British Airways and Disability Discrimination!!

laird

Having quickly looked at the seat maps for the BA transatlantic fleet (world traveller) class a maximum of four seats would qualify as bulkhead and not bulkhead emergency exit row seats.

Only passengers who are fully mobile qualify for use of the emergency exit row seats as they may be called upon to operate the door.

These rules are common to all CAA (possibly JAA) airline operators and it is perhaps for these reasons that a telephone call centre might have allocated a bulkhead seat not appreciating the capabilities of the passenger. At check in the staff member will assess the passenger as suitable or unsuitable to occupy a seat in the exit row.

Since extra legroom seats are at a premium the safest route is always to pay for the amount of legroom you require.

qwerty123456

rose28454 wrote: »

My sister and husband left this morning for a fortnights holiday in Florida. They booked with BA and told them they needed a wheelchair and seats with good legroom. My Brother in Law had a severe stroke ( at 50! ) and is disabled down his right side. My sister rand Customer Services yesterday to ask about and were told they would have bulk head seats as they have more leg room they also told her not to check in on line as they would allocate the seats for them. They got to the airport early and asked if there was any chance of an upgrade and were told no sorry it is full.
Whe they got on the plane they were seated in the middle of the plane with very limited legroom. They spoke to the steward who said to wait until everybody was seated and they would see what they could do. They then said they could upgrade to World Traveller at £200 each extra but the leg room was not much better( so much for the plane being full!!) In the end they moved my brother in law to a seat with more leg room 10 rows behind my sister on his own. She rang me and I called BA and after 25 minutes on the phone I registered a complaint and the lady booked bulk head seats for the way back.
I am incandescent with rage because he is quite badly disabled and needs my sister to cut up his meat etc and is now seated on his own for a 10 hour flight. They had asked for bulk head seats as he is in a risk category for DVT due to his stroke
It is a disgrace that people should be treated like this.

When they called to book a wheelchair, a request would have been added to the booking. Your family would not have been eligible to assign seats in advance as this is for certain types of passengers only. 3 days prior to departure BA would have allocated suitable seats for a wheelchair passenger which have been checked and verified by BA health services and the legal department.

As there was a wheelchair request on the booking, your family would have not been able to check in online. The earliest that your family would have been eligible to change the seats allocates by BA 3 days before departure would be at check in.

I understand that your sister requested "extra legroom" or bulkhead seats early on but the truth is that your family were not eligible to choose these seats until they get to the airport.

BA have acted within their seating policy and it looks as if they followed it to the letter.

Now you have the facts, I hope tht you understand that British Airways acted immecably in dealing with your family.

I too find the expectaion of an upgrade wuite offensive and British Airways offer of a reduced cost upgrade was quite graceful.

It is rather awful that your sister put the person she spoke to on the phonein an embaracing situation by asking for an upgrade. I believe that the customer service agent tried to handle this without trying to cause offence by refering her to check in. Possibly not the best answer as this just carries the expectaion on but that person was put in a very difficult situation by your sister.

Please note that health professionals have stated that DVT or those people prone to DVT do not require specific seating on an aircraft.

rose28454

qwerty123456 wrote: »

When they called to book a wheelchair, a request would have been added to the booking. Your family would not have been eligible to assign seats in advance as this is for certain types of passengers only. 3 days prior to departure BA would have allocated suitable seats for a wheelchair passenger which have been checked and verified by BA health services and the legal department.

As there was a wheelchair request on the booking, your family would have not been able to check in online. The earliest that your family would have been eligible to change the seats allocates by BA 3 days before departure would be at check in.

I understand that your sister requested "extra legroom" or bulkhead seats early on but the truth is that your family were not eligible to choose these seats until they get to the airport.

BA have acted within their seating policy and it looks as if they followed it to the letter.

Now you have the facts, I hope tht you understand that British Airways acted immecably in dealing with your family.

