Hi Everyone! Firstly Wish U all a very happy and contented 2015 and ever after! Though belated! I am just back from a trip to the London and Houston hence the brief lack of activity through my blog! Have to catch up with a number of films especially PK! Anyways tried to catch 'Linga' in the U.S but the film was too fast and out of the theater's in the U.S that I couldn't watch it! Anyways my first blog on my return is not a film review but my nightmarish experience flying British Airways! So do read on and respond with ur coments. Will soon be back with my reviews! Thanx for ur patience and support! 
Rgds,
hC
8TH Jan 2015

British Airways - A Nightmare ‘Experience’ & the ‘DREWS’!

Not that my start on the 9^th of Dec was any better as my wife and I checked in to board the BA flight to London and thereon to Houston after a brief stopover in London. Here and now started our first experience with the first BA ‘Indian’ staff whom hereinafter I shall term as ‘DREWS’ ‘Desi’ racists employed by whites . The ‘DREW’ in question requested my wife to pass the mandatory and ‘infamous’ frame (size) test as he suspected it was too large to be termed as a cabin baggage. My wife’s ‘polycarbonate’ carryon was indeed oversized owing to the spinner wheels and handle! The ‘DREW’ with a broad smile of having caught the ‘terrorist’ bag ran to the check in counter and whispered rather loudly that this bag should not be allowed as cabin luggage. The poor girl at the counter remorsefully looked at us and explained that the carryon luggage was rather large and we will have to check it in by paying Rs14000/-! The ‘DREW’ was overjoyed!  Our continued pleas yielded no results and finally we went to one of those ‘infamously’ expensive luggage shops at the terminal and ended buying a bag which would pass the BA frame test for an exorbitant sum of nearly 5000/- Indian rupees. Here again both my wife’s and a number of my credit/debit cards had to be repeatedly tried owing to an obsolete card swiping machine. Anyway why does BA care? The ‘DREW’ had just saved BA from possible doom by making us pay! DREW’S  are a special breed of ‘Indian’ employees whose sole purpose in life is to serve their white employers by being rude, discriminatory and abrasive to all fellow countrymen who are primarily Indian passengers. Believe me! They derive great pleasure in doing this every day and all over the world! Why? Simple! Just to prove their unconditional loyalty to their white employers. Though in all probabilities the ‘whites’ are having great fun and entertainment at the expense of these ‘DREWS’. Anyway after 1 hour of agony as we had to transfer all content to the new bag, recall our driver to take back the ‘failed’ frame test bag etc. Believe me if I had had the proper tools I would have willingly broken the wheels and handle and taken the original bag in! BA should think on lines of leaving a tool box next to the luggage ‘guillotine’ frame! Once on board we were served with a special ‘lacto ovo’ meal (which in my opinion was a big mistake on our part to have ordered in the first place). BA does take things too literally and probably in their overzealousness to please the customer fully this meal was one ‘eggy’ plate filled with bland food and insipid spinach! Overall BA food is definitely below international standards. Anyways let bygones be bygones! After spending a few pleasant though chilly days in London with my daughter who is doing her masters in the U.K we boarded another BA flight and reached Houston! This part of the journey was rather uneventful by BA standards! Let me also add that both my other daughters have also completed their masters in the U.K and we have a handful of lovely British friends!

