I recently had a truly horrible experience at Heathrow Airport. I sent the email below to British Airways twice, the second time threatening to post it online because they didn't get back to me after 8 weeks. I also called them last week, and they promised to get back to me "soon", which they still haven't.
So I'm posting my message below as a warning to others about British Airways, Heathrow, and their utter lack of customer service. Apologies on the length. Email has been edited from the original to remove flight details.

Dear British Airways,

On July 3rd, 2007, I flew British Airways from Boston to London, intending to fly on a connecting flight to Ankara, Turkey that day to see my fiancée and her family. Upon my arrival, I discovered that the flight had been cancelled due to a security incident that had shut down Terminal 4 for several hours, and was directed to retrieve my luggage and rebook my flight. Obviously, I was upset to hear this, but being from the United States, and New York in particular, I understood the need to ensure the security of everyone in a major airport such as London Heathrow. However, the aftermath of these cancellations and the way they were handled by British Airways and Heathrow Airport was abominable, as I will describe below, and is the reason that I am writing. Due to this experience, I feel I should be entitled to some sort of compensation as outlined under EC Regulation No 261/2004, since I was delayed for far more than four hours.

After waiting on line for an hour and a half to clear customs, and spending another 30 minutes finding my luggage among the thousands strewn around the luggage area, it was nearly 11:00 pm. I proceeded to a British Airways information desk to try and reschedule my flight. I was told that the British Airways flight reservation desk at the airport was closed, and that my only recourse was to call a phone number that they provided, or wait until the desk opened at 6 am. I was not happy to discover that British Airways had closed their desk despite the thousands of stranded passengers, but proceeded to the phones to try and call the number provided, since I did not have a mobile phone that worked in the UK. There were several people waiting on line to do this, and it took a while to reach a free phone. It then took several attempts to reach a British Airways representative, as the phone number kept coming up busy, presumably due to the high number of people trying to call. However, I did manage to get through to a woman after 20 minutes, who informed me that she could not reserve a flight to Ankara for me before July 14th, which was obviously unacceptable, and said that I would have to wait until 6 am the next morning to talk to someone at the British Airways desk at Heathrow. I believe that if the desk were open, there would be a better chance of getting an earlier and more suitable flight, especially since other passengers were undoubtedly booking flights online and on the phone during that time.

With no other apparent choice, I called my fiancée in Ankara to inform her of the situation, and then found a spot to lie down and try to sleep outside the security area. This is where British Airways truly began to infuriate me. At around 2 am, two British Airways workers came in and informed everyone in the room, of which there were well over 100, that we had to leave. They were extremely curt and rude, especially considering the situation. We were simply told to move, with no apology, and were forced to move up to the departures floor. I found a spot and assumed the desks would open at 6 am and we would finally be able to reschedule our flights. However, at 4 am, we were again kicked out, this time told to wait outside near a tent to reprocess our tickets. We waited there for about 2 hours, not moving, until we were again moved, this time to the parking lot of the terminal. We waited there, hardly moving, until around 8 or 9 am. We had now been on line for 5 hours without any progress. At that point, we realized that there was a second line outside the “tent” that was moving, and that it appeared we had been simply forgotten out in the cold and wind. I would like to emphasize that there was one British Airways representative who briefly showed up and gave us very little information about what was going on, as it appeared even he did not seem to know what was going on.

At this point, I was forced to sneak back into the terminal and find a place on line near the tent, despite the fact that we had been waiting in the parking lot before many of the people currently on line. I was forced to wait on this particular line for over three and a half hours. What was particularly infuriating about this was that passengers with flights during that day were able to walk right into the terminal and book themselves immediately, while those of us who had been stranded in the airport all night were forced to wait on incredibly long lines, outdoors in the cold and occasional rain. I was not able to call my fiancée and my family to let them know what was going on because I was stuck on line all day, dragging my luggage, and without any real idea about what was going on except to follow the crowd that also seemed to be trying to reschedule their tickets.

