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Jan 18, 2024

'Our dream £30k trip was ruined by nightmare BA journey'

A GROUP of Greenock holidaymakers are demanding compensation from British

A GROUP of Greenock holidaymakers are demanding compensation from British Airways after a dream £30k trip was ruined by a nightmare journey.

The 22-strong party of family and friends jetted off from Glasgow for a two-week holiday to Florida but they faced a catalogue of problems, including two disabled pensioners being left on a connecting flight at Gatwick Airport for an hour and a half before being 'abandoned' in a corridor.

Luggage was lost, flights were cancelled and the group were left sleeping on an airport terminal floor, arranging and forking out for hotels and having to pay for a train home.

Frank O'Neill, 80, an amputee with spinal spondylosis who requires a wheelchair, and wife Ann, 78, who has had a heart valve replacement and has mobility issues, booked the trip for family and friends but things started to go wrong when they landed at Gatwick.

Frank, of Brisbane Street, said: "We were abandoned.

"We were eventually taken off the plane to another part of the airport, then to a corridor.

"After an hour and a half my son-in-law had to go and look for help.

"We didn't know where we were and we were worried if the other 19 were ready to go."

The family had arrived in London at 8.10am but it took Frank and Ann three hours to get to the gate for their international flight, marring the start of their trip.

There was much more woe on the return journey, to Heathrow, after their take-off from the States was delayed, resulting in cancelled flights and luggage going missing.

Family friend Raymond O'Donoghue, part of the group with wife Jean, described their treatment as 'absolutely shocking'.

He said: "We missed our connection back, and were offered a flight at 10pm at night only to be told that was cancelled and the next one wouldn't be until 10pm the next night.

"We asked to be put up in a hotel and were told to pay for it and claim it back.

"We had to travel two hours on public transport to a hotel in Bracknell."

The group suffered more misery the next evening - travelling the two hours back to Heathrow only to be told that they couldn't get a flight.

They were forced to sleep on the airport floor before forking out to get a train back to Glasgow the next day.

Frank and Ann eventually managed to get standby seats on a flight after their family complained.

Raymond, 61, who works as a porter at Inverclyde Royal, said: "Most of the folk on the holiday were care and NHS workers and had to phone in to take holidays or change shifts.

"British Airways treated us appallingly, there was no-one to speak to and I only received an automatic email which you can't reply to."

Raymond has heard nothing from the company since the beginning of July and contacted Ronnie Cowan MP, who got in touch with BA a month ago and received no response.

The MP said: "This should have been a dream holiday for Mr O'Donoghue and his friend's family but instead it turned into a nightmare of travel chaos.

"My constituents have a right to think that if they save up their hard-earned money and invest in a holiday like this, things will go to plan and they will get a good level of service from BA.

"Instead, anything that could go wrong did go wrong.

"There were late and cancelled flights and missing luggage, but I am particularly shocked by the lack of provision for wheelchair users, the night my constituents had to spend on an airport floor, and the fact the return trip took days after they had to arrange their own transport.

"Given that many of this party were NHS workers or carers, the cancelled flights had knock-on effects in terms of these key employees returning to work.

"You would think BA would now be falling over itself to apologise and compensate the party.

"But they have been met with a wall of silence and since my staff took up the case more than a month ago we have had similar treatment.

"My office has now escalated this by contacting IAG, BA's parent company, because the issues highlighted here are so serious and BA's lack of response is so worrying.

"At the very least this party is due substantial compensation for a list of failures from BA.

"I fully expect BA to get a grip and address this as a matter of urgency."

A spokesperson for British Airways said: "We are sorry for our customers’ experience as we know we let them down.

"Our teams are working to resolve the matter."

Gatwick Airport said they were 'disappointed to hear about the poor service that Mr & Mrs O’Neill had', adding: "We have referred this incident to Wilcon James, our assisted services provider, to investigate as a matter of urgency.

"A senior representative from Wilson James will then speak to Mr & Mrs O’Neill personally."

A Heathrow spokesperson said: "We apologise that this family's experience fell short of the service level they deserve and we will continue to work closely with our service provider, airlines and their ground handlers to improve upon this."

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