British Airways just told my severely allergic mother to fly with another airline. Seriously.
I’m posting this because I genuinely cannot believe how British Airways has handled this.
My mother has multiple medically documented, potentially life threatening allergies, including peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish and cow’s milk.
This is not someone saying, “Dairy gives me an upset stomach.”
She carries an EpiPen everywhere she goes.
She has previously suffered anaphylaxis severe enough to require emergency resuscitation.
Her reactions are also not limited to deliberately eating an allergen. Exposure in her immediate environment can trigger a reaction, which obviously becomes rather important when you are trapped inside an aircraft for 9+ hours while meals are being heated and served around you.
And this trip is not a holiday.
She is travelling to Jamaica to visit her 93 year old mother, who has suffered 4 strokes recently.
So when an airline tells her to simply “use another airline”, that is not a minor inconvenience or a case of choosing a different holiday carrier.
We contacted BA Way Way Way BEFORE travelling.
The first BA adviser we spoke to, Jusdeep Singh, was frankly astonishing.
After repeatedly explaining that this needed sorting before the flight, he essentially kept telling us to just tell the cabin crew when we board.
He then told us British Airways had “no duty of care.”
When I asked him repeatedly to tell me exactly where in BA’s policy it said this, he could not.
We then asked for somewhere we could put the matter in writing.
He put us on hold.
He came back and told us there was apparently no such facility.
Except there very obviously is.
We subsequently contacted BA’s Passenger Medical Clearance Unit in writing.
They contacted their Head of Catering Operations and Cabin Crew Services.
And this is where it gets unbelievable.
BA has now confirmed to us that:
Fish and crustaceans are highly likely to be served onboard.
They will not remove or restrict those menu items.
Cabin crew cannot change the meal service.
They can stop serving loose nut snacks, but meals containing nuts can continue to be served.
They cannot provide my mother with a meal they consider suitable because she has too many serious allergies.
Their own lactose free meal cannot be guaranteed free from milk traces, so they removed it from her booking.
She can bring her own food, wipe down her seat and ask for an announcement.
And then came the killer line from BA’s specialist catering advice:
“Given the severity of this customer’s allergies, it would seem that any reasonable accommodations that we can currently make, will not be sufficient for this customer’s safety, and therefore they would be advised to travel with another airline that is able to make all the necessary accommodations they require.”
Read that again.
British Airways’ own specialist team has effectively told a booked passenger:
Our arrangements may not be sufficient to keep you safe. Go and fly with somebody else.
Except “somebody else” is not necessarily a straightforward substitute.
Virgin Atlantic does not fly to Kingston, which is where we need to go.
So BA’s suggestion potentially means changing airports, changing destination, adding hours of ground travel across Jamaica, or restructuring a journey being made so that my mother can visit her 93 year old mother, who has suffered 4 strokes recently.
What is particularly frustrating is that my mother HAS travelled long haul with severe allergies before.
Virgin Atlantic previously made arrangements for her, including adapting what was being served because of the seriousness of her condition.
And here is the other ridiculous part.
We are BA American Express cardholders.
We collect Avios.
We have deliberately put spending and loyalty into the BA ecosystem.
Apparently the reward for that loyalty when you have a passenger with a medically documented life threatening condition is:
“Perhaps travel with another airline.”
And to be clear before somebody replies with “an airline cannot control what passengers bring onboard”:
WE KNOW.
Nobody asked BA to search everyone’s bags for a Snickers.
The question was what BA could reasonably do regarding BA’s own catering and BA’s own meal service, particularly where environmental exposure is a genuine concern for this individual passenger.
That is what makes this so frustrating.
I am actually glad we pushed this instead of accepting the first adviser’s “just tell the crew when you board” response.
Imagine discovering all of this for the first time while standing at the aircraft door with a severely allergic passenger.
At least we now have BA’s position in writing.
But telling a family that your own specialist team believes the accommodations you provide may not sufficiently mitigate the risk, and therefore they should use another airline, raises some fairly obvious questions.
What exactly are we supposed to do with the British Airways booking we have already paid for?
What happens when the alternative airline does not even serve the same destination?
And:
Why should we continue giving British Airways our loyalty, Avios spending and BA Amex business if another airline is prepared to make accommodations BA says it cannot?
For anyone travelling with severe allergies, DO NOT assume this can simply be sorted out with cabin crew after boarding.
Get everything in writing beforehand.
I am very glad we did.