Is there any financial recourse for British Airways' lack of compassion?

beckstar1975

Did he declare his diagnosis to BA (if he is diagnosed, it's not clear)?

sheramber

NoodleDoodleMan said:

"this young man has undiagnosed Asperger's Syndrome and went through school-life with Special Educational Needs' certification"

They say there is no such thing as a stupid question - I may prove that wrong.

Can a medical issue be undiagnosed yet identified ?

Should 'has' not be replaced by 'had' if the condition is formally recognised ?

I would interpret that as he shows signs of Asperger's Syndrome but it has not been formally diagnosed by a professional. 

Special Educational Needs just means the child struggles with main stream education. That can be for many reasons.

soolin

If a claim to insurance is being made on the basis of his condition causing his alleged unruly behaviour was that condition declared when taking out the policy? I can see a bit of a catch 22 situation here, condition not reported for some reason, but alleged behaviour being blamed on it, so not important enough to be declared but important enough to explain behaviour.

Obviously all insurance policies are different and we shouldn’t guess what they cover and don’t cover, but looking at stories of other banned passengers it is often mentioned that buying new flights or rerouting to get home after a ban has cost the passenger money, with no indication this was recovered from insurance. 

I can’t imagine BA banning someone for 12 months on a minor issue, but I would expect some warning being given at the time, banning someone retrospectively seems a strange way of doing things, have BA ever shown on indication that your son had been warned about the ban? Would your son have been aware at the time if he had received a warning of a ban? 

Pollycat

Lolzheart said:

airline staff showed zero-concern about yellow liquid dripping on his head, face, shoulders, lap and clothes from some purported airplane condensation. No-one else appeared to be experiencing this deluge and no offer was made to move him from his seat on the partially-full flight.

This sounds strange.
If it was a 'deluge' I'm really surprised that cabin crew didn't offer him another seat if the flight wasn't full.
Did your son ask to be moved? 
What was the reaction of the passengers sat next/around him?
If I was sat next to someone who had yellow liquid dripping on his head, face, shoulders, lap and clothes I'd butt in and ask if he could be moved if the offer to move wasn't made.

DullGreyGuy

NoodleDoodleMan said:

"this young man has undiagnosed Asperger's Syndrome and went through school-life with Special Educational Needs' certification"

They say there is no such thing as a stupid question - I may prove that wrong.

Can a medical issue be undiagnosed yet identified ?

Should 'has' not be replaced by 'had' if the condition is formally recognised ?

You'd normally say that they are "suspected to have" or something similar that recognises that there is an element of doubt until a formal diagnosis. 

A teacher told me, at the end of my GCSEs, that they suspected that I was dyslexic but I never did anything about it because the only impact in the 90s would have been extra exam time and other than one or two subjects I always finished way before the normal allotted time (plus with my school you had to stay to the end even if you finished early). 

I'd never say "I am dyslexic" but on occasion comment that "I may have dyslexia"... clearly there are degrees of these things and some cases are more obvious/others more borderline. 

Still the "deluge of yellow liquid" does sound like gross poetic license as clearly on a half full flight it'd be obvious and the customer moved. An occasional drip potentially more a contentious issue esp if the complainer has social skills issues (caused by aspergers or anything else) and so doesnt articulate the problem in a reasonable way. 

Voyager2002

soolin said:

If a claim to insurance is being made on the basis of his condition causing his alleged unruly behaviour was that condition declared when taking out the policy? I can see a bit of a catch 22 situation here, condition not reported for some reason, but alleged behaviour being blamed on it, so not important enough to be declared but important enough to explain behaviour.

Obviously all insurance policies are different and we shouldn’t guess what they cover and don’t cover, but looking at stories of other banned passengers it is often mentioned that buying new flights or rerouting to get home after a ban has cost the passenger money, with no indication this was recovered from insurance. 

I can’t imagine BA banning someone for 12 months on a minor issue, but I would expect some warning being given at the time, banning someone retrospectively seems a strange way of doing things, have BA ever shown on indication that your son had been warned about the ban? Would your son have been aware at the time if he had received a warning of a ban? 

Insurance is a 'red herring'. You cannot insure against the consequences of your own bad behaviour: if BA was justified in refusing to board him then insurance would not pay a penny. However, this thread is exploring the possibility that BA was wrong to deny him boarding, in which case it is BA who would fit the bill.

Having said that, if he has decent cover for legal expenses that could be very valuable if this issue shows any sign of ending up in court.

soolin

Voyager2002 said:

soolin said:

If a claim to insurance is being made on the basis of his condition causing his alleged unruly behaviour was that condition declared when taking out the policy? I can see a bit of a catch 22 situation here, condition not reported for some reason, but alleged behaviour being blamed on it, so not important enough to be declared but important enough to explain behaviour.

Obviously all insurance policies are different and we shouldn’t guess what they cover and don’t cover, but looking at stories of other banned passengers it is often mentioned that buying new flights or rerouting to get home after a ban has cost the passenger money, with no indication this was recovered from insurance. 

I can’t imagine BA banning someone for 12 months on a minor issue, but I would expect some warning being given at the time, banning someone retrospectively seems a strange way of doing things, have BA ever shown on indication that your son had been warned about the ban? Would your son have been aware at the time if he had received a warning of a ban? 

Insurance is a 'red herring'. You cannot insure against the consequences of your own bad behaviour: if BA was justified in refusing to board him then insurance would not pay a penny. However, this thread is exploring the possibility that BA was wrong to deny him boarding, in which case it is BA who would fit the bill.

Having said that, if he has decent cover for legal expenses that could be very valuable if this issue shows any sign of ending up in court.

I was responding to this bit in the OP 

“ My son's insurance company have notified him that there is a 56-day wait until he finds out whether any financial compensation is due.”

Lolzheart

This experience has become a 'lesson learnt' and one which won't bear repeating.

MattMattMattUK

NoodleDoodleMan said:

"this young man has undiagnosed Asperger's Syndrome and went through school-life with Special Educational Needs' certification"

They say there is no such thing as a stupid question - I may prove that wrong.

Can a medical issue be undiagnosed yet identified ?

Should 'has' not be replaced by 'had' if the condition is formally recognised ?

I think that "suspected Asperger's Syndrome" would have been the better term, however Asperger's as a condition no longer exists, it was merged into Autism Spectrum Disorder in DSM-5 and ICD-11.

CKhalvashi

Westin said:

It would be unusual for an airline to deny return travel and also subsequently ban a customer from all future travel on their airline for a period of time without what they feel is a valid reason.

I'm sitting next to OH at the moment (who spent 4 years as a Pilot at BA, of which 18 months were as an A320 Captain) and is now a Captain for another airline, but has never operated Long Haul services) and she feels a little differently.

It would be normal for her airline to ban via e-mail and sent to the registered postal address specified in the invoice details of the ban. In the event that the e-mail address clearly is a business one, notification may be sent to the booking holder at the business via post only.

In her words additionally, 'it is very rare for someone with genuine complaint to be banned', so I think it's going to be necessary to find out exactly what has happened as this does sound like he was significantly disruptive. If this was the case the ban will rightly stand for the safety of the crew, aircraft and other passengers and therefore must be enforced to ensure safety.

I'd be surprised if he didn't speak to the police on arrival, however this isn't always necessary.