Pippa Britton, who has competed in archery at the Beijing and London Olympics, arrived at London Heathrow airport on April 13 to be told by BA staff that her wheelchair had not arrived with her. After admitting that the bespoke wheelchair had been lost, British Airways employees assured Pippa that they were doing their “level best” to relocate it.
In frustration, she tweeted about the fiasco, saying: “My custom made wheelchair has been lost by @british_airways @heathrowairport Please RT if you think this is unacceptable.”
Within an hour, the problem had reached something of a resolution, with Pippa tweeting that her wheelchair had been found in Switzerland, having been loaded on to the wrong aircraft.
“Good news! My wheelchair has been located. Bad news! It is in Geneva!” she wrote.
After some time, British Airways arranged for the wheelchair to be flown back to Heathrow and returned to the Paralympian, who was reunited with her chair after a few hours.
Pippa was surprisingly positive about the experience afterwards, tweeting: “One supervisor wouldn't go off shift until she knew I was OK, someone else tried to help when I was in tears. People can be brilliant.”
Of course, Pippa’s prominence in the public eye may have contributed to the swift resolution of the problem. Unfortunately for Athena Stevens, whose wheelchair was damaged beyond repair last October when she flew with BA to London City airport, there has not been such a rapid resolution. She is yet to receive a replacement and the case remains open a full six months later.
