Indian Tales--Stories and feelings of a long dreamt trip to magic India
20 May 2011
Back in Italy
I was supposed to fly back to London on the 11th and then to Rome on the 17th BUT British Airways delayed our flight due to a 'technical fault' (turns out there was a leak in the fuel tank since the previous week and they KNEW about it!).
They kept us on the plane for about 2 hours without having the decency of making an announcement or giving us a glass of water. The air conditioning was not working either so imagine the heat as Mumbai was already on 40c!
They finally bothered to let us know that there was a problem and that we had to leave the plane while the issue would get rectified. Not so.... we were kept standing in a miserable airport corridor, again with no update or instruction on what to do. People started getting agitated and started asking what the problem was.
They then shifted us to an area where we could all sit (bear in mind that there were loads of elderly people trying to fly to New York and lots of families with babies). At that point the whole BA crew left and we only realised a few hours later when we started enquiring where everyone had gone and if we could have at least a glass of water. After such request, they (someone who suddenly showed up again) gave us a glass of water and a coleslaw sandwhich and a mini pack of crisps!
To cut it short.... BA crew (if they deserved such a title as they all seemed incompetent barbie dolls to me) showed up again and shifted us to a hotel nearby where they expected us to share rooms with total strangers and where we were expected to pay 5 star hotel rates to make a phone call (which according to European law is our right in such situation) and use internet. Also, they informed us that they would only cover for the hotel and breakfast and dinner. Nothing else! Still NO UPDATE ON WHEN WE WOULD FLY AGAIN OR IF WE WOULD HAVE THE POSSIBILITY OF TAKING ANY OTHER FLIGHT.
We were kept in this hotel for 50 hours.... without any update and insisting we should pay for any drinks (they were trying to charge me for a watermelon juice, we are not even talking about a glass of wine) except for water.
They finally flew us to London on the 13th of May at 1pm (with 40 minute notice!). They assured us we were elegible to compensation for at least our return flight and they instructed us to follow a link on their website once back to Europe. But guess what? They dated our boarding pass the 11th of May instead of the actual 13th AND they are now refusing to refund anything because they claim that the flight was not cancelled but only delayed. Outrageous. I am now in the middle of a legal dispute in which I will claim full compensation for the time I had to waste in such hotel and the fact that British Airways refused even the basic right of providing communication means to let our families know that we had been delayed.
Needless to say I will never ever fly BA again in my life and needless to say the company is really degenerating and has become as stingy and petty as Ryanair, but at least you wouldn't really expect much service from Ryanair.
Anyway, I will now be in London on the 24th of May and will stay until 3rd of June. My UK number is always the same so feel free to give me a call.
Love to all
They kept us on the plane for about 2 hours without having the decency of making an announcement or giving us a glass of water. The air conditioning was not working either so imagine the heat as Mumbai was already on 40c!
They finally bothered to let us know that there was a problem and that we had to leave the plane while the issue would get rectified. Not so.... we were kept standing in a miserable airport corridor, again with no update or instruction on what to do. People started getting agitated and started asking what the problem was.
They then shifted us to an area where we could all sit (bear in mind that there were loads of elderly people trying to fly to New York and lots of families with babies). At that point the whole BA crew left and we only realised a few hours later when we started enquiring where everyone had gone and if we could have at least a glass of water. After such request, they (someone who suddenly showed up again) gave us a glass of water and a coleslaw sandwhich and a mini pack of crisps!
To cut it short.... BA crew (if they deserved such a title as they all seemed incompetent barbie dolls to me) showed up again and shifted us to a hotel nearby where they expected us to share rooms with total strangers and where we were expected to pay 5 star hotel rates to make a phone call (which according to European law is our right in such situation) and use internet. Also, they informed us that they would only cover for the hotel and breakfast and dinner. Nothing else! Still NO UPDATE ON WHEN WE WOULD FLY AGAIN OR IF WE WOULD HAVE THE POSSIBILITY OF TAKING ANY OTHER FLIGHT.
We were kept in this hotel for 50 hours.... without any update and insisting we should pay for any drinks (they were trying to charge me for a watermelon juice, we are not even talking about a glass of wine) except for water.
They finally flew us to London on the 13th of May at 1pm (with 40 minute notice!). They assured us we were elegible to compensation for at least our return flight and they instructed us to follow a link on their website once back to Europe. But guess what? They dated our boarding pass the 11th of May instead of the actual 13th AND they are now refusing to refund anything because they claim that the flight was not cancelled but only delayed. Outrageous. I am now in the middle of a legal dispute in which I will claim full compensation for the time I had to waste in such hotel and the fact that British Airways refused even the basic right of providing communication means to let our families know that we had been delayed.
Needless to say I will never ever fly BA again in my life and needless to say the company is really degenerating and has become as stingy and petty as Ryanair, but at least you wouldn't really expect much service from Ryanair.
Anyway, I will now be in London on the 24th of May and will stay until 3rd of June. My UK number is always the same so feel free to give me a call.
Love to all
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