Be more courteous. Review on British Airways

British Airways, as I always understood has been considered to be the best in airline service and definitely has an international presence.

What I like

Let me start with what I like about this airline. It has one of the most professional cabin staff, who are refined and well groomed. A little more of a pleasing personality will be the cherry on the top. Their food is definitely much better than food served on most airlines. They also (thoughtfully?) provide extra items as standard service, such as socks, eyeshades, a warm blanket, and a comfortable pillow. What else do you want when you want a catch up with the lovely date with sleep?

Problem I faced

I don't know if BA suffers from a color syndrome, but I can't deny the fact they have to be far more polite and lot more courteous. I say this based on an incident that took place about 2 years back, but it reminds me of the troubles I had to face. I was flying back to India from US. The flight from Boston was to land at Heathrow, sometime at 7.00 am and the connecting flight was at 10.00 am. Unfortunately, the flight could not land at the Heathrow because of the climatic conditions. Instead we landed at Stanford and waited in the aircraft for about 3 hours. Missed the connecting flight already.

Finally (at about 10.30 am) the passengers were asked to get off the flight and collect the luggage from the airport. Those who had connecting flights from Heathrow were asked to wait in a certain area -- apparently the airport authorities were making some arrangements. None of us had any morsel of food as we were instructed not to move from the group at any point of time. Finally at 3.00 pm we were asked to go down to the bus stop and wait for the bus that would take us Heathrow. Brrrrr.... I wasn't prepared for the freezing climate, but some how managed to wait till the bus arrived, two hours later.

Reached Heathrow at about 6.30 pm. The airport authorities refused to give us accommodation or any refreshment. They said is that it is not their fault that we are delayed. Forget about being courteous, they were upright rude! After talking to a person at a counter and trying to convince the plight I was in, I was given the tickets for the next morning flight (at 10.00 am).

Fortunately, one of the air hostess (an Indian), I talked to in the flight from Boston wandered around and she wanted to know what I was doing in the airport at that time of the night--it was close to 11.00 pm. I told her my plight, which was the plight of the fellow travelers as well. She, like a guardian angel took the situation in charge and arranged for blankets, pillows, and tea/coffee for all the passengers who were stranded there along with their luggage. She took me along, spoke with the authorities and made arrangements so that we could check in the luggage at 5.00 a.m. and we got a breakfast coupon of 8 pounds each. If this could be done at the instance of an airhostess, the ground authorities could have definitely been of some help to us!

Took the connecting flight the next morning, after spending 24 hours agonizing hours at UK!!