Letter to the editor: How do the airlines get away with bad service?

On Friday December 4 at about 13h00, as I was checking the availability on SA236 for a possible upgrade, I noticed that SAA had cancelled SA234 to London on Friday December 4, Saturday December 5 and Sunday December 6. I was on after-hours duty that weekend and at about 16h00 on Sunday December 6, I received a call from SAA to say they had cancelled SA234 and needed to amend a client’s booking. I knew the flight was cancelled by about 13h00 on Friday and therefore so did the airline. Why wait until 16h00 on the day the flight was due to depart if you already knew at 13h00, two days earlier? Needless to say, the airport was chaotic because more than half the passengers had not been rebooked. But wait, there is more. On Sunday night I had a client who was due to fly from Cape Town to London on BA058. The flight was aborted just before take off. Nobody wants to fly on a faulty aircraft so ok, rather don't fly. The clients’ telephone numbers were all taken with a promise from BA to call them in the morning and advise them when the flight would depart. On Monday morning, my client contacted me to advise me that she was still in Cape Town. (My Galileo reservation had not been updated in any way, so if she had not called me, I would have been none the wiser.) She advised me that as she had not heard from British Airways, she had called them direct and they advised her that the cancelled flight had been rescheduled for Monday December 7 at 20h00. She checked this information on the website and all was fine. At 18h00 on Monday night I received a call from my client saying the flight had been cancelled again and she was in a queue with over 300 people. Although she was travelling in business class there was no business class counter to queue at or any sort of preferential treatment. So she stood for four hours! There were only two British Airways counter staff members on duty to try and rebook and sort out over 300 passengers. British Airways ground staff were not helpful, friendly or informative. As soon as BA found out the flight would not operate (which I have been told was at 17h00 on Monday evening), why did they not communicate with the passengers and ensure there were enough staff members to deal with the situation? Say, sorry the flight is not going to take off. Offer compensation. In Europe clients would receive a minimum €600 for such a delay! Ask if any passengers are willing and able to travel the following night, please go to counter 'pick a number'; any persons travelling with children under the age of 10 and passengers travelling for compassionate reasons go to counter 'pick a number', First, business, gold and silver executive card holders go to counter 'pick a number' – then assist them in their groups. Yes, not everyone will get what they want but it will work better than a free for all! If a client does not show for a flight they are often charged a no-show fee and in some cases the ticket is non-refundable/changeable. But if an airline does not operate a flight then the passenger must just accept what the airline can give them, irrespective of whether it works for them or not. Airlines should be accountable.