The Observer - 25.08.2019

• The Observer
  10 25.08.19 News

over three years. Melanie Parker,

whose husband booked her a trip to

New York for her 40th birthday and

to celebrate their anniversary, said

she was frustrated with BA’s lack of

customer care.

“I work in a customer-service envi-

ronment and this level of customer

service is unacceptable,” she said.

She said her husband had been try-

ing to reach the airline all morning

but had yet to speak to anyone.

The strikes affect Parker’s return

tickets, but she said BA had cancelled

both her outgoing and incoming

fl ights and given her a refund.

She would have preferred the

airline to have found her a different

return fl ight.

“We have booked expensive

Broadway theatre tickets for our trip

and paid for airport valet parking and

a hotel at the airport the night before

our fl ight. We have also booked for

our bathroom to be completely refur-

bished while we are out of the house,”

she explained.

Peter Dempsey said his fam-

ily would have to pay for alternative

fl ights to attend a family wedding in

Spain as they were unable to change

the date of their return trip.

He said: “We have no option but

to completely cancel both legs and

rebook or they won’t give a refund.”

He said he and three others were

booked on the return journey, on

9  September , adding: “I’d estimate

we will be about £200 out of pocket.”

He said they had spent £550 on their

fl ights but to return on easyJet would

cost £330, or to rebook with Ryanair

roughly £200. Dempsey described

the service since the announcement

as shocking , adding that the airline

“clearly don’t have enough people to

handle such a crisis”.

Ryan Skeets, 44, said his partner

had been calling the BA helpline

number every hour since it opened,

but had not got through.

“ If we have not been able to get

through by the end of the day, I

would definitely question how

much resources BA have put into the

situation.”

Skeets is scheduled to fly to

Lanzarote with his partner on

9 September, the day the strike is

planned to go ahead.

He said the lack of support had

made him question whether to book

with the airline again.

Travellers tell of

fury with BA over

pilot strike chaos

Trouble at BA:

pilots have

named three

strike days.

Holidaymakers have vented their fury
with British Airways after the airline’s
pilots confi rmed they would strike
across three days in September, dis-
rupting thousands of trips.
Travellers received emails saying
fl ights on 9 , 10 and 27 September
would be hit by a “large number of
delays and cancellations”.
The British Airways customer
service lines were jammed yesterday
with travellers seeking alterna-
tive arrangements. Others mes-
saged the company on Twitter , some
complaining they would miss wed-
dings and honeymoons.
The British Airline Pilots’
Association (Balpa) said the airline
had rejected its proposals to settle a
long-running pay dispute and that it
had “no choice but to call this action”.
The union said 93% of members
voted in favour of the action after
rejecting a pay rise package of 11.5%

Aamna Mohdin

Manchester United footballer Marcus

Rashford was subject to racist abuse

on Twitter yesterday after he missed a

penalty during the club’s home defeat

to Crystal Palace.

Rashford was called the “n” word

by a number of people – one of

whom purported to be a Man chester

United fan – after the player’s spot

kick crashed against the post. Racist

photos which attempted to mock him

were also posted on Twitter.

The comments were quickly taken

down by the social media platform.

Just days earlier Rashford, an

England international, had led con-

demnation of racial abuse that team-

mate Paul Pogba was subjected to on

Twitter after his penalty was saved in

the match against Wolves on Monday.

He tweeted: “Enough now, this

needs to stop Twitter. You attack

[Paul] you attack us all.”

Racist abuse

for second

Man Utd player

Mattha Busby

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