[riverart2000]

Shutdown of heathrow terminal 5 on Friday 12th July 2013 due to Ethiopian plane catching fire.

I was to travel on the 19:35 flight from heathrow terminal 5 to Basel flight No BA 756
checked in and went to BA Lounge. where the board was showing the flight would be delayed to about 21:30.

I boarded the plane about 21:00 where the captain announcement that due to Basel having a no fly curfew after midnight, and the flight was cancelled - he apologized for having no other info accept that our baggage was at carousel 7 and that we should make our way there to collect it.

staff let us of the cancelled flight and then disappeared and all the passengers were left to their own devices, to find carousel 7 as the captian had informed us to do.
there were very very few BA staff around, but eventually via the rumour method we found our way to Gate 17 which led us down to the baggage area.

We waited around carousel 7 for over an hour. eventually somebody I believe from the baggage department informed us ‘unofficially’ that our bags will not be arriving anytime soon. He advised us to make our way to the BA customer service area and request a hotel voucher and get a hotel for the night.
we followed the advice and made our way to the 5th floor BA customer service area by which time it was I think past 23:00 -
when we got there, there was only about 3 BA staff surrounded hundreds of passengers.
passengers were queueing up by the counters to speak to staff to find out what was going on but no one came to the counters.

there was no announcements given by any of the staff on what was happening and what we should do, and nobody to speak to for further advice and whether we would receive a voucher.

this meant that all the passengers including their kids were wandering around aimlessly trying to find out what to do next.

I tried to ring BA customer service but the automated machine just informed us that the office was now closed.


the few staff that we managed to talk to would only quote BA’s rules and regulations
they informed us that the counters would be opening at 5am and that we need to wait until then to rebook our flights.

we tried to get back to the BA lounge, but the staff at the security counter couldn’t let us thru as our tickets were now cancelled.

the airport staff tried to be helpful and got us loads of bottled water.

the passengers were left to make their own sleeping arrangements and decided to sleep on the chairs and floors around them.
a few us including myself managed to find some space in the 1st class check in area and managed to get thru to BA customer services in America - who managed to get our tickets re-booked onto the 08:50 flight in the morning.

finally we managed to get a couple of hours sleep on the floor.
At about 4am a BA check-in staff arrived in the 1st class area, saw us all sleeping there and told us we had to clear the area now. she was rude, obnoxious, and angry and in no way sympathetic to our plight, this made myself and the other passengers around feel very angry at the lack of support from BA’s staff.

we got our new tickets printed from the self check-in machines and as our luggage was already checked in - it told us to get to a customer service representative to get this dealt with.
When we arrived at the counter the BA staff member told he couldn’t do anything as we were too early for the flight and to come back later.
luckily there was a staff change at that counter, and so we queued again to see her and she sorted out our tickets and luggage with no problem.

finally we got thru security and to the BA lounge.
unfortunately they wouldn’t let all of us into the lounge as its only for business passengers and due to their policy is not to make exceptions.
after a very uncomfortable night of sleeping and mis-information from the BA staff, myself and the other passengers with me were irritated by the unhelpfulness of the BA staff.
we complained about this treatment, after which the BA staff member, rang the manager who gave her the authorization to let us in.

my experience of this night is of disgust and disappointment with BA’s failure to deal with the accident in a professional, friendly and courteous manner. Myself and the other passengers felt totally abandoned by BA, and failed to deal with the customers with the due care they deserve.

I would have thought that BA would be more than capable to deal with an emergency like this, and be professional enough.
it seemed unbelievable that BA were unable to cope with this crisis and had any form of plan in action.

This is not what I expected from a premium carrier.
As a regular traveler of BA, I did not expect to be left to my own devices, when something like this goes wrong. I have always felt that BA was a step above the other airlines and is the primary why I fly with them. This incident has seriously caused reservations whether I would use BA as my prefered carrier in the future.
I felt completely let down by BA’s professionalism and their complete lack of understanding and empathy towards its passengers on this night, and hence why I felt I had to write this letter.