On arriving at Owen Roberts International Airport yesterday evening I discovered to my horror, that all British Airways computer systems were down and staff were doing a manual check in, which were taking 10 minutes per passenger, and there was a great deal of frantic writing taking place behind the counter. On top of all this the air conditioner was really not cooling.
On the morning of December 5th, having just got through to British Airways on an 800 number I am told that we will be departing this evening at 9.55 PM.
In speaking to the Captain prior to departure I was informed that the Exhaust Gas Temperature Monitor was giving incorrect reading, and no spare in Nassau, and had to be flown on from Miami and specialized brought tool from UK.
To compound the engineering problems the lack of computers caused many more hours of delay on the ramp both in Grand Cayman and in Nassau as ground staff struggled to reconcile the hand made passenger manifest with the actual numbers on the aircraft. It was not resolved in Grand Cayman until a passenger reminded the ground staff that some passengers that were listed as being on the original BA 252 (from the 4/12/2012) had in fact left on the BA 252 (of 5/12/2012) that did in fact leave on time.
This type of service for a major airline in the year 2012 is utterly inexcusable. Having a computer system fail in Grand Cayman and Nassau, with no back up system available for emergency use is unbelievable.
I shall do everything possible not to travel on British Airways in future. I shall also be lobbying for a suitable competitor airline to replace British Airways on the London to Grand Cayman route.
