By Pritha Paul, International Business Times
A British Airways passenger who found out that his business class seat on the flight was soaked in urine, after sitting on it, said he is planning to sue the airline company for the “disgusting” and “disappointing” experiencing.
Andy Vicary, 52, was on his way from Gloucester, England, to Kingston, Jamaica, when this happened. With a glass of champagne in his hand, Vicary told Fox News, he was about to settle down for the 10-hour-long journey in what looked like a comfortable business class seat, next to his wife, when he discovered a certain dampness.
"We were on board the plane and made our way to our seats and so I sat down with a glass of Champagne and thought this is brilliant. Then I noticed that the pillow that I was sat on was a little damp and I stood up and then so were my trousers," he said.
"I turned the pillow over and you could see that the pillow and the entire seat was saturated in urine. The cabin crew tried to take the seat cover off and it was disgusting as it had soaked right through,” he added.
As a result, Vicary was forced to switch seats, spending the rest of the flight on a seat far away from his wife. Having sat on the urine also ruined his 150 pounds (about $194) Armani trousers.
"The cabin crew put my trousers in a plastic bag, but I was not able to wash them on holiday as there are no clothes washing facilities, so when I got back I just had to throw them in the bin,” he said.
Vicary also alleged that the experience also disrupted his 5,000 pounds (about $6,483) dream holiday as a number of passengers on the plane, staying at the same resort as him and his wife, kept on approaching him throughout the vacation asking about the incident.
Although Vicary approached the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR), saying that being offered 40,000 air miles by British Airways was not enough compensation, his claim was dismissed.
"The lady at British Airways who dealt with the complaint was very nice and everything, but I really do not think that they were right to offer me air miles. For me, it just didn't seem enough to compensate what had happened. But as CEDR were then dealing with the complaint from then on, they eventually deemed British Airways had offered a sufficient amount of compensation," he said.
Vicary added he still felt he was wronged by the airline company and was “going to take this to the small claims court to see if anything else can be done.”
A British Airways spokesperson agreed with CEDR’s decision, saying in a statement: "We apologized to Mr. Vicary, moved him to another seat and offered him and his wife enough Avios for an upgrade to business class the next time they fly with us. The independent dispute adjudicator CEDR found that we acted fairly and reasonably in this case and dismissed the claim against us."
