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British Airways lost my father (and his luggage too...)
Last updated at 11:18am on 10.08.07An elderly passenger suffered a stroke after he was 'lost' in transit by British Airways and forced to spend the night on a bench at Heathrow.
Zafer Ghadban, 83, is seriously ill in hospital after a series of blunders meant he missed a connecting flight and was abandoned in the terminal building.
To make matters worse, BA is yet to return the frail pensioner's luggage nearly three weeks after his ordeal began.
Zafar Ghadban's family had requested a wheelchair service during his short stopover at Heathrow
Mr Ghadban, who lives in Canada, had been visiting relatives in Jordan and was on his way home when he arrived at Heathrow for a routine eight-hour stopover.
However, airline staff - who had been given special instructions on looking after Mr Ghadban - decided he required treatment to an injured foot and ordered he be taken to hospital.
By the time the pensioner returned to the airport he had missed his connecting flight but no arrangements had been made for where he should stay.
Dazed and confused, he lay on a bench in Terminal Four and, after waking from a fitful night's sleep, suffered a stroke.
He fell, breaking his hip, and was taken back to hospital, where he is now expected to remain for several months.
From his bedside last night, Mr Ghadban's daughter Mimi, a 33-year-old communications manager from South London, described BA's conduct as 'quite incredible'.
"My father speaks very little English and is clearly vulnerable," she said.
"But when he missed his flight nobody thought to contact his family to tell us what had happened or where he was.
"Neither had anyone thought to book him on another flight home, help him find a hotel or even check that he was okay. He just got lost in the system."
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The 83-year-old had a serious fall in the terminal while under BA's 'watch'
Mr Ghadban, who was recovering from a toe amputation, arrived at Heathrow at 11am on July 22 and was due to catch a flight to Montreal at 7.45pm.
But as he waited in the transfer lounge, a member of BA staff noticed that a bandage on his foot appeared to be covered with blood and deemed him unfit to fly.
It has since emerged that the stain was actually red dye used during treatment in Jordan.
Mr Ghadban was taken by paramedics to Hillingdon Hospital in West London and discharged at 10pm.
He returned to the airport at 10.45pm, though his family and BA still do not know how he got there.
A BA spokesman claimed its 'duty of care' to Mr Ghadban ended when he was declared unfit to fly and sent to hospital - even though he was likely to miss his flight.
Mr Ghadban, who needs a hip operation, is unable to return to Canada because his family cannot afford the £20,000 it will cost to transport him home.
His daughter said: "He didn't buy travel insurance so it looks as though we will have to pay for him to have an operation here."
She added that she is yet to receive either an apology from BA or information about her father's missing luggage, which travelled on the flight to Canada without him.
A BA spokesman said: "British Airways takes the comfort and dignity of all customers seriously.
"It is the airline's policy to offer assistance at the airport to all passengers with restricted mobility-We are currently investigating the complaint."
Passengers complained of chaos at Gatwick airport yesterday, with queues of more than two hours to pass through immigration.
Baggage was reportedly stacked up in the hallways as thousands faced a miserable end to their holidays.
Kathy Winton, a company director who arrived on a flight from Las Vegas, said: "It was chaotic. - the worst I've experienced since 9/11."
The airport's owner BAA was unable to provide an explanation for the queues last night.
Reader views (20)
Here's a sample of the latest views published.
This is a shocking incident.
Regardless of whether the family should have put the father on the flights or not, British Airways was entrusted with the care of this paying passenger with special needs assistance acknowledged by the airline. Instead they more or less washed their hands of him.
Whether this is due to carelessness, a lack of human resources or poor training, it's a shameful scenario for the airline.
My sympathies go to the family.
This also is a lesson to always buy travel insurance.
- Khoa, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom
I don't trust them with a bag, much less a human being.
- R M, London, UK
Speaking for myself, I would never let my dad go on a long coach trip alone, let alone a plane trip after he had an operation - and he's 83 too. That said, I think it's difficult for people to acknowledge that their parents are getting older and really do need help that they didn't need when they were younger.
- Lisa, London
They sent an 83 year old man in poor health that did not speak English on a transcontinental journey alone and they are mad at the airline? What is wrong with these people? It's not the airline's place to babysit. When my mother hit an age that she started getting confused by the hustle and bustle we always made sure a family member traveled with her and she spoke the language. Seems to me like these folks should adopt that policy.
- Dave, Newport, NC, USA
What's happened to that airline? They were once the very best in customer service. y children used to travel unaccompanied across the Atlantic three times a year on their way to and from their schools. I certainly wouldn't have any confidence in giving them to BA today.
- Lois Frissell, New York CIty
If a father can barely speak any English and is clearly vulnerable then how can a family with a conscience let him fly alone? This father was not the responsibility of the airline. I don't think any airline should be held responsible for looking out for elderly passengers or children - who shouldn't be flying alone in the first place! Airlines are not caretakers or babysitters. I think the family of this man needs to take a closer look at the problem and hopefully come to the conclusion that they are the ones that really let their elderly relative down, not the airline. Had they seen to his welfare properly (like MD of London.... with his wife flying to China to escort his in-laws back) probably their father never would have been put through the hell that he was. I feel sorry for this man. To live to be this age and be as frail as he sounds to be, and for his family not to have the caring or the sense to see to his welfare properly. Sad.
