LHR mobility assistance provider leaves BBC's Frank Gardner stranded
Feb 9, 2018, 7:54 pm
#1
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LHR mobility assistance provider leaves BBC's Frank Gardner stranded
I've been asked to post this by another FTer.
Frank Gardner, the BBC News' Security correspondent was left stranded on a Tunisair service at Heathrow when LHR's mobility contractor Omniserv were late to meet the flight inbound to T4. Mr Gardner uses a wheelchair but seems to be a frequent flyer. LHR apologised unreservedly for the failure. Over in the BA forum there are occasional reports of poor service from Omniserv, though also a few good reports too.
Disabled reporter Frank Gardner stuck on Heathrow plane | Daily Mail Online
He had a similar problem in January, this time in LGW (which uses OCS)
BBC's Frank Gardner criticises airline over disability access - BBC News
The core problem seems to be some communication failures, though on face value there doesn't seem much that a passenger can do to minimise the risk of this, particularly when inbound to LHR.
Frank Gardner, the BBC News' Security correspondent was left stranded on a Tunisair service at Heathrow when LHR's mobility contractor Omniserv were late to meet the flight inbound to T4. Mr Gardner uses a wheelchair but seems to be a frequent flyer. LHR apologised unreservedly for the failure. Over in the BA forum there are occasional reports of poor service from Omniserv, though also a few good reports too.
Disabled reporter Frank Gardner stuck on Heathrow plane | Daily Mail Online
He had a similar problem in January, this time in LGW (which uses OCS)
BBC's Frank Gardner criticises airline over disability access - BBC News
The core problem seems to be some communication failures, though on face value there doesn't seem much that a passenger can do to minimise the risk of this, particularly when inbound to LHR.
Feb 11, 2018, 4:03 am
#3
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I'd venture that "communication failures" is cutting the guilty parties a bit more slack than they deserve. If this was a one-off incident then this excuse would probably wash, but it's a thing that seems to be happening regularly and is therefore more likely to be a systematic issue.
I would say that HAL in particular does need to be picked up on this - it's poor that disabled passengers receive such persistently poor service despite HAL charging some of the highest passenger service charges anywhere. It's hard to escape the conclusion that despite charging what it does, they're not interested in funding the assistance service sufficiently that it is able to operate effectively.
Which leads me on to enforcing improvement. This clearly isn't going to happen through action on the part of the CAA, which proves time and again that it's incapable of working in the interests of passengers and is only there to safeguard the interests of airlines. Somebody else needs to step in. The disabled aren't an inconvenience or a burden despite what society has told them in the past, and in many ways still believes.
I would say that HAL in particular does need to be picked up on this - it's poor that disabled passengers receive such persistently poor service despite HAL charging some of the highest passenger service charges anywhere. It's hard to escape the conclusion that despite charging what it does, they're not interested in funding the assistance service sufficiently that it is able to operate effectively.
Which leads me on to enforcing improvement. This clearly isn't going to happen through action on the part of the CAA, which proves time and again that it's incapable of working in the interests of passengers and is only there to safeguard the interests of airlines. Somebody else needs to step in. The disabled aren't an inconvenience or a burden despite what society has told them in the past, and in many ways still believes.