A British Airways passenger travelling first class has described how he woke up on a long-haul flight to find that cabin crew had placed a corpse in his row.

The body of a woman in her seventies, who died after the plane left Delhi for Heathrow, was carried by cabin staff from economy to first class, where there was more space. Her body was propped up in a seat, using pillows.

The woman’s daughter accompanied the corpse, and spent the rest of the journey wailing in grief.

Paul Trinder, who awoke to see the body at the end of his row, last week described the journey as “deeply disturbing”, and complained that the airline dismissed his concerns by telling him to “get over it”.

“It was a complete mess — they seemed to have no proper plans in place to deal with the situation,” said Trinder, 54, a businessman from Brackley, Northamptonshire.

Doesn’t that seem familiar?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1530572.ece

Not satisfied with offending a huge number of people across the world with their cross ban and losing £80 million in revenue last month when more than 100,000 passengers defected to rival airlines to avoid strike action, British Airways have now implemented a drastic baggage policy which could see the elderly and infirm pay a huge, surprise amount to place luggage in the hold.

This new policy, reported today in the Daily Telegraph, means that people who have been advised to travel with lighter bags, typically the elderly and infirm, will have to pay £120 to store bags in the hold.

Bizarrely, items usually carried by young and fit people such as golf clubs, scuba diving equipment, skis and bicycles are not covered by the excess bag rule. Even more bizarrely, BA states that the notice of the increase can be found on their website, not a place usually visited by older people. Only 35% of people over 55 are using the internet, according to the Office of National Statistics.

We at BA Boycott would have thought that British Airways would steer away from any controversy, for a short while at least.

This latest PR disaster proves that the distance between BA management and their PR department can be regarded as a ‘near miss’ at best. The number of emails we’ve had regarding this seems to indicate a rising disatisfaction amongst the general public.

British Airways has changed its uniform policy to allow staff to wear a “symbol of faith” in the wake of a row over its decision to ban a Christian worker from displaying a cross.

The U-turn, which will permit staff to wear a religious symbol on a chain or lapel pin, came after Nadia Eweida, a Christian check-in worker, was told she could not wear a necklace bearing a small cross over her uniform.

Miss Eweida, 55, had refused to go to work at Heathrow Airport and was offered a non-uniformed job where she could wear the cross. She rejected this and launched an appeal against BA’s decision, which she lost last November.

Miss Eweida said today she had not received any formal notification from BA about the change to its policy, but said she was “elated” that the airline had changed its position.

Full story : Telegraph : http://tinyurl.com/2sjed4

The letter “X” soon may be banned in Saudi Arabia because it resembles the mother of all banned religious symbols in the oil kingdom: the cross.

The new development came with the issuing of another mindbending fatwa, or religious edict, by the infamous Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice — the group of senior Islamic clergy that reigns supreme on all legal, civil, and governance matters in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The commission’s damning of the letter “X” came in response to a Ministry of Trade query about whether it should grant trademark protection to a Saudi businessman for a new service carrying the English name “Explorer.”

“No! Nein! Nyet!” was the commission’s categorical answer.

Why?

Well, never mind that none of the so-called scholars manning the upper ranks of the religious outfit can speak or read a word of English. But their experts who examined the English word “explorer” were struck by how suspicious that “X” appeared. In a kingdom where Friday preachers routinely refer to Christians as pigs and infidel crusaders, even a twisted cross ranks as an abomination.

The whole baffling story : http://tinyurl.com/vookh

A school provoked fury last night by ordering a devout Catholic schoolgirl to remove her cross necklace because it posed a health and safety risk.

Teachers demanded Samantha Devine remove her chain and tiny crucifix despite allowing Muslim and Sikh pupils to wear symbols of their religion.

Her family have vowed to fight the decision “all the way” claiming it discriminates against Christians.

The case mirrors the row which engulfed British Airways and forced the airline into an embarrassing climbdown after it threatened to sack an employee who insisted on wearing her cross at work.

thisislondon.co.uk : http://tinyurl.com/uvy4z

Nobody should accuse Martin Broughton of ducking a fight. Presented with an opportunity to put a direct question to Tony Blair at the CBI’s annual conference little more than a month ago, the chairman of British Airways asked the Prime Minister if he thought that BA had suffered unfair criticism for not allowing an employee to wear a cross outside her uniform.The banning of Nadia Eweida from wearing a small cross had ignited a national row, provoking anger among clergy, politicians and passengers. Boycotts were threatened and BA was accused of acutely poor judgment at a time when religion was moving higher up the political agenda.

Times online : http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,16849-2535914,00.html

British Airways may allow its staff to wear New Age crystals if it lifts its ban on the cross, it emerged last night.

Lawyers for the airline are worried that giving the go-ahead to the cross could open the floodgates to demands from other faith groups.

But BA advisers have also warned that if the company allows staff to wear traditional Christian symbols then non-religious emblems would be permitted.

Daily Mail : http://tinyurl.com/yjxeh5