hand. If she is laid back and doesn't worry too much then maybe she should not miss out on the Galleries experience. I don't think there is one correct answer to this question.

docdee

Thanks C-W-S. I'm not sure how she will travel now. She used to be very confident and travelled the world alone. Covid and getting older seem to have knocked the stuffing out of her. At least I can tell her the options and she can decide.
Now any clever FTers know the most likely gate for BHD these days?

corporate-wage-slave

It is most likely T5A, it often is the lower gate numbers, it can even be T5B, so frankly not worth spending brain power on that, whatever you think it can easily be something else.

docdee