Upon reaching the front of the line, I discovered that there were only about 5 British Airways representatives working to reschedule passengers, which was completely inadequate considering the thousands of passengers that had been stuck overnight. Even worse, I was initially told that I would be stuck in London until Friday. It was only after I moved onto yet another line to revalidate my ticket that I managed to squeeze onto a flight leaving later that night. This was around 4:00 pm, so I had been waiting on lines for close to 12 hours just to reschedule my flight, and only after I had to leave the “line” that had been forgotten and wasn’t moving. Even worse, after calling my fiancée again, I discovered that she had called British Airways earlier that day, and they told her that they could have squeezed me onto a flight to Istanbul and on to Ankara much sooner if I managed to reach a phone. Of course, I was unable to do so because I had to stay on line all day. During this entire time on line, we saw maybe one or two British Airways representatives, who were not able to adequately inform us what the situation was, how long we would be on line, or answer any questions we had. Because of this, I was not able to leave Heathrow for over 24 hours, despite the fact that I may have left sooner had I been able to reach a phone, or talked to someone at the desk the previous night. Thus, I lost a full day of my 10-day vacation, which is particularly critical since we’re preparing for our wedding in Turkey next year.

Again, I understand why my flight was cancelled and the need to sweep the terminal for bombs. However, your actions after that occurred were completely deplorable. I cannot understand why you would close the departures desk and force us to wait until the next morning to reschedule our flights, instead of leaving it open to process us as soon as possible. The phone number we were given was not only busy most of the time, but the person I talked to was unable to help me and told me I had to wait until the next morning to talk to someone at the airport. I was forced to sleep on the floor, which was bad enough, and yet we were also twice kicked out of terminals during the night, quite rudely. And, to top it off, we were forced to wait on extremely long lines with inadequate personnel to help those of us stranded, without any real information on how to proceed. No one should be forced to wait on lines for 12 hours, particularly due to circumstances that were not our fault. And when we were moved to the parking lot and forgotten, it became apparent to me that British Airways had no real plan to handle the situation and no coordination between your personnel. Even worse, I could have been on my way to Ankara much sooner had I been able to access a phone during the day, which was impossible because I could not leave my place on line, or talked to someone working at the departures desk sooner, which would be possible if the British Airways desk was not closed overnight. I also discovered today that you will not reimburse me for my phone calls during this time because it was a “situation beyond your control.” With all due respect, while the security situation was beyond your control, your customer service was inadequate, frustrating, and rude, which was not beyond your control. At this moment I am inclined to never fly British Airways again, as well as recommend to my friends and colleagues that they avoid flying with you as well.

I would like to request that you not only reimburse me for the phone calls I had to make to contact my family and British Airways, which were around US $100, but also some sort of compensation for the hardship I had to endure. I chose to fly British Airways on this trip because it supposedly had a good reputation within the travel community. I hope you can show me that this reputation is still true.

Thank you for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

What a shocking situation. British Airways should definitely have kept the service desk open.

One thing tho, I think it was BAA staff, not BA staff who made you leave the terminal. BAA (the airport operator) is not related to British Airways.

So BAA has no relation to British Airways? I don't think it changes my complaint too much, but it would be interesting to know nonetheless.

It matters hugely, and it's complicated by the fact that "BA" isn't a very different set of initials from "BAA."

At present both parties are in some state of meltdown - BAA because it's plainly inept at running airports, and BA because cost-cutting moves (mainly reductions in staffing) have resulted in flight cancellations, short staffing, decline in customer service efficiency, and a horrible baggage-handling crisis.

Unfortunately from your point of view, this division of labo(u)r allows both parties to point the finger at the other (which they're getting very good at) thereby ducking the central issues. Your mishandling at the airport was at the hands of BAA; your vain attempts to communicate with BA were due to the airline's inadequacies. "It's not our fault" in rhyming verse...