I too find the expectaion of an upgrade wuite offensive and British Airways offer of a reduced cost upgrade was quite graceful.

It is rather awful that your sister put the person she spoke to on the phonein an embaracing situation by asking for an upgrade. I believe that the customer service agent tried to handle this without trying to cause offence by refering her to check in. Possibly not the best answer as this just carries the expectaion on but that person was put in a very difficult situation by your sister.

Please note that health professionals have stated that DVT or those people prone to DVT do not require specific seating on an aircraft.

I find yourreply offensive. My brother in law is disabled so surely he qualifies for a bulk head seat. If BA were not going to allocate the seat asked for then my sister should have beentold this and she could have taken her chances and bookedin online. Anybody would think my sister was commiting a crime by asking foran upgrade when she caled yesterday. Surely if someone has a disability then the least BA can do is tell the truth in that everyone else will be allowedto book in but you will not be able to as you have a special need. If that is not discrimination I dont not what is.!! I also did not say whether or not my sister is a frequent flyer as it seems to be implied on herethat only these people are " ENTITLED" to an upgrade. Whenever my sister and husband have travellein Europe with Ryan Air and Easy Jet they have always had exemplary treatment and have never beem so badly treated. Anyway have decided I will still read MSE but I will no longer post any queries as I am sick of the nasty bullies on here. Perhaps you should all look up stroke on the internet and seeif you would like the illness yourselves. BA have not kept their word re the seats ans that is a fact.

qwerty123456

rose28454 wrote: »

I find yourreply offensive. My brother in law is disabled so surely he qualifies for a bulk head seat. If BA were not going to allocate the seat asked for then my sister should have beentold this and she could have taken her chances and bookedin online. Anybody would think my sister was commiting a crime by asking foran upgrade when she caled yesterday. Surely if someone has a disability then the least BA can do is tell the truth in that everyone else will be allowedto book in but you will not be able to as you have a special need. If that is not discrimination I dont not what is.!! I also did not say whether or not my sister is a frequent flyer as it seems to be implied on herethat only these people are " ENTITLED" to an upgrade. Whenever my sister and husband have travellein Europe with Ryan Air and Easy Jet they have always had exemplary treatment and have never beem so badly treated. Anyway have decided I will still read MSE but I will no longer post any queries as I am sick of the nasty bullies on here. Perhaps you should all look up stroke on the internet and seeif you would like the illness yourselves. BA have not kept their word re the seats ans that is a fact.

Unfortunately, your brother does not require specific seats in advance and so is allocated a seat (which cannot be changed until check in at the airport) 3 days prior to departure to ensure that his travelling companions are with him. British Airways do not allow mobility impaired passengers to check in online so you sister would not have been able to do this in any case. I persony believe that asking for upgrades puts CSAs in an arkward position and don't think it is right that people ask. The reason British Airways do not allow people to check in online is so that they can't change their seat to one that isn't suitable for them (such as an exit row) and instead allocates seats suitable for mobility impaires passengers 3 days before departure (which can't be altered until airport check in when a staff member can look at other seats which may be suitable on other parts of the aircraft.

No one is entitled to an upgrade but if BA had oversold a particular cabin then they would look to thier most loyal passengers to upgrade.

Please understand that a stroke is not an uncommon occourence and that many people will have known people who have suffered from a stroke so I think it is wise that you stop using this in you post as it isn't something that is relevant to the discussion. All people are trying to do here is giving balance to the discussion. I know BA's policies inside out so am able to comment on it from this side. Please continue to post on MSE and remember that people who don't share the same opinion as you are not personally attacking you but just airing their views. This is a forum after all.

spender

May I just enquire whether your sister had considered paying more when booking for extra leg room seats ie World Traveller Plus. We paid extra for this cabin on a trip to San Francisco and the leg room is considerably more, but we booked and paid when we originally made the booking.

