YOU PAYS YOUR MONEY & YOU TAKE YOUR CHANCES

This Christmas we are seeing a repeat of the lack of consideration that is offered to their clients by Big Business ! Whenever and wherever you have paid for a service too many times the organisation takes the attitude that you can FIGHT as hard as you are able to get recognition and perhaps reimbursement for the inconvenience you have suffered for failure to receive the standard of treatment you anticipated when paying out. Compensation rights are definitely unlikely to be even considered in the current climate.

Airlines and Airport Authorities are currently pointing the finger at each other and the passenger (meat in the sandwich) suffers. CNN , BBC , RT.com ,et al are interviewing and broadcasting the comments of stranded passengers, fortunately there is monitoring/editing so that we do not see those who would decry the pathetic efforts of the management teams of those facilities that create the mayhem that the travellers are suffering.

Moscow Airports suffered from Power Outages and we are entertained with Video of passengers expressing their dissatisfaction by beating up a storm on whatever came to hand. There were further reports of staff being abused and roughed up , also they stormed through the Passport Control Area, something we are not hearing take place in the UK & USA thankfully.

Why is it that when things go awry there is no one able or prepared to assist with information that those inconvenienced can put to use. Seems to me that losing your seat because the flight is cancelled is not the passengers fault and certainly does not deserve being told to leave and rebook by the internet or through the telephone. So many of the passengers are in transit with the same airline when they receive this off hand behaviour, it is the same airline so there is no excuse to leave their client sleeping in a terminal without food, water or facilities. When there are several airlines involved then there should be just as much consideration of the passengers needs.

Hearing that passengers were turned out of a terminal building in London Heathrow because the staff wanted to go home was typical of the lack of consideration afforded those stranded by the airport staff, not only that but they were told they had to go to the other terminal after security had already been advised NOT to allow in any that were not flying with Airlines departing from that Terminal that day. In the middle of the night passengers were left standing in the street with nowhere to go and no shelter through no fault of their own. How many of these unfortunates were women, children or even “Disabled passengers”?

Health and Safety issues it appears do not apply to International Flights so having flown for several hours from outside the USA passengers are then welcomed with delays of several hours caused by waiting to move from the runways to deplaning facilities at the terminal. Can you imagine how many of these passengers are then caused to miss their connections and thus will have to rebook somehow and endure some of the inconvenience that tens of thousands are already enduring. Deep Vein Thrombosis is a deadly health event and is most likely caused by air travel and the lack of movement over long periods of sitting. Hardly likely the Airline Staff will allow people to wander around the aircraft to loosen up their limbs and restore circulation . Having had 6 months of recovery from Embolisms caused by lack of movement coupled with possible dehydration I think there are going to be an increase of health issues for those travelling this year. Doctors will likely save some of those lucky enough to consult but too often people are unaware of the symptoms and carry on until they collapse. I went 4 days with severe pain before seeking treatment thinking I had a pinched nerve whilst actually suffering pneumonia and the scans then turned up the embolisms lodged in the lungs.

When i wonder if i am being unkind to those working in the airline industry i only have to think about what Putin , the Russian Prime Minister is saying about the Russian Airport Situation. Maybe Cameron will bite the bullet and get on with acting against those responsible for the continuing difficulties British Air travellers are experiencing.

Another entertaining situation was continous reporting on CNN of a broken down Mass Transit bus either propulsion problem or just unable to get unstuck on a corner in down town New York. Perhaps not so amusing to the owner was a Snow Plough that was pulled out of a problem but continued to crash into a parked SUV until that was also forced into impacting another parked car.

When this continuing fiasco ends I hope there will be International Legislation to protect the rights of the passenger. Meanwhile I have no plans to fly anywhere soon.

Whilst all this bad weather is hitting the northern hemisphere , Australia is now being saturated by a cyclone and Queensland is being flooded in various areas and this looks a lot more severe than earlier floods in Victoria and Sth NSW during December.

Happy New Year to all .