A LAWYER claims British Airways ruined his family’s £15,000 first class trip after staff took over five hours to fit a baby seat.
Antonio Michaelides flew from London to Dubai with his wife and baby daughter for a trip that combined work with a family holiday.
But the 35-year-old from London says his daughter, Sofi, five months, couldn’t sleep for most of the seven-hour journey because of what he called a “s*** show” by cabin crew.
He claims staff took an hour to find a special table on which to place the seat and a further 30 minutes to locate the seat itself.
There followed, according to Antonio, a four-hour pantomime as they tried to fit the two together and make sure they were secure.
All the while, little Sofi was forced to sit upright and was missing out on vital sleep as she was passed between Antonio and Sonia, 33.
Antonio, an employment and benefits law specialist with London firm Covington & Burling, raged on social media: “On a recent flight with @British_Airways, it took their cabin crew over 90 minutes to reach the point in the first photo and almost four hours to (insecurely) fit an infant seat (which is unsafe for babies under six months) as per the other photos.”
The images show a heavy white board with hooks and straps to attach the seat .
The next image, according to Antonio, shows the seat has not been properly pushed into the pole fitting.
Antonio says that at one point during their supposedly luxurious flight, there were four members of the crew in first class trying to install the seat.
He says a doctor in first class eventually pointed out to the crew the baby needed to be lying down flat as it was not healthy for her to be upright for this period of time.
He said today: “The point is quite simply that the cabin crew had no idea where the infant seat was and therefore took an unreasonable amount of time to find it.”
Antonio said it was essential for health reasons for his baby daughter to be able to lay down flat.
“But 4.5 hours into the flight we were still not able to keep our daughter in the infant seat. That is what was a health and safety risk.
“We would have been better flying economy. The whole thing was a complete s*** show.”
Sources at British Airways strongly deny the baby’s health and safety was put at risk.
Insiders have also challenged Antonio’s claim that finding and assembling the board and baby seat took over five hours.
A spokeswoman for British Airways said: “Safety of our customers – however small – is at the heart of all we do.
“That’s why we offer both seats and cots which are suitable for use from birth, and they are extensively tested by the manufacturer and aviation authorities before we use them on board.
“Our crew are trained in the safe fitting of these seats across of all of our cabins, and we board families with infants early as we know parents value the extra time to settle in.”