Engadine

I understand completely about the effects of a stroke, my best friend's father had a severe stroke 23 years ago at the age of 42. It is a terrible thing to happen and completely changes the life of the person and their family.

I am sure that no one who has replied to you meant any offence they are purely stating the correct facts regarding the allocation of bulkhead seats on an aircraft.

Complimentary upgrades used to be quite freely available however this has not been the case for quite a few years. It will happen on the odd occasion but it is far from the norm that it used to be.

Once you actually board the aircraft there is not really a lot that the cabin crew can do. They can try to get other passengers to move seats but it is very difficult to get other people to agree to be split up from their families or give up the bulk head seat they have been allocated. (I used to be cabin crew for a few airlines) The crew cannot force anyone to move so they are relying on people's good nature to move and help the situation. I am sure the crew member was trying to do his best for you but he was also in a difficult situation.

When bulkhead seats are requested it is normally the case with most airlines that these are not guaranteed however airlines will try to accommodate as many requests as possible. If there are only a few bulkhead seats and they have a lot of requests then it does just become your luck as to whether you get one or not.

These days the only way to guarantee extra leg room on an aircraft is to pay for it, airlines are now making people pay for everything that used to be free or included. Unfortunately this is just the way it is now.

BA's customer service has been poor and they have let your sister and BIL down by advising they had bulkhead seats and then not providing them. It would not be on purpose and I am sure that no one would be discriminating against disabled people, it sounds like lack of communication between departments of the airline that has resulted in this situation.

Tojo_Ralph

rose28454 wrote: »

Anybody would think my sister was commiting a crime by asking foran upgrade when she caled yesterday.

Nobody said she was commiting a crime, they just said that she had no right to expect one, after all, if she was not happy to fly in an economy seat, why book it in the first place?

rose28454 wrote: »

I also did not say whether or not my sister is a frequent flyer as it seems to be implied on here that only these people are " ENTITLED" to an upgrade.

It is not a case of entitlement, it's a case of who deserves an upgrade and who is most likely to get one and that is the frequent flyer, however these days, upgrades are few and far between even for the most frequent of flyers.

rose28454 wrote: »

Anyway have decided I will still read MSE but I will no longer post any queries as I am sick of the nasty bullies on here.

Aaaaaargh .... If one more person plays the bully card because they did not get the response they had hoped for, Iam going to scream!!! :rolleyes:

JasonLVC

rose28454 wrote: »

I find your comments very offensive. My BIL is severly disabled after a stroke and cant move his right handat alled

Rose28454 - so you find a non-personal, detailed and reasonable post offensive?. MSE's are supposed to be nice to each other and there is not a single line of hatred in my post or on this thread at all, except from you.

I could have posted that I think it high risk and foolish for a recent stroke victim to be flying for 10 hours. My boss had a stroke in November and was released from hospital last week but he ain't on a round trip to New Zealand.

I could have posted that if space was essential then an upgrade should have been paid for in advance to guarantee that requirement (or were we going to play the race/disabled card at check-in?)

Instead, I looked at your dilema from a neutral perspective and I just couldn't see where BA had discriminated against your BIL. BA customer service is terrible most of the time for everyone - they don't discriminate on that basis at least.

JasonLVC

rose28454 wrote: »

IWhenever my sister and husband have travellein Europe with Ryan Air and Easy Jet they have always had exemplary treatment and have never beem so badly treated. BA have not kept their word re the seats ans that is a fact.

Is this the very same Ryanair that does not have a seating allocation policy, the one that used to charge disabled folks extra for wanting a wheelchair and were sued by the EU and so just charged everyone extra. The same Ryanair that refuses more than 6 disabled people on any one flight and still does so against EU policy? and the same Ryanair that only has 4 bulkhead seats on their planes....for 6 disabled people?

Some people just don't have their priorities right in my view. Surely someone who is still with us and alive (thank god) is more important that not having a perfect seat on a plane?.

rose28454

this thread is now closed by me!