Pathetically Funny
If I had a sense of humour I would find the bolded line in the itemized list below of British Airway's bad customer service funny. But since this actually happened to me I do not find it all that funny (well, maybe in 10 years)...
On the way back from what was a wonderful trip to India and a stop-over in Zurich with a surprise hop to Matterhorn, it ended with the saga of BA. The flight home was missed due to bad weather conditions in Zurich. What happened afterwards was so pathetic it had to be funny.
In a recent letter to BA's customer relations in which I am attempting to get back my 9 Euro dinner (I know, that's also good for a laugh, but it is the principle of the matter), I wrote the following:
While delays and missing planes are common it was the behaviour and treatment we received as passengers that was absolutely terrible. This is an itemized list of the poor consumer service:
1) Standing in line for 6 hours to rebook the ticket;
2) Bad information provided by BA staff such as advising passengers to pick-up their luggage and/or go to another ticketing booth, which resulted in passengers losing their spot in the long queue;
3) Passing out a number to call the BA reservation center to speed up the process but who (byw) do not handle ticket rebookings (more bad info);
4) Only 3 BA staff members to serve over 150 economy class passengers and 2 BA staff members to serve 20 people in First Class;
5) Reaching a hotel for the night who served one half eaten pasta dish and a cream-puff pie for dessert;
6) Being informed by the manager of the hotel it was BA’s fault for not giving sufficient notice that 200 people were arriving.
I'll let you know the end result, which will probably be:
Thanks for writing and sorry for your trouble.
ME
- Heather Morton
- is part of a select group of people certified in AtmaVikasa Yoga. She is the first Western student to be certified in both the 1st and 2nd series of the AtmaVikasa system. Having made 13 extended trips to India, she studies with her teachers annually. In 1997 she founded The Yoga Way (TYW), Toronto's only school for 6-week yoga programs. She holds a Fine Arts degree as well as a teaching degree and Masters of Education. Her post-graduate work was a 2-year thesis on Yoga for children in the Indian school system. She has produced CDs, DVDs and podcasts. Freedom of the Body DVD is the first of its kind as an instructional practice to the foundation of backbending. Heather has been featured in the Toronto Life Magazine and The Globe and Mail. Her writing has also appeared in several on-line sites.