We love an amusing marketing disaster here at B&T and the tale of British Airways copping a fine of £300,000 ($A485,000) for not having enough toilet rolls on a flight ticks all the boxes.
The flight was due to take-off from London’s Gatwick earlier this week and fly to Barbados with 280 passengers on board. However, cabin crew quickly noticed a lack of toilet rolls and no headphones for passengers.
The flight was delayed several hours while said missing items were summoned, however the delay contravened new European rules that impose heavy fines on late flights and compensate passengers for delays.
Worse still, the delay meant the crew had to work longer than legally stipulated, delaying the flight even further while a new crew could be summoned.
Passengers on long-haul flights that arrive more than four hours late are entitled to £600 ($A971) in compensation, as well as meals while they wait for their flight.
The plane eventually arrived in Barbados in the wee hours of the morning, missing its scheduled arrival time by seven hours. And worse was to come, as it delayed the return flight back.
One of the delayed homebound travellers, Jane Gwizdala told The Independent that the captain was candid about the reason for the delay: “He told us the outbound Gatwick to Bridgetown plane wasn’t prepared satisfactorily.
“He said in 26 years of flying he had never had such an experience that impacted on crew and passengers.”
It follows on from a bad few weeks for Britain’s national carrier. The previous week a rogue mouse delayed another British Airways flights costing it £250,000 ($A400,000) in fines and compensation.
