On 24 December 2014, Gatwick Airport was closed following a very severe rainstorm which caused flooding in an underground electricity switching centre. All movements from North Terminal were cancelled.
I was going to Jersey to spend Christmas with my daughter and to meet my new grandson. The previous evening I had been at the point of boarding my BA flight when the captain appeared and told us that the authorities had closed Jersey airport because of potentially dangerous high winds. BA accommodated me in an airport hotel and gave me vouchers for meals. They rebooked me on a flight at 1800 the following day, Christmas Eve.
By mid afternoon the terminal was operating again - but without many of the services requiring some electrical power. I had spent the morning watching flight after flight operated by EasyJet being cancelled and people realising that their Christmas plans were dashed. Eventually, there were only passengers for a handful of BA flights left. The airside lounge was now populated with mainly middle aged and elderly people waiting for information. Order was kept by a pair of police officers carrying what looked like sub-machine guns. I heard one of them lose his temper with an elderly woman ... "I'm not a bloody information service."
What was remarkable was that there was no member of BA staff to be seen anywhere in the airside area. The only information available came from a few working monitors and the tannoy. Eventually my flight was called and we took off at about 2215: over four hours late. (To add insult to injury when I returned, after Christmas, I had to wait over two hours for my luggage to be delivered at Gatwick.)
I wrote to an office which BA maintains in, I think, Newmarket and made a claim for compensation under the EU scheme. I didn't really want financial compensation, I wanted an apology and explanations for what I considered unsatisfactory customer service ( well, lack of ... ) To say that I received the brush-off would be an understatement. Over the course of our correspondence I received letters making all kinds of assertions designed to prevent me from further any claim through the courts or with the CAA.
When I heard that the House of Commons Standing Committee on Transport was investigating this matter I sent (in report form, as requested) details of my experiences. When the Committee report was published, I was listed as a contributor to their investigation and some of the points I made were contained in the report.
I think that BA's behaviour adds a little verisimilitude to Bluehllside's comment:
Just for funsies, I did a rough headcount of c200 passengers which, if they all claimed, would mean a bill of €50k, which is presumably why the airlines keep so quiet about it.
