British Airways

[clyde3]

I just wanted to pass along some information about British Airways. DW and I recently took a Baltics cruise and flew into Europe a week early to do some sight seeing. We used British Airways for all the legs in Europe and from and to the US. They would allow me to ride my Travelscoot to the plane door but absolutely refused to return it to the gate. If it was a connecting flight they would check it through to your destination baggage claim. If it was a single leg flight the scooter could only be picked up at baggage claim. They would pick you up at the gate with a wheelchair and take you to baggage claim. This created a big problem in London because of a five hour layover and no way to get around.

[ChollaChick]

That is completely ridiculous and unacceptable. British Airways needs to be called out on the carpet for this. Hopefully it was just this one airport/incident, but if not, this is an unacceptable practice that needs to be revised.

[PennyAgain]

BA is going by the rules they have to deal with in the UK and in Europe. I don't think you will be able to budge them on this.

[uppitycats]

That is completely ridiculous and unacceptable. British Airways needs to be called out on the carpet for this. Hopefully it was just this one airport/incident, but if not, this is an unacceptable practice that needs to be revised.

 

 

These are the rules in European airports. There is no way around this. Unfortunate, but true.

[ChollaChick]

So it's a rule that handicapped people can't get their wheelchairs during layovers in Europe??

[uppitycats]

So it's a rule that handicapped people can't get their wheelchairs during layovers in Europe??

 

Yes. The airports will provide their wheelchairs and transport you to your connecting gate. Sometimes if it's a manual chair, they'll bring it to the door of the plane, but you can't count on that.

[daju22]

We will not fly BA again. We flew with our go go scooter in 2008 from Athens to Newark and had a layover at Heathrow.

 

At Athens airport BA insisted that the gel cell scooter battery be wrapped in shrink wrap. It cost me 6 euro for the layers and layers of wrap. They took the scooter and shrink wrapped battery at check-in after much discussion among themselves about the scooter. My husband was pushed to the plane.

 

At the Heathrow layover, we were given a wheelchair. I pushed my husband during the layover. It was very confusing when we had to board. We didn't know how to get to the boarding area. They said they'd tell us how to get there, they didn't. Finally after bugging them repeatedly, they sent a tram. They took us a long distance to a boarding area. We sat waiting for a long time. After everyone boarded buses to transfer to the plane, they put all of the disabled passengers on an "ambulance truck" and trucked us to the plane. We were the last passengers to board. They really treated us like second class citizens.

 

When we arrived at Newark, we couldn't find the scooter. There was no one left at the baggage claim. Finally, an airline employee took me to a freight elevator. She found it there. The shrink wrapped battery was missing. Finally found it thrown on the floor beside the baggage carousel. Then we couldn't get the shrink wrap off. The employee had left us.

 

From now on we'll only fly airlines based in the US. The only reason we had to fly BA was that Continental stopped it's flights from Athens and transferred us to BA.

 

It would be great to know if there are any foreign airlines that are helpful to disabled passengers for future reference.

 

Hope this helps someone.

Judy

[dlbutler5]

Also if you have a service dog you have to check with them. I couldn't take my dog because she didn't go to the right school. They only accept 2 schools. They did say that she could go freight :eek: I really didn't trust them with my luggage let alone a valuable service dog!

[AmoMondo]

I travel a lot and my preferred airline is BA. I'm visually impaired and find them great. In Europe passenger assistance is the responsibility of the airport not the airline and sometines that can be a bit erratic. Any time it has failed to show up at the plane, one of the cabin crew has walked me off the plane to the appropriate area and then got the airport passenger assistance chased up for me.

 

The scooter issue quoted is the norm in Europe - you get to have it up until the gate or plane, batteries have to be disconnected and then you get it back at the baggage claim. Airport passenger assistance will meet your flight with either wheelchair or those motorised buggies and take you through to the baggage claim.

 

I do understand the OP frustration and annoyance but it really is not the fault of BA, but the rules and the way airports operate in Europe.

[daju22]

The scooter issue quoted is the norm in Europe - you get to have it up until the gate or plane, batteries have to be disconnected and then you get it back at the baggage claim. Airport passenger assistance will meet your flight with either wheelchair or those motorised buggies and take you through to the baggage claim.

 

I'm glad you have had better experiences than we had. At Athens airport, they took the scooter at check-in. My husband couldn't ride it to the gate. They also made me pay 6 Euro to have it wrapped in plastic...over and over again. It was impossible to get off without scissors which we didn't have at baggage claim. I argued that it was a gel cel battery, but they were clueless. So the battery and scooter were separated when we landed and we couldn't locate either one.

 

I do understand the OP frustration and annoyance but it really is not the fault of BA, but the rules and the way airports operate in Europe.

 

This is not just annoyance, but we were extremely upset to be treated so badly. We have never had our scooter and battery separated and we have flown to Europe before. We have never been treated this way before.

 

Judy

[JackWP]

We have traveled several times in Europe with a chair. BA is just a pain and therefore is our last choice in airlines and will only fly with them if no other options are available.

[NorbertsNiece]

Just back from Alaska with BA. I use a cane to walk. Had nothing but kindness and support on both flights. Don't get me started however on the chaos at Seattle with Alaska Airlines.

[Lapa]

I flew with BA a year ago from Finland via London to Miami. I could stay in my electric wheelchair all the way to the plane's door. Then they took it to cargo bay and brought it back to the door in London and Miami. Only drawback is that this easily takes 20-30 mins so you need longer connection time.

 

To the first poster: did you fill-in the medical form that BA has or otherwise inform them about your condition?