Sadly, this rock-and-hard-place situation probably gives both companies an "out" regarding compensation to you.

BA's non-response to your request is typical of the passive-aggressive stance the airline is taking toward customers lately. As you didn't send a similar letter off to BAA (I presume) BAA's non-response is understandable; however it too would be predictably lame and passive (or nonexistent) if you had.

If fairness to those organizations, though, given that they've received tens of thousands (maybe hundreds of thousands by now) of complaints lately - many of which frankly tell much more dire tales than yours - their late/non-response is understandable. They don't have the staff to cover the complaints, after all. Costs money.

It happens with all airlines and I can tell you the garbage AA pulled on me last February and tried to make it seem like it was a weather problem and gave me nonsense they couldnh't accomodate me for 3 days....if they cancel a flight, they should put all passengers on that flight on a flight the next day even if it means bumping other people...the airlines just don't care about their clients...they are arrogant and won't go one inch out of their way. If it means inconveniencing you too bad...what we need is legislation that if an airline cancels a flight on you for any reason whatsoever except direct weather (none of this ripple garbage), they must put you up on the next flight or pay triple damages...we'll see how quickly airlines cancel flights for frivolous reasons in the future.

xyz123 - Then how do you explain to the people on the next day's flight that they have been involuntarily bumped because there was weather problem a day before? Do you just keep bumping and compensating everybody that no one will be foolish enough to get into the airline business?

What do you think the effect will be towards air ticket prices?

rkkwan..

What is your suggestion then to prevent this contempt towards passengers and screwing passengers through no fault of their own have their flights cancelled for no good reason.

hi, jknightcs1! Sorry to hear of your dreadful experience this past summer. I do support your thought about compensation for the delay to your travel plans.

Your experience simply reinforces my own refusal to fly British Airways and my desire to avoid London Heathrow at any cost. The service deterioration has been truly astonishing. There are so many other, more reasonably priced destinations in Europe; and so many other, better performing transit points.

Passengers educating themselves and don't use airlines or airports that show them the contempt.

In recent months, the mainstream press has finally started to do this public service and alerting passengers about all these issues.

That's way better than more regulations - which most of the time does nothing.

I mean, we're talking about BA here, an airline based in the EU, which passed the passenger rights regulation not long ago. Did that do anything to help? I don't see it.

This might be an unpopular response, but so be it.

The security alert that ground LHR to a halt was, by your own admission, beyond BA and the airport operator's control. You got to your destination 24 hours late. I would consider putting this down to experience. Many people could not get to their destination at all ro were delayed for much longer than just 1 day.

Believe me, I can understand that this was a horrible experience for you and there are some aspects of your complaint that could have been improved upon. But, when looking at the bigger picture, you were quite fortunate.

People will bash LHR (often for good reason) but had this security incident happened in Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Zurich, a major American hub etc I can assure you that a similar aftermath would have followed.

I believe it is totally contrary to the intent of the EC directive to award passengers compensation when a suspected terrorist act causes flight cancellations. Such events are beyond any airline's control.

I empathise entirely with your situation.

The initial problem with the security issue was unavoidable. The endless hassles afterwards were entirely avoidable. It shows to me that BA and BAA do not have a disaster/management plan to handles situations such as what happened to you. If they did they would have had staff on hand to deal with your issues, be it 2 AM or 2 PM.

Heathrow is to be avoided at all costs, it is a run down third world facility stretched way beyond its capacity staffed by unenthusiastic people who end up there as opposed to choosing to work there. This goes for staff in cleaning, catering, baggage handling, handling agents, shop staff etc. A more miserable bunch of unhelpful people you would be hard pressed to find.

If you get the drift that my experiences with Heathrow and with BA are less than satisfactory then you would be right. From surly staff with thousand mile stares on BA flights, to ticket agents with no competance whatsoever to airport toilets of a lower standard than public conveniences in Mumbai (And yes I have used them there), the whole set up is a joke.

