A British Airways passenger claims he was given a business class seat that was “soaked” in urine when he boarded a long-haul flight to Jamaica. Holidaymaker Andy Vicary, 52, says the seat was “saturated” when he sat down and he was forced to change into spare clothes he had packed in his hand luggage.
But the Gloucester man claims the incident tarnished his £5,000 holiday and he isn’t happy with the compensation he’s received from the airline. Andy told Gloucestershire Live that he had to move seats and he wasn’t able to sit next to his wife on the transatlantic flight.
He said: “We were on board the plane and made our way to our seats and so I sat down with a glass of Champagne and thought ‘this is brilliant’. “Then I noticed that the pillow that I was sat on was a little damp and I stood up and then so were my trousers. “I turned the pillow over and you could see that the pillow and the entire seat was saturated in urine. “The cabin crew tried to take the seat cover off and it was disgusting as it had soaked right though.
“I had to move seats and I was not able to sit with my wife for the flight which was really disappointing as well.” Andy said it was an embarrassing experience because fellow passengers approached him at the resort where he stayed, and he wasn’t happy with the airline’s response.
He said: “I feel that the way that they dealt with the complaint was very short-sighted.
“The company offered me 40,000 air miles which for me just didn’t seem enough to compensate what had happened. “We travelled to the resort in Kingston and quite a few of the people that were on the flight with us were also staying at the resort.
“The whole holiday I had people coming up to me to ask me questions about what had happened. “The cabin crew put my trousers in a plastic bag, but I was not able to wash them on holiday as there are no clothes washing facilities, so when I got back I just had to throw them in the bin.” He added: “The lady at British Airways who dealt with the complaint was very nice and everything but I really do not think that they were right to offer me air miles.
“The jeans I was wearing were Armani and cost £150 and they did not offer a replacement either. “As CEDR were then dealing with the complaint from then on, they eventually deemed that British Airways had offered a sufficient amount of compensation.” CEDR stands for Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution.
The company have stated as much as Andy found the situation distressing and uncomfortable they deemed BA’s offer to be fair. A British Airways spokesperson said: “We apologised to Mr Vicary, moved him to another seat and offered him and his wife enough Avios for an upgrade to business class the next time they fly with us. “The independent dispute adjudicator CEDR found that we acted fairly and reasonably in this case and dismissed the claim against us.”
However, Andy is still looking to get the compensation that he feels he deserves. He said: “The decision was just wrong. I walked past the courts the other day and I am going to take this to the small claims court to see if anything else can be done.” Mirror
