Attention all travel agents in India... Feedback on BA by Sindhu Deepak My journey aboard British Airways BA 198 on 7th August 2013 from Mumbai to London will definitely make me think twice before flying with British Airways ever again. Let me talk about the good things first, especially since there are not many. The check-in staff and ground staff assistance was commendable. They were efficient, they were quick and they were definitely considerate since we were two women traveling with a three year old. However, the whole goody-goody feeling evaporated even before I set my first foot on the aircraft. The passenger waiting to board the aircraft in front of me was an old Gujarati lady on a wheelchair. She was part of a 20 odd member religious group who were on a Europe tour. The other members of her group had already boarded the aircraft and she was the last one along with 3 cabin baggage. The air hostess didn’t bother to greet or welcome. She was huffing and puffing at the staff at the boarding gate about how this fragile lady will carry all the bags inside with her and why they have allowed other passengers to bring so many hand baggage inside the aircraft. Amidst all this confusion and complaints, my family was ushered into the aircraft without any greeting or welcome note. This was just the beginning. Once inside, we realized that we had been given the last row, middle seats. Between the three of us, we had two cabin bags and two handbags. After hustling and bustling down the full length of the aisle with a toddler in tow, we were in for a rude shock. My mom realized that the overhead locker was a little too high for us shorties. She requested the male cabin crew who was standing just behind our seats to help her with the two bags since she couldn’t reach up. The big burly "sturdy" cabin crew retorted rudely, "WE ARE NOT HERE TO LIFT YOUR BAGS." Where did chivalry go? What happened to professional ethics? Which drain hole did humanity slide down? We were shell-shocked but, in order to get the situation under control, I calmly "apologized" to this man for making this request. He placed the bags in the overhead lockers, grumbling all the time. Our ordeal didn’t end here. Throughout the flight we were attended by cabin crews who had forgotten how to smile, showed no courtesy or concern to passengers. They were either rude or inconsiderate. They were so inefficient that they didn’t serve me my meal. When they came asking me for coffee, I reminded them that they hadn’t served me my meal yet. In spite of having pre-requested for a non-veg Hindu meal, they shoved a veg meal onto my tray and left without any explanation. The food was bad, including the cheesecake and pasta for my son. The 9.5 hours flight was a nightmare. They were not dishing out this attitude to me in particular. I was watching them closely and realized that they all had "Bad Racist Attitude". One of the crew members even retorted to a passenger with all the airs and graces of a bad attitude saying that, "This is not Air India, This is British Airways." I really wonder what he had to take so much pride about his flight if this was their sick culture and attitude. I was yearning to scream at him that he could shove his attitude elsewhere because India was independent of British rule on 15th August, 1947. He was not talking to a slave. Rather, the passengers were very well paying for their service charges. British Airways had better wake up and take note. We deserve much better. Cabin crews are supposed to be well trained in handling passengers. However, the scene looked like bouncers strutting along in uniforms. I am definitely wary of traveling by British Airways again and would definitely not recommend it to anyone ever unless these "Bouncer-Crews" are well-trained in Humanity. The image of flight attendants has always been a happy, smiling, reassuring faces; not intimidating, rude and arrogant attitudes.
Posted on: Tue, 13 Aug 2013 06:13:37 +0000
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