A tuna sandwich could have averted the loss of US$ 2 million potential business
As described by Matthew Novet:He was returning to New York from a business trip in London. It was an early evening flight. While waiting passengers were told the plane was having a problem with the Automatic Fueling System, but that it should be fixed shortly. An hour later, they were informed that they could not fix it and were fueling the plane manually.
Another hour or so passes before Matthew and fellow passengers were allowed to board the plane. They then sat at the gate for a while before the plane taxied away from it for a short distance, before been informed that due to the prior delays, the planes pilot’s “hours had expired” and he could not fly that evening. No other crew was available. So, the plane taxied back to the gate.
As some of you may know, since 1960, Heathrow Airport closes every night, as a result the entire plane load of passengers returned to a locked gate. They then had to wait for another hour or so until someone could be found to unlock the gate and let the passengers re-enter the now dark and empty terminal. The flight crew soon disappeared and the 400 or so people on the plane were left with a single British Airways ground representative who told them that we would be’ bused’ to a nearby hotel for the night.
After waiting in the dark hall for another hour or so several buses arrived and the driver of the bus Matthew got into asks where they were going. No one had a clue so the driver tries to find someone to tell him. Eventually the passengers arrive at the hotel that BA uses as a training facility for their flight crews and has a strong business relationship with the hotel. 400 people try to check in with one hotel employee and one trainee behind the desk. Hours pass and when the passengers ask about food they are told that the hotel restaurant chef left when he saw all of them arrive. Huh?
Matthew claims, “No food since lunch the prior day. I eventually get to a room, sleep for a couple of hours, and get up at 5:00 AM to get on the bus back to the airport. This is before the hotel restaurants open, so still no food. We get to Heathrow, get on the same plane we got off the day before, and fly to New York. It was originally a Friday evening flight. I was in no particular rush to get home as I had no Saturday plans. All they really needed to do was feed me. They did not. Nor did they offer compensation of any kind.”
He goes on to say, “My revenge: As I said, this was a business trip. I worked for a major New York bank and had a team of 18 people on a long-term project going back and forth from London about twice a month. They would continue doing this for the next 24 months. The Business Class fare was about $2,500. So that’s 864 flights at $2,500 each totals about $2 million dollars. I told my team that they were not to fly BA unless no other option was available. BA lost $2 million dollars in revenue for not getting me a tuna sandwich.”
Matthew Novet was Vice President of JP Morgan Chase Bank in New York having worked at the bank, between 1986 and 2007.
Hospitality Sri Lanka
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