British Airways turns away mum and 10-week-old baby from flight at the gate

Suzy Pope, her husband Mark and 10-week-old daughter Maeve were travelling to Mallorca for a holiday with friends, but say they were told they had been placed on a reserve list

A mum has slammed British Airways for the alleged mistreatment of her