In early July, I returned to Heathrow following a holiday in America. As a visually impaired traveller I need assistance when exiting an airport. I was utterly astounded at the poor service standards afforded Disabled passengers leaving the airport or connecting with other flights. There was a real lack of respect and dignity shown to us. It was a truly shambolic service, where customer care was lacking.
I was further dismayed that my ability to complain was restricted to completing a contact form for British Airways (BA) when in fact I wanted to fully express my serious concerns about the passenger assistance service to BA, Wilson James (the outsourced assistance service) and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). How will any of these bodies learn from their mistakes if they make it difficult to provide feedback?
I was collected from the plane along with other Disabled passengers, after all other passengers had disembarked. Whilst this is usual practice, I am unsure why this is the case. We were driven to what I can only describe as a holding centre, my boarding pass was taken from me and I was asked to sit down, with no information about how long I’d have to wait. This was of course distressing and annoying, especially after an overnight trip, but imagine how much more horrific it would be if your first language wasn’t English and or you had a connecting flight!
After around 30 to 45 minutes of radio silence, I was asked to board a buggy, again with no explanation. This made very slow and halting progress and eventually took a group of us through security. On the way, I witnessed someone who needed a wheelchair being asked if he could walk. When I challenged this, I was told that there was a ‘shortage of wheelchairs.’ There were several heated exchanges between staff members, with little sign of management, supervision or service standards. The journey from the holding centre through security must have taken another 30 to 45 minutes. I was then passed to another member of staff, who assisted me to collect my suitcase and guided me to the Elizabeth Line. By the time we reached the luggage conveyor belt, it had been switched off and there were just a few suitcases waiting on the side for collection - everyone else on the plane was long gone.
Why did my experience and those of other Disabled passengers have to be so bad? Why couldn’t we be told what was happening, be informed about the process for exiting the airport, be given apologies for any delay, be treated with respect and dignity. If there were particular challenges that morning, why wasn’t that explained? Why were there so many Disabled passengers left without information and treated so badly?
I left the airport around 2 hours after the plane landed. I then wanted to complain, but this wasn’t made easy. BA, Wilson James and the CAA all need to know about my poor experience and those of other Disabled travellers, as they are all complicit in letting it happen and they all need to take responsibility for putting things right. For many Disabled people complaining online is not an option, so why aren’t there easy ways of complaining by letter or over the phone? Most businesses want feedback from their customers but apparently feedback from Disabled airline passengers isn’t viewed as valuable. Absolutely no effort has been put into making complaints or feedback processes accessible and easy to use.
I would urge BA, Wilson James and the CAA to undertake a root and branch review of passenger assistance services at Heathrow and involve Disabled passengers in the review. I would also ask that complaint processes are opened up and made more accessible. Many Disabled people are currently deciding not to fly, as we don’t have confidence in the airport passenger assistance services being provided. This is totally unacceptable and must be fixed.