souri1

ON a recent flight from Basel to London Heathrow, I requested a wheelchair. When we arrived I asked the crew about the wheelchair. They had no knowledge and asked whether I could get down the steps and onto a transport bus. I said that with the help of my companion I could. I was assured that a wheelchair would be waiting when the bus arrived. There was no wheelchair and no British airways agent. Fortunately, my companion and I found Heathrow personnel who helped us. But I am outraged that there was so little regard to the welfare of a physically compromised passenger. It was just luck that I am able with help to cope; I keep thinking of what might have happened had I been just slightly less physically able or if my leg had been having a bad day. I wrote British Airways customer service but have not received any reply. I would appreciate any additional information on appropriate next steps to try to prevent this from re-occurring and on what might be appropriate compensation from British Airways (either monetary or avios points).
Many thanks.

wrp96

Unfortunately at LHR, the wheelchair service is provided by the airport, not British Airways. And unfortunately this is not the first report of that service failing at their job. You can try writing the airport authority, but you definitely won't get any compensation from them.

ajeleonard

I would recommend you let it go, however 'outraged' you may be

As has already been said, the responsibility for wheelchair provision is with the airport. There little point in taking any next steps, you are unlikely to achieve anything or get any compensation.

souri1

Thanks for the responses. I will, of course, let it go, but it does seem a shame not to be able to redress this problem for future passengers who may need it more than I do.

DeafFlyer

When you said you could walk down the stairs with help, you gave them a reason to not provide a chair. They assign a code based on what you say you need. There's a thread here somewhere that explains the codes.

souri1

Thanks, again.

DeafFlyer

I now have time, so I found this post for you: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/8232730-post10.html

souri1

How kind of you to take the time--thanks very much. Very good information!

wmweeza

This has happened to me several times...and the wheelchairs are not provided by the airline but by ground services. I'd take my own wheelchair but it's really expensive and I really don't want to pay to replace or repair a custom chair of mine, instead I use a walker on my travels since it's already broken in

DeafFlyer

What do you mean about bringing your own chair being expensive? I always bring my own for free.

HMPS

If OP asked for a wheel chair while checking in atBasel, the airline has to first transmit that to its own reps in LHR who then asks the "LHR" people to set one up ?

souri1

I appreciate all the feedback. I still think there should be a better system to ensure coordination between airline and ground services and some method of givings incentives or penalties to make sure ground services implement the requests. Thanks again for all the good information!

HMPS

A a manger once told us " your incentive for doing your job is you get to keep your job "^

Katja

I think wmweeza is concerned about the possibility of damage to the (expensive) chair, not about any fee for bringing a wheelchair.

DeafFlyer

Oh I see. In that case: Airlines do have to fix damages they cause. In the case of international flights, though, I understand there is a maximum amount they will pay. Damages above that would be your problem.

I remember a guy saying he would take photos of his chair, with that day's newspaper, at the airport, proving that everything was fine before the airline got their claws on it.