BA accused of downplaying toxic fume risk following flight diversion
British Airways has been accused by the largest cabin crew union of downplaying potentially harmful fume events onboard aircraft after the airline described last week’s diversion of a London-bound BA flight as an ‘odour event’.
In fact, Unite – which represents more than 20,000 cabin crew – claims toxic fumes entered the cabin of the A380, causing vomiting among crew members, who were forced to put on oxygen masks. The flight from San Francisco was forced to land in Vancouver, where staff were taken to hospital.
According to Unite, BA has described the incident on flight BA286 on October 25 as an ‘odour event’, despite the pilots informing air traffic control that they were experiencing ‘toxic fumes, toxic-gas like fumes’.
The union claims a second ‘fume event’ occurred the following day on board another British Airways flight, BA 269 from Heathrow to Los Angeles, which it said the airline had also dismissed as an ‘odour event’.
"Unite understands that a full fume drill was performed on the flight deck, which would have involved crew putting on oxygen masks," said the union in a release.
Unite is calling for a public inquiry into cabin air quality and on the Civil Aviation Authority to release figures on fume incidents and investigate how airlines classify ‘fume events’.
The union is also urging those who have been involved in a fume event to record it on Unite’s dedicated fume register or phone its hotline number 03330 146569.
Unite director of legal services Howard Beckett said: "It is clear from all the reports we’ve received and the exchanges between the flight deck and air traffic control that the incident on board the diverted BA flight from San Francisco to London Heathrow was more serious than a mere ‘odour event’.
"Downplaying serious toxic fume events on board aircraft as ‘odour events’ smacks of spin and an attempt to manipulate official statistics to downplay how widespread the problem really is in the industry."
However, BA told the Guardian that the designation did not mean incidents were not reported to the CAA. A BA spokeswoman said: "Safety is always our priority. There has been no change in the way in which we investigate reports of this nature.
"We continue to conduct thorough and detailed investigations which we share with the CAA. We always encourage our people to report any potential incident to allow us to investigate them."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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