Anyone who was flying from LHR yesterday will know what utter chaos it was. I was a passenger on the much-delayed LHR-MAN BA1398 which eventually got to MAN at 12:11am on Sunday. The way the captain kept us all informed before leaving LHR was exemplary - before leaving LHR he totally defused what could have become a very tense situation involving no-shows delaying the flight even further, no tug crew being available and some passengers wanting to leave the flight and delay it even further as a consequence. We were sat on the stand for an additional 1:30 after boarding before we got under way. It's a long time since I've seen a captain come into the cabin to address the PAX directly.
When we eventually got to MAN T3 the bags didn't appear on the carousel and there were no staff from either BA or the handling agent there. When the crew came through baggage reclaim about 45 mins after landing the captain saw we were all still there, sent the crew on ahead to the hotel while him and the FO stayed with the passengers. He phoned up multiple people trying to get the bags off the plane - there were simply no handlers available to unload the bags, seemingly it was a surprise that we'd turned up
. He eventually got agreement from BA management that people could leave and get their bags back via the lost baggage process - just as the bags finally began to be unloaded, 2 hours after the flight landed. He and the FO were still there at 2AM when I left, talking to passengers and trying their best to handle the situation. One passenger had a pop at him and was promptly told to shut up by other passengers - "He's the only one who has tried to help us".
BA's handling of yesterday's weather situation was frankly shambolic both in LHR and MAN, However the way the captain handled the situation was astonishing. I'd like to commend him to his management but all I can find on BA's website is a fairly generic customer feedback form - what he did deserves more than just some bland feedback form. If anyone from BA management is in here, or if anyone knows how to contact them directly I'd appreciate if you could PM the details.
Thanks!