- Laura, CA
I do feel sympathy for the gentleman and his family. However, BA are an airline, not a branch of social services.
- Jowo, London
The airlines need to stop the handholding, its distracting them from their core business. Imagine all the resources devoted to keeping track of wandering kids, old folks, pushing wheelchairs, driving carts of seniors here and there, etc etc - imagine all those resources directed at: luggage handling, meal service, gate agents, etc. Focused on YOU the traveling passenger who simply wants to get from point A to point B on time, in some sort of comfort.
Amazing how people who consider themselves grown capable adults suddenly need nannies when they are in an airport.
- Trunk, US
Daughter Mimi from 'South London' in your article couldn't be bothered to check up on her father while flying after recovering from an operation? HER FAULT.
Airport staff sent the gentleman to hospital as they were concerned - daughter Mimi from 'South London' nowhere to be found. The gentlelman in question did not have her contact details on his person (or would it have been an abuse of his ''human rights' for he airport staff to have asked/searched him for them?)
- Jim, London
I'm not a BA employee but I do feel that one should take responsibility for ones ailing relatives. My father, for example, doesn't travel at all well and neither I nor my mother would dream of packing him off on his own, let alone let him handle a change of flights in a foreign international airport. I notice his daughter complaining lives in South London - I wonder why she wasn't overseeing the transfer.
Don't get me wrong, the company could and should have done more - but one ought not expect too much extra help unless one is paying extra for a special service.
- Isabel, Woking, England
Poor man. I really feel for him and his family. My dad had a stroke a few months ago and I know how tough it is. Mr Ghadban looks like a cool old bloke too! Boo hiss to BA!
- Steve O, Slough
Poor man. My dad is 85 and stubbornly refuses to buy travel insurance. Whether he had insurance or not it still doesn't excuse the fact he got packed off to hospital in a foreign country and was then promptly forgotten about.
I'm interested by how much strong "anti" opinion has been posted so quickly. I notice it always seems happen when a corporation is accused of doing something wrong.
For what it's worth, everyone in my office feels sorry for the old boy and his family.
- Nick T, Bristol
When my in-laws, in their late sixties, came to London, from China, my wife flew out to China, had a bit of a holiday and then flew back with them, because, as they speak no English and my father-in-law is not in the best of health, it was the sensible thing to do.
Going home, they did fly alone, and to be fair to BA, they did help them through departures, and on to the plane and made sure they were comfortable (as often as they could on a plane with 250+ people on board). When they arrived in Beijing, BA called us (at 5:00 in the morning mind) to say they had arrived safely.
BA didn't have to help with any of that, but they did, because we asked them. It really is that simple.
- Md, London
I have to agree with Isabel, this sounds like he was abandoned by his own family rather than any fault of BA's and why on earth did he not have travel insurance? But I guess in the current culture it's easier to blame others than to address your own shortcomings.
- Pa Roddy, London
Getting elderly myself, I would hope that more care would be taken if anything was to happen and I was off-loaded from a flight in a foreign country.
Even for BA not to contact relatives of Mr Ghadban, to say that he had been off loaded in London must be a concern and very bad customer relations.
Also for Mr Ghadban to be left on the return from hospital wandering round in a somewhat distresed state not knowing when he was to fly on to Montreal. Surely someone in the airport must have been aware that he was there and on his own. The gentleman's stress levels must have been high.
I feel Isabel's comment is a bit harsh.
- Roy, London
Hmmm... "Isabel" seems like a BA employee to me. The whole point of this story is the poor treatment by major airlines of vulnerable passengers who are transiting through international airports. I'm certainly going to think twice before booking flights for my own parents via anywhere. Direct flights no matter what the cost it would seem... ideally not flying with BA!
- Trevor, London
I agree with Isabel. Sounds more like a case of the family not taking enough care, or making proper provision, and now thinking they'll get on the compensation merry-go-round. No doubt they're being contacted at this moment by ambulance chasers anxious to ensure they milk their "yuman rights" to the full. And no doubt, with our courts, they'll win.
- Sam Weller, Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK
Sounds very much like Mr. Ghadban is too frail at 83 to embark on such a journey given the state of today's airlines. Insread of attacking the airlines, the person who organised the trek should question their own motivations.
- Frank, England
Although this is a very sad situation and I have every sympathy for Mr Ghadban, why did the family allow someone they describe as vulnerable, speaks very little English and is 83 years old to fly half way around the world on his own and without travel insurance? They need to take responsibility for this.
- We, Kent
Not sure this is entirely the fault of BA, for once. What was he doing flying so soon after a toe amputation anyway? And why was no-one accompanying him if he was so vulnerable? Sure they requested a wheel chair at the airport but did they also request a 24hr minder whilst he was between planes? If so, they've a right to complain. If not, sounds like they're trying to blame someone else for their own neglect. He should have had travel insurance too.
- Isabel, Woking, England