If you are flying from Boston to Turkey, next time may I suggest using another port of entry into Europe or fly direct from NY to IST and change there for Ankara. That way you can avoid the embarrassment that is LHR.

Good luck with your chances of getting some form of compensation, but beware. The English are the Kings of excuses (I was born there so I feel able to say this).

If you are travelling to the UK again, try other airports such as Manchester, Birmingham, Stanstead, Luton or even Gatwick. All WAY better than LHR.

I do agree that I was fortunate enough to get out of Heathrow within 24 hours, but that was merely luck; a spot just happened to open up, after I had been told I would be stuck there for three days. I will send an email to BAA as well, even if it proves fruitless; at least I can cover my bases and blame everyone involved! Thanks for letting me know about the distinction between the two.
Despite what I went through, I don't agree with bumping people off of the next flight. I do think, as I said, that British Airways should have put more effort into accommodating everyone, and perhaps squeeze in extra flights the next day, if possible.
In response to kiwi_acct, I actually flew Lufthansa to Turkey last year through Germany, and my wife usually does the same. She's never had any significant problems with them, and the only reason I flew BA this time was because we planned our trip fairly late in the game, and BA had the best fare. But we've learned our lesson, and it's going to be Lufthansa from now on.

I can only repeat what others have suggested. LHR is a MESS. It's too large, too unorganized, too busy. I have had bad experience there, and so were my wife and kids on separate flights.

I already made my mind to AVOID LHR altogether.

Seems to me the Brits wouldn't mind if we do just that. Reducing capacity there at the moment is something they need badly.

Here is what we have learned to do in a cancellation situation.
If I/husband/kids are flying separately we get someone to call the airlines from home/destination to get new flights as well.
You said your friend was able to find an earlier flight for you when she called the airlines.
That has worked for us the many times we have been in a all to frequent similiar situation..

Oh goody. American Airlines just switched its service from Gatwick to LHR. Goody.

Don't worry. When T5 opens next March, all the problems with BA and BAA will be solved. Together with all the world's problem. Salvation is near! Rejoice!

HKP - what do you mean??!! We have always flown into *LHR* on AA from the states and departed from *LHR* on AA back to the states - since 1991. However, we flew into LGW once on AA from RDU.

rwkwan - I'll believe it when that happens!!

BlueSea -- from your own post you can deduce where I live and out of which city I fly, but there's also service between DFW and LGW. American plans to switch at least the RDU flight to LHR as of March.

....and blame everyone involved! .... I thnk that sums it up pretty well. Question is -- did you blame yourself? These problems will be constant and the results the same. We as a traveling public have DEMAND efficiency (no empty seats) and min service via the lowest ticket price possible -- afterall, that is why you flew BA. The result is a system that is operating at and, sometimes, beyond capacity. This is no slack. In prior decades planes often flew at half capacity because inefficiency was underwriten by fixed ticket prices or government subsidies. Any schedule interruption could be adsorbed by excess capacity. Not going to happen today.

If you are waiting in line for 12, 18, 24 hours -- you are passively waiting for someone else to solve your problem. And they probably will not solve it to your satisfaction. You need to take control, you determine your options. Be creative. It doesn't take a genius to determine that it is going to be hard to move thousand of people quickly.

If faced that same situation and I had my luggage, I would have been on a phone or internet and looking at options from other airport. Several years was caught in a similar melt down at the Atlanta airport when it was emptied for a security breach and shut down for six hours. It was obvious I wasn't going anywhere quickly. Found four other like minded souls, rented a car, and headed to Birmingham. Four hours late on a plane headed home. The Birmingham check-in agent was surprised to see us and at first was uncooperative. But a supervisor with a phone call to Atlanta confirmed our story and they were very happy to deal with us in Birmingham. Five less headaches for Atlanta.

I would have done the same thing at Heathrow. I cannot believe that BA would not have been very ahppy to accomendate you for anyone but HR/

When these things happen, and they will, take responsible for solving your problem. Don't be passive/