Traveler Andrew Wilkinson says that he requested to move, but was left in discomfort for the duration of the 11-hour British Airways flight.
A passenger on an 11-hour British Airways (BA) flight from London’s Heathrow Airport (LHR) has revealed that he was forced to sit in a urine-soaked seat for the duration of his journey to South Africa. Andrew Wilkinson, who was traveling from LHR to Cape Town on the 4th of August, related the details of the incident to the Daily Mirror.
“I got to my seat and saw that there was a wet patch. It was about the size of two decks of cards laid side by side. At first I thought it was water but the smell was so distinct it could only have been urine,” the 39-year-old IT consultant said.
“I told the stewardess and she smelt it and agreed it was wee [urine]. She said: ‘Sorry about that’. Then she went to the toilet and brought me seat wipes and told me to clean it up myself,” he added.
In light of his discomfort, Wilkinson said that he then requested to be moved to business class. The member of flight crew said that she would try to accommodate his request, but Wilkinson told the outlet that he remained in his wet seat for the rest of the journey.
“So I was left to sit in a urine-soaked seat for over 11 hours when I paid £1,242 ($1,601) for a return flight with BA. It was awful. By the end of the flight, I could feel it seeping into my jeans,” he said.
Wilkinson filed a complaint with the carrier over the incident, but was not happy with the compensation offered. “I was given 5,000 Avios points and I just do not think that is a good enough compensation for sitting in someone else’s wee for over 11 hours.”
Commenting on the situation, a spokesperson for the carrier was quoted as saying, “We were very concerned to hear about this and have been in touch with our customer to apologize and make amends. The cleanliness of our aircraft is of the utmost importance to us and our planes are cleaned thoroughly after every flight.”