[PKO]

My 11-year old son traveled unaccompanied on a British Airways flight BA178 from JFK New York on Dec 24th to London Heathrow and arrived in Abuja (ABV) on Xmas day via BA083. We had been looking forward to his home-coming after he left to study in a US boarding school last summer. He had traveled with both his Nigerian and Canadian passports (on account of dual citizenship). Our hopes and longing were soon to be turned into a nightmare when we realized that the lad had arrived without his Canadian passport, a vital document that was supposed to be in care of BA cabin crew!

When I spoke with the Head of cabin crew of the BA083 the next day to get him to explain the document whereabouts, he said he was handed the only one (Nigerian) passport by the BA178 crew. He did mention though that he found it a bit strange that my son was traveling from USA via London to Nigeria with a passport without a valid visa or a 2nd passport that would exempt him from the visa. So he promised to investigate when he got back to London. I thanked him and specifically mentioned that my kid is due back in the US on Jan 2nd in order to resume school where fees had already being paid. So the gentleman understood perfectly my desperation to find this passport.

Out of panic, I lodged a complaint with BA Customer service online; I got a complaint ID and that was pretty much it. I called the Helpline in the UK that the Nigerian BA Duty Manager had kindly given me; the gentleman I spoke with in UK checked their database but still no trace of my son's passport. He gave me a website missingX.com to check for missing items and lodged a fresh complaint. Still Zilch! While I'm going bonkers in Nigeria, my brother who handed the minor over to BA ground staff at JFK was also busy calling BA office in the US (and India where his calls were being routed). Still no joy.

On day 3, due to the internal escalation of the Head Cabin crew of flight BA083 and the Duty Manager of BA at the Abuja airport, I got a word that a Canadian passport had been found somewhere in Europe but no one mentioned if it belonged to my son or not. So I kept praying for miracles. On Day 4, I got another call that it looked like the passport they found belonged to my son. Panic turned into confusion and a dim hope at this stage. They asked me to wait for a call yesterday Sunday 29th and see if the BA flight landing that morning in Abuja would bring my son's passport. So I began another night vigil expecting this mysterious call. The horror saga finally came to an abrupt end when I received an sms at approx 6.15AM from a BA ground staff that they had my son's passport which i drove down 5 kilometers to pick up. I was obviously quite relieved to feel the passport in my sweaty palms.

But my relief soon turned into disappointment and anger. British Airways had offered no apologies or explanation for the missing passport. It's like "Oh so now we lost your son's passport for 4 days; you better be happy and grateful that we found it!" Unbelievable!

Although I'd like to appreciate the tireless efforts of the The Nigerian Duty Manager on Dec 25th, the Head of Cabin crew on BA 083 same day and other BA staff who helped find the passport, I'm terribly appalled at how a supposedly professionally run organization like BA could lose a child passport for 4 days, finally retrieved it and handed over to me nonchalantly without an iota of remorse or apologies for their blatant incompetence, ineptitude and shoddy customer service. The emotional trauma of them ruining my Christmas and the financial loss due to bouncing up and down 5km stretch airport roads for almost everyday that the passport was missing, apparently meant nothing to them.

I'm currently considering a couple of options which includes seeking legal redress in this matter.