Let me now get to the most harrowing part or to put in proper perspective – ‘A nightmare BA experience’! My wife and I boarded the BA flight 35 on Dec 30 from Houston after a 40 min delay. We ended up reaching London Heathrow late. We were further stuck inside the plane for nearly 30 min or so due to a shortage of ground transportation to take us to terminal 5 to catch our flight to Chennai. At the terminal we still had about 30 min to catch our flight if only the BA staff inside the aircraft or the ground staff had guided us properly! But BA does not care a damn! While waiting inside the aircraft the two rather aged but experienced airhostesses with I pad in hand had no clue whatsoever about the departure status of our flight to Chennai. They somehow had info on most other connecting flights and were advising other passengers on the modus operandi after they finally got out of the aircraft but alas we two poor ‘Indians’ going to Chennai was left high and dry! With a few cursory words of solace ringing in our ears that the ground staff will take care of us we alighted from the aircraft. But after a long trek tired and exhausted. Mind you my wife was severely impaired by back pain owing to her recent back bone fracture and yours truly also happens to be a chronic asthma patient. We both are also past our mid fifties!  We even avoided using the rest room in fear of missing our connecting flight to Chennai! Anyways we finally reached the terminal and found that not one of the few available BA crew (small name tags) had any idea of how to handle our situation except being curtly shooed on to next BA staff and finally when we reached the ‘home’ security gate we were dismayed to see a long queue standing ahead of us. We by now were desperate as we hardly had 20 mins to reach our gate to board our flight to Chennai. We looked around and to our utter bad luck spotted another BA ground staff this time a girl ‘DREW’! We explained our situation as calmly as possible and requested that our security clearance be speeded up. And what was her reaction! ‘Pl don’t shout! We are only trying to help you! ‘Believe me! My wife and I had very little energy to even explain our ordeal leave alone shout! Then the ‘DREW’ continued her rude tirade ‘Show me your boarding passes. Stunned to silence we meekly hand over our boarding pass and she hardly glanced at it and put it mildly retorts ‘Why didn’t you come` to me earlier? As if to say - ‘Were you guys sleeping all along! Don’t you know that all of us ‘DREWS’ are waiting eagerly to help you usher you to your aircraft! To put it in typical 'desi' term “Kya aap loag Jakh Maar rahe thei kya!” (The ‘DREW’ in this case looked like a North Indian 2^nd generation ‘desi’ showing off to the whole world her superiority over her poor native Indian countrymen. Wow! Really impressive performance! I am sure BA would have promoted her by the time we reached Chennai! The she looks at the computer and brusquely informs us ‘Look nothing can be done now. (Points to the reservation counters) Go there they will ‘try’ to help you’ She then glares at us by now open mouthed ‘minions’ as if to say are u still here! I have already dismissed you! Pl get out of my sight! Tired and totally disgusted with BA ‘DREWS’ callous and bloody irresponsible attitude we trudged our way to the reservation counter. Here we at last found a friendly BA ground staff in Ms Kalsum Khan who must have frankly been appalled and puzzled by the way we were being treated by our own brethren and tried her best to get us to Chennai asap! Finally we decided that the best option was to take the next day’s flight to Chennai. This meant that we had to stay overnight in London! With no warm clothing or even a fresh set of clothes or even toiletries as they were filled with a few fragile gifts to friends and these days even toothpaste tubes, and after shave and razors not being allowed in carryon’s. (More so as our Chennai ‘DREW’ had effectively off loaded our slightly bigger carry on in Chennai!)  We literally dragged ourselves to the bus terminal to catch a shuttle to our hotel (Courtesy BA).

My wife was literally freezing to death in the cold while waiting at the bus stop! As I had mentioned earlier she was also suffering from severe back pain! BA could care less! It is now a case of survival of the fittest at Heathrow! Even HOBO’S are treated with more concern and dignity! But BA cares a damn! All they care for is the ‘colour’ of your currency! No wonder their passenger traffic has fallen. Their planes are rattle traps literally falling apart! (In fact their luggage compartments seldom remain shut throughout the journey. The TV sets swings downward and you have to hold them manually in place to be entertained). Their food pathetic! Even the Salvation Army provides better food!

And beware! At the ‘Sheraton’ the receptionist treats all ‘Indian’ BA delayed passengers as rejects! You are better off paying with hard cash than with the BA voucher dole outs!  We were so tired and overslept but when we went down and requested for lunch they simply said the lunch vouchers were no longer valid as the time to serve lunch had elapsed! Our request- At least s sandwich please! The reply – Yes! But you have to pay for it! Once again tired and now hungry we barely made it to our room which is in the furthermost corner of the hotel. Obviously reserved exclusively for BA rejects! We finally came down again at 5pm (as informed) to stake our claim for dinner but were asked to wait for half hour when finally a scowling DREW (‘desi’ girl) ushered us to a table. At this point the restaurant manger (By the way the restaurant manger is another Indian ‘DREW’) loudly commented to the scowling waitress fellow ‘DREW’ that we should not be served food over 18 pounds as that happens to be BA’s food quota to all and sundry discards like us who have the mis’fortune’ of missing BA flights! Finally do not ever watch listed movies in the room as you will be charged another 10 pounds per movie. After a harrowing night as both me and my wife could not sleep after all the trauma and physical pain we had been subjected to thus woke up at 6.30am to once again catch a bus to Heathrow standing in the freezing -2degree cold my wife without any warm clothing. Finally after getting our 10 pound breakfast coupons once again from Ms.  Kalsum Khan who at this time manning one of the counters at Zone E we made our way to the cafeteria and then on to our gate to board our flight! Though the flight was flying empty with hardly 90 passengers BA and even then it never occurred to BA to bump us to a higher class which is what any decent airline would have done considering what we had to put up with because of BA! Sir, I have over the years travelled world over and flown Lufthansa, Air-India, Cathay Pacific, Etihad, Qatar, Sri Lankan Airlines Jet Airways and for that matter even BA to name a few but have never experienced this kind of derogatory and offensive treatment from at any point in time!

Footnote: Sangeetha the airhostess from Chennai and Mark the flight purser of BA were the only other BA staff who made our return flight bearable and pleasant. If not this article would have been more scathing and filled with profanity! 

Moral of the story: Never fly British Airways! If you still dare to do so pack your own food, carry a bag that will pass the frame test! And most importantly of all never ever approach a ‘DREW’ for help! And don’t worry you can easily spot them! 1. They are Desi’s 2. They will smile and be courteous to whites but 3. Will scowl and be offensive to all brown skinned fellow Indians – These are the true ‘Indian’ racists of free INDIA! Jai Hind!

Until Next Time

Director Haricharan

3/1/2015