Because I own shares in British Airways I chose to fly Premium Economy BA7318 to Melbourne . It is slightly more expensive than QF 30 - which is the same plane - it is a Qantas plane . I could not choose seats on the Internet until 24 hours before take off . At 22:30 the day before the flight, the information on the BA website changed to
"Online check-in opens on 06 Sep 2011 22:50 local time".
Instead of waiting until September (this is called sarcasm) I decided to check-in at Heathrow on 5 July 2011 . We were there two and a half hours before take off . I decided to present the print-off of BA Manage My Booking to the check-in lady and I said diffidently that I thought it would be helpful for the BA computing department to see this print-off and therefore could she be so kind as to treat this as an official complaint . It took her a long time . Eventually she said
"I may have bad news for you"
I then produced another document from BA, my Itinerary that had the ticket numbers of my wife and me . The lady said
"Although we are code sharing, the computers of Qantas and British Airways are not yet passing information" (what a wonderful
PR word is
yet, holding out as it does a promise of a Utopian future when altruism reigns supreme).
She personally took us round to the Qantas Premium desk and explained the situation to the Qantas lady who easily checked us in and gave us good seats . At the passenger interface level Qantas and BA have truly excellent relations . We were issued with boarding cards to Hong Kong plus boarding cards for the HK to Melbourne leg . We were asked to wait in the First Class check-in area for our wheelchairs . After some time a check-in lady asked us what we were waiting for . I showed her a boarding card and she went into the computer and then telephoned someone . After quite a long time I decided she should make another call . She looked at the computer and said "you have been waiting three quarters of an hour, but it is no use my phoning them again because they are dealing with passengers on the basis of their flight departure times". So we waited an hour before two young men came for us.
Neither man had a name badge . My man was cross that the other man did not know his name . I asked him how long he had been doing this job . "A month" he said "and I am thinking of leaving" . His companion was probably even newer because he did not understand where the lift was, nor did he know that there were buttons to summon the lift . We were taken through scanning and passport control and on the air-side we were transferred to buggy . Since we faced backwards I was not able to talk to the driver . Quite near to our gate the buggy was stopped and the driver was told that the gate was closed . The driver apologized to us and parked the buggy and left us for 15 minutes and when he returned he drove us to an area where we were transferred to wheel chairs . My pusher was in her early 50's . In answer to my question she said that she had been doing this work for twelve years . "For the same company?" I innocently asked . "No five different companies" she said . That surprised me, I knew that Omniserv had obtained a five-year contract last year, so by my calculations I would have guessed that her 12 years would be within 4 contracts and not 5 . Later on I said to her "it is hard work for you!" to which her response was "Yes - they’re short of staff" . This is an interesting response because it indicates that she had been thinking or saying this previously . When she got us to our gate she immediately took us along the air-bridge to the boarding plane (I will still allow two and a half hours next time).
The passenger assistance at Hong Kong was excellent but is not relevant because the employment culture is so different to the Western World . The passenger assistance at Tullamarine was excellent . The supervisor met the plane and had a list of names and two wheelchairs folded up by her . She told us to go up the airbridge for the buggy . The supervisor waited at the plane door and in due course an attendant came down (saying hello to us as she passed us) and the two of them presumably helped the passengers in crutches to get into the wheelchair . A man called Christopher came to drive our buggy . At Tullamarine everyone has a badge - they all seem to have the same name "Mel" - but their first name and surname are printed clearly on the badge . He was friendly as is natural for many Australians and he asked us if we wanted to go all the way or be left at baggage . At baggage he asked us again in case we had changed our minds - we thanked him and we did the rest on foot.
So BAA Heathrow has awarded a five year contract to an American company trading as Omniserv . Now they can see that London buses compare unfavourably with New York buses so far as wheelchair passengers are concerned . The adaptation of buses is better in Manhattan, and the driver is more nimble and hardworking than his London equivalent . Wheelchair access to Underground trains in the North, North-West and West of London is an absolute disgrace - we still have two train sizes and even where a station has only one train size, the entry of a wheelchair to a tube-train is often impossible without the help of another passenger . UK Supermarket check-out ladies sit down - whereas in other countries they stand up and pack for the shopper . So what does the American company do with the contract with BAA? Well he could hire more labour and bring the quality up to a reasonable standard . But surely this will affect the balance-sheet and may even make the enterprise a loss-maker . And when the time comes to bid for the next contact does he bid at a price that reflects the labour that he employs? If he has sense he will leave things as they are, and not display labels that identify the name of this Atlanta-based company.
Change is always possible . Change needs pressure groups who should certainly start with the Underground to insist that the rest of London is uplifted to the standard of the South-east quarter of London . Passenger assistance at Heathrow needs to be to a better standard.