Dear Britirh Airways

11 LonglandsRd New Mills STOCKPORT Cheshire SK12 3BL 26th March 1994 British Airways Heathrow Airport Hounslow Middlesex           Dear British Airways           I feel I must write to you about an incident which occurred when I recently 'Flew the flag' with BA. At the check-in desk your girl informed a passenger that his baggage was almost a kilogram overweight. Being a couple of places in the queue behind the passenger I wasn't close enough to catch the entire conversation - probably a charge for excess baggage was mooted - but the upshot was that the passenger then opened his suitcase, produced two half-kilogram blocks of chocolate, and proceeded to eat them, thus rendering his baggage acceptable. As chance would have it I was seated next to the passenger in question on the aeroplane. All went without incident until about halfway through the flight when the passenger was suddenly violently sick, splattering my suede Hush Puppies and completely ruining them. The reason for his illness is not certain - possibly the meal that we had been served half-an-hour previously had something to do with it as I noticed that several people left it - although personally I found it quite acceptable, although I didn't eat the pink thing which smelled of fish. (It must be said however that your catering is way below the standard reached by Air 2000. You would do well to try to get their recipe for lasagne.) However, I prefer to think that the cause of the passenger's biliousness was that the vast amount of chocolate he had consumed prior to getting on the aeroplane. The above incident raises three points:- (a) Your check-in girl causing the passenger to eat the chocolate was futile to say the least, since the total weight of the passenger and his baggage was precisely the same both before and after he ate the chocolate. (b) The passenger only weighed about nine stones. I myself weigh close to eighteen stones and I am quite sure that my weight added to my baggage was greater than the passenger's weight added to his baggage, so your system is clearly unfair. (c) If either (a) or (b) had been taken into consideration, and any degree of common sense had been applied, the passenger would have been allowed onto the aeroplane without being coerced into eating the chocolate, and he would not have thrown up on my Hush Puppies. I would appreciate your comments on the above before I take further action. Yours faithfully T Ravenscroft (Mr)