Working with communities in Bahr el-Ghazal, Southern Sudan

Complaints

Copy of Fergus's letter to Lord Marshall, Chairman of British Airways, 29/04/02.

I am writing to you to express my disappointment with British Airways and my discouragement at BA's mean-spiritedness and lack of customer care.

Last year, my mother, who is a British Airways shareholder, wrote on my behalf to you in order to request advice and support for myself travelling to Sudan via Nairobi. She was willing to allow me to use some of her airmiles to travel on behalf of The Shading Tree (Tim Atiep), a registered Scottish charity, which is undertaking community development work and support for children in Southern Sudan. As there is a civil war going on in Sudan, travel within the country is not easy, cheap or particularly safe and I hoped that you would be able to allow for some slight bending of the rules regarding the use of airmiles. The government of Sudan periodically and unilaterally, introduces a flight ban for flights entering Sudan from Kenya and so I was requesting an open return to be allowed, so that I had some flexibility in the event of suddenly being stranded for an indefinite time in Sudan, with no means of easily giving BA in Nairobi the required two weeks notice of postponing my flight. The rules were not allowed to be bent. I was advised that the only alternative was to obtain two single flights and I agreed to that, on the condition that I was able to make my return booking in Nairobi, which, I was informed would not be a problem.

After some problems regarding my name being included in my mothers membership, I made my outward booking towards the end of December, hoping to be able to leave two weeks later, but was told that there were no seats available until 23rd January. I was told that I could pick up my ticket in the Glasgow office, by quoting a reference number. I made a special journey to Glasgow, only to be told that the office was not allowed to issue a ticket. However, after some consultation, it was agreed that the ticket would be issued. My flight out to Nairobi was fairly pleasant as the plane was not full, but I am afraid to say that I found that the cabin crew, at least in economy, are not particularly friendly and, though I am not a demanding traveller, I found myself irritated by their lack of basic courtesy.

After spending two and a half months in Northern Bahr el-Ghazal, one of the least accessible areas in Southern Sudan, and one of the most dangerous in terms of security, I returned to Nairobi, narrowly missing by two days one of the Sudanese government's periodic flight bans and immediately went to the BA office, where I was told that I could not make a booking with airmiles from there. This was contrary to what I had been told back at home. The, again rather unhelpful woman, gave me an e-mail address which I should contact to request a booking and I went straightaway to send a message. The message was sent on 2nd April and, to this date, I have had no response to it, nor to any of the follow up messages I sent. I then requested my mother and my brother by e-mail to try and make the booking for me, by phone, back in Scotland. The response was that there were no flights available for at least three weeks. (I have since learned that BA allows only two seats to be booked using airmiles on any one flight! It is not as if the points have not been earned, by paying for very expensive seats in the first place.). This delay, quite apart from being very inconvenient, was going to cost me a considerable amount of money for accommodation alone. My mother and my brother spent some hours on the phone trying very hard to see if there was any chance of the rules being bent slightly to accommodate me on an earlier flight, but was told, eventually in no uncertain terms, that they were wasting their time. My brother, ultimately, spoke to a Michael Parker in the Chief Executive's office, who couldn't have been more unhelpful and unsympathetic.

Having spent a very stressful time in a region where aerial bombing of civilians, the abduction of children and death by starvation or war, are a way of life and where from one night to the next, one does not know whether one is going to have to flee into the bush to avoid a raid by government militias, the last thing I needed was for our humanitarian and charitable efforts to be obstructed by petty officialdom and mean-spiritedness. In the end, I had to buy a single ticket, using charity money, which I will have to replace from my own pocket. (At this point, I would like to point out that I do not get paid for the work I am doing, nor do I feel it right to claim expenses.) Although I tried to get a flight with any other airline rather than BA, I was forced in the end to fly with you. The plane was completely full and in economy (dressed up by the term World Traveller), it was like a cattle truck and again I was not impressed by the attitude of the cabin crew. I hope that your advertisements are not still using "the world's favourite airline" phrase. It is certainly not mine and I will, in future, be looking for alternatives.

I look forward to your response

Lord Marshall's reply to the above, dated 27/05/02

Dear Mr Boyle

I regret the delay in replying to your letter of 29 April from which I was concerned to read of your disappointment with Britsih Airways. Pleas accept my apologies for the difficulties and frustration you had prior to travelling and during your time in Nairobi.

I am sorry you feel we did little to help you with your personal travel plans. I assure you we try to be as sympathetic and felxible as possible and we remain committed to rewarding our frequent ravellers through the BA Miles programme. The main constraint with any reward programme is its popularity which regrettably means there are times when we are unable to honour all the requests we receive. Although it is true a limited number of seats are on sale for BA Miles reservations, seats are aavialable on every flight. I would add that the whole proposition of BA Miles is that members do not rely on this facility for business travel. Although there is a degree of flexibility for changing flights, seats are booked on a first-come, first served basis and many members therefore book months in advance of travel.

I understand when you contacted us last year and told us about the flexibility you required, we recommended that a BA Miles reservation was not a suitable option for you to consider. Nevertheless, given your wish to go ahead and in answer to your uncertainty about your return date, the option of booking one-way flights was the best advice we could offer. I understand we also explained about the booking pewriod (14 days notice period) and the constraints of seat availability. As your experience clearly shows, there are times when flights are fully booked for BA Miles reservations for some weeks and this is why it is not advisable to rely on this facility to make a last-minute reservation.

Naturally I am sorry for the problems you and your family had trying to arrange your flight home. I aapreciate how anxious you must have felt and I very much regret there was very little practical advice and assistance we could offer. You may be sure your comments about the unhelpful behaviour displayed has been drawn to the attention of the people involved. Clearly we have to try much harder if we are to retain our loyal customers and attract new business.

It was good of you to write to me about this matter. I am sorry we could not do more for you on this occasion, but I do hope despite your disappointment, we can soon regain your confidence.

Yours sincerely
Lord Marshall

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