Totally unacceptable customer care both on the ground and in the air

Executive Club Member no. ********** 5 I have been an Executive Club member of British Airways for many years ( ********** 5), as was my husband before he sadly passed away a few years ago. My children too are members – David Foden Thompson and Marlene Thompson. I was recently fortunate enough to embark on the most wonderful holiday overseas with my son, his wife and his young daughter of 10. We departed from Cape Town, South Africa, on British Airways in mid-December and experienced as good a flight as we have always had. However when the time came to return home things went horribly awry. On Thursday 4th January I was shopping with friends in Worcester, Warwickshire where I unfortunately had my wallet, cash and British passport ******. A search sadly brought no results which left me no alternative but to go to the local Police Station in West Mercia to report the theft. I reported to Enquiry Officer 7281 Chenery: details as follows: incident number 0290-S-040118, crime number 22/1318/18. The officers at the police station advised me to contact British Airways at Gatwick as to my imminent departure and the fact that I now only had my South African passport which did not contain a visa due to me having dual citizenship. We began our return journey to my hosts’ home in Malvern in order to contact BA to explain my emergency and request advice and hopefully assistance. However within 10 minutes of leaving Worcester we received a phone call from the Police Station to advise us that my wallet had in fact been handed in. We immediately returned to West Mercia Police Station only to be advised that although I could retrieve my wallet they were unable to return my passport as per the new ruling in the United Kingdom. As you can imagine I was devastated and distraught but we realised there was no alternative but to return to Malvern to discuss the dire emergency situation I found myself in with a representative of British Airways, Gatwick. We also phoned the Border Patrol. Speaking to British Airways proved utterly fruitless as for about three solid hours we persevered but to no avail, embarrassingly costing my friends 10p – 12p a minute. No matter what number we dialled and what automated instruction we tried to follow the only human beings we managed to speak to were representatives in India who were helpful and gave us further contact numbers for Gatwick - again to no avail. This I find totally unacceptable and unbelievable and this, together with issues relating to flight timing and my ghastly experience on board totally ruined my otherwise enjoyable holiday and left me bereft, exhausted and my prior belief in the airline shattered. I duly checked in to my flight on-line on Friday evening at 18:30 and obtained a boarding pass. On Saturday 6th January I travelled from early morning for five hours on a National Express coach to Gatwick and on arrival went to the check-in desks. As I already had a boarding pass I was advised to go to the ‘bag drop’ which I did, and handed my South African passport, together with my boarding pass, to the representative on duty before proceeding to negotiate the checking in of my luggage. My suitcase was duly deposited and I continued through security to the lounge area. I later met up with my family and at approximately 17:00 there was an announcement on the departure board for passengers flying on BA2041 to commence to gate no. 38. This we did but at approximately 18:45 were advised that the flight had been delayed due to technical problems. Communication was then made every half an hour advising us of the status of our flight and at 21:00 we were finally told that the flight had been cancelled, that we would be accommodated in a hotel near the airport but that we were to proceed to immigration to be decommissioned and thereafter re-enter the UK, before collecting vouchers and our luggage once more. On arrival at immigration I explained my situation to the officer on duty and as requested handed him my South African passport and all relevant police numbers and details. I was then told it was not possible to re-enter the UK as my passport did not have a visa stamped in it – this due to the fact that I obviously had entered on my British passport thus cancelling this requirement. The officer was indeed very helpful, checked the protocol with a senior officer and to my absolute relief, due to me being able to present a copy of my British passport, I was allowed to proceed. We then collected our luggage and thereafter went to the check-in counters to collect vouchers as requested. The representative there advised us that we could either retain our luggage or we could check it in once more and safely leave it at the airport. By this stage we were all exhausted both mentally and physically, my young granddaughter was hungry and tired so we decided to opt for the second option as it was the easiest. At no time were we verbally told we would then have to place all duty free items over 100ml in our hold luggage – in retrospect we had been given a letter and a brochure from the Civil Aviation Authority explaining our rights in the position we found ourselves in but were not aware that the correspondence pertained to the situation at hand nor, understandably as far as I am concerned, due to the time, the stress involved, delays and exhaustion did we read them until later. Having completed all of the above we then made our way to the monorail in order to get to the Sofitel hotel to which we had been allocated. The rooms we stayed in were comfortable, clean and more than suitable and the hotel kindly gave us toothbrushes and toothpaste. They also extended the dining hours to 23:00 but as we only reached the hotel just before that it was a rush and quite honestly way past the time any adult would enjoy eating let alone my 10 year old granddaughter. Towards the end of our meal we were completely surprised at being given a bill for drinks. This was never made clear to us beforehand and I could not believe the charge of almost £8.75 for a glass of red wine and £5.50 for two glasses of Coca Cola (see receipt attached). On departing the hotel the next morning at 09:00, as we had been advised to do, to make our way back to Gatwick for the onward flight to Cape Town at 11:00 local time imagine our horror when we were told that too had been delayed and the next etd was 16:30! It was back to the hotel once more where they were thankfully more than willing to allow us an extended period until 12:00. Due to the mix up regarding duty free items my son had to buy a new suitcase in order to enable us to then check-in this case in order for it to go into the hold. I am sure you can imagine how pleased we all were to arrive back at the airport once more, proceed to gate no. 37 and actually board a plane that would hopefully take us home at last. My son, his wife and their daughter had been allocated seats together prior to the flight, however I had not been included, but managed to secure an aisle seat towards the back of the plane. We finally took off at the stipulated time of 16:30, all passengers and crew somewhat frazzled and exhausted. All was well, although this replacement plane was somewhat antiquated! We were served drinks and soon after supper, when I stupidly thought I could relax for the first time in days, sit back and enjoy the much delayed flight homeward. Little did I know what was to come and just how far off my expectations were? As some of the passengers around me finished eating, a large number of them got up and went to either side of the galley at the back of the plane where they proceeded to drink, chat and laugh. This I did not mind at all as we had all been inconvenienced and frustrated by the delays. However by 24:00 and thinking I was sitting in a pub rather than a British Airways flight I went to the galley forward of me to talk to a member of the cabin crew not involved in the goings on at the rear of the plane. Unfortunately I did not ask her name but I was brusquely told that the staff had attempted to get the passengers to sit down, that they had not adhered to the request and that I should talk to ‘Sylvia’, who was in charge of that section of the plane and who was currently at the galley in the back of the plane. The cabin crew member then proceeded into the crew area for her rest period and rather forcibly closed the door. I returned to my seat realising that my expectation of a member of the crew looking into my complaint and being understanding of my predicament was but a dream! At approximately 24:45 two passengers siting in close proximity to me returned to their seats with great difficulty as they were weaving from one side to the other. Shortly thereafter the passenger sitting in the row in front of me rang for a crew member, requested a double gin and was told the aircraft had in fact run out of gin. He then asked for a double vodka and to my amazement was served just that within minutes. I again decided to talk to a member of the crew in the hopes that some normality would return to the flight. In the aft galley I spoke to another crew member and complained for the second time about the noise and inconvenience that I was experiencing. This was the same crew member that had served the passenger the said double vodka and on glancing at her name tag realised that she was indeed ‘Sylvia’! I again reiterated my problem, asked how or why the rest of the passengers were expected to put up with the noise and why she had in fact served what looked like a very inebriated passenger a double vodka especially at that time of night. Her reply was that the passengers in question had previously been asked to take their seats which had been ignored, that it was a company policy to serve passengers as per their requests, and that they, the cabin crew, had no control over the passengers. I then asked who in fact had any control of the plane and was advised that a Mr …..? was the senior cabin attendant but that it was his rest period so it was not possible for me to talk to him! I returned to my seat once more, furious, exhausted and totally disgusted and disappointed with British Airways as a passenger carrier. Soon after this the ‘fasten seat belt’ sign was engaged – despite there being no turbulence - and the troublesome passengers returned to their seats. Within minutes of this happening a passenger in the row ahead of me began vomiting and the same crew member arrived with some paper towels which she handed him but I don’t think he was aware of much although his ‘friends’ thought it was hilarious and then proceeded to take flash photographs of the unfortunate individual concerned. The stench was almost unbearable. I got up to go to the toilets and was disgusted with the state they were in so continued to those further forward in the plane. At approximately 05:00, after this fiasco and little or no sleep, breakfast was served which consisted of a packet of crisps, a packet of popcorn and a chocolate bar! Is this what British Airways represents these days? My, and my family’s, pre-flight, my in-flight and my experience with the cabin crew, in my eyes, was totally unacceptable, incomprehensible, perplexing, unconceivable – need I add more? I trust that those in authority in British Airways take note of my detailed comments/complaints, take the trouble to respond to me (as although I rep**** to a sms that I received soon after arriving home, took almost an hour to reply to a survey in response to an email I received and requested a response and a name and contact details as to whom I could communicate with) it is now four days after I thankfully arrived in South Africa, and to date I still await a response. To say I am totally disgusted right now and would hesitate to recommend British Airways to friends and family alike would be an understatement. I sincerely trust that a response to my comments and an amicable conclusion to this nightmare will be forthcoming; that your staff can be better trained to cope with situations such as those I experienced and that my family and I are compensated for the inconvenience and trauma experienced prior to the flight. I paid as much as any of the other passengers and cannot fathom why I had endure a flight from hades, especially at my stage of life.