BA says sorry to passengers for Riyadh-London flight horror

The emergency physician at the King Khaled International Airport (KKIA) said Friday there were no injuries and just one woman complained of illness when an impromptu sit-in occurred on a grounded Heathrow-bound British Airways flight.
A British Airways 747 passenger airplane on Wednesday reported faulty wing flaps and was forced twice to return to KKIA. Passengers complained that they were left in the dark about the flight’s status. About 70 of the 300 passengers refused to exit the 747 aircraft.
The airlines apologized to passengers for the inconvenience and promised compensation, according to Sky News.
Passenger Dean Jones told the British tabloid Daily Mail there was “mayhem” as a BA worker tried to deal with more than 300 passengers while other ground crew allegedly “hid” in a back office.
“There was screaming and crying and we hit the runway with a massive bang,” he said. Jones told the online edition of the newspaper that passengers had to find their own accommodations, before being told to return to the airport at 3 a.m. for a flight on the same plane that finally departed at 8:45 a.m. But 30 minutes later the wing flaps again malfunctioned and the plane returned to the Riyadh airport. “This time people were even more frightened,” he reportedly said. “Women were crying. People were being sick.”
But Dr. Tanweer Alam, an emergency physician at the airport said any illnesses were exaggerated.
“We had one woman complaining of illness and complaining the plane was delayed 48 hours,” Alam said. “She had mild indigestion. She was in distress, but her vitals were all within normal limits.”
Alam said his office was working with British Airways and Saudi airport authorities to sort out the problems. But he said it’s unlikely that there will be any compensation for passengers.
A BA spokesman said on Saturday that “we apologize to customers for their experience, and we sent a replacement aircraft to fly them to the UK. Our customer service teams are contacting customers directly to offer compensation, expenses and complimentary tickets as a gesture of goodwill.
“The safety of our customers and crew is always our first concern and due to a technical problem, the decision was taken to return the aircraft to Riyadh. Our crew and customer service teams did everything they could to care for customers, and we provided overnight hotel accommodation.”