How do I complain about an airline?

masc0t

I've already spoken to the airline about this, who have asked me to put my complaint in writing. My elderly parents visited recently from abroad, my dad is disabled and needed a wheelchair. They gave him a wheelchair, but no assistant to push him (he was told that the assistant had 4 other wheelchairs to sort out). In the end, my mum - little old lady - had to push my dad who had to push the luggage trolley with all their suitcases.
I want to state in my letter that if the complaint is not dealt with to my satisfaction, that I will not hestitate to take it further, but who regulates this? Who would I escalate to? I am really cross about this as my mum could have hurt herself and my dad could have been tipped out of the wheelchair (as it was he had to hang on to the bannisters where there were sloping floors as the wheelchair had no brakes). Should I ask for compensation and if so, how much? The flights would have cost about £650 each. Thanks.

earthstorm

masc0t wrote: »

my dad is disabled and needed a wheelchair. They gave him a wheelchair,

so they gave what you requested or did you also ask for assistance or just the wheelchair.

halibut2209

How does he normally get about? This story doesn't make sense as you say that his wife still had her luggage so you are in the public area so could have brought their own pusher. Why is it the airline's responsibility to push him? Where would you say that responsibility begins and ends

EDIT: Ah, it was as this end. Why didn't you go and help then?

EDIT 2: Actually ignore this. I assume this is between baggage retrieval and customs.

shaun_from_Africa

Airlines will try to organise assistance for passengers who need it, but requests for this normally has to be made well in advance, and even then it would be guaranteed.

It's not the airlines who normally provide this service but the airport operators, and they will have a limited number of employees to do this work, and if they are all busy elsewhere there isn't really anything that they can do.

The important question is the one that earthstorm mentioned.
Did your parents state that assistance would be needed when the requested the wheelchair, and if so, what were they told at that time?

Jamie_Carter

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

Airlines will try to organise assistance for passengers who need it, but requests for this normally has to be made well in advance, and even then it would be guaranteed.

It's not the airlines who normally provide this service but the airport operators, and they will have a limited number of employees to do this work, and if they are all busy elsewhere there isn't really anything that they can do.

The important question is the one that earthstorm mentioned.
Did your parents state that assistance would be needed when the requested the wheelchair, and if so, what were they told at that time?

I was just going to say this myself.

Personally I don't think the OP has grounds for a complaint. But if they did, then it would be against the airport, and not the airline.

mattyprice4004

So you turn up, expect a chair and for someone to shove them about the airport?
Would you expect that if you went to Tesco?

Get real, and learn to book this kind of thing in advance. You can't just turn up and expect them to have someone to shunt your relative about.

elsien

Don't be silly. Otherwise unaccompanied children, some people with disabilities, some older people would never travel anywhere.
The point (as other people have said) is whether they requested assistance beforehand and what help they were told would be arranged.

masc0t

The request for assistance was made at the time of the booking about 3 months before travel and confirmed again 1 week before travel.
The airline explained that the assistance is handled by a third party company but asked me to put my complaint in writing so that they could refer the complaint on and have a record of this complaint. They told me that they welcomed the feedback, hence asking me to complain through them.
We travelled together 3 more times within the UK requesting special assistance and we had first rate service every other time, with a wheelchair pusher who helped retrieve luggage from the carousel as well. I believe that this is standard service when requesting special assistance.
On this occasion, the service company had not provided enough staff to push, so some of the wheelchair users on this flight got assistance and some didn't.
My father uses a wheelchair at home but was advised to use the wheelchair provided by the airline to save him having to book his wheelchair into hold. We borrowed a wheelchair from British Red Cross while he was here.

earthstorm

masc0t wrote: »

The request for assistance was made at the time of the booking about 3 months before travel and confirmed again 1 week before travel.
The airline explained that the assistance is handled by a third party company but asked me to put my complaint in writing so that they could refer the complaint on and have a record of this complaint. They told me that they welcomed the feedback, hence asking me to complain through them.
We travelled together 3 more times within the UK requesting special assistance and we had first rate service every other time, with a wheelchair pusher who helped retrieve luggage from the carousel as well. I believe that this is standard service when requesting special assistance.
On this occasion, the service company had not provided enough staff to push, so some of the wheelchair users on this flight got assistance and some didn't.
My father uses a wheelchair at home but was advised to use the wheelchair provided by the airline to save him having to book his wheelchair into hold. We borrowed a wheelchair from British Red Cross while he was here.

Just say they have 12 assistants, but 24 people with wheelchairs so you expect them assistants to split in 2.

we have used this service at train stations ( asking for assistance) and have always been told the cannot guarantee this.

elsien

earthstorm wrote: »

Just say they have 12 assistants, but 24 people with wheelchairs so you expect them assistants to split in 2.

.

Yes with an airline if you have pre-booked in plenty of time. I would expect them to make sure that the help needed was available, as part of their planning. Having booked special assistance on a number of occasions, I have always made it clear that the help is essential. And it has always been guaranteed - I have never been told it depends who is available on the day. Otherwise I wouldn't have booked.

OP, I think you need to wait to see what answer they come back with before escalating any further. What did your mum and dad say at the time - could they not have asked to wait until someone could come back for them, or did they choose not to cause a fuss so decided to try to manage by themselves? It may have been an inconvenience to wait till an assistant was free, but that would probably have been the safer option.

visidigi

How much did you pay for the special assistance? Did they have the offer of waiting until they have assisted the other passengers and them coming back?

The cost of the flights means nothing here - I would certainly not start thinking this will result in a three digit offer of money back...IMO.

Compensation isn't paid out on 'coulda woulda shoulda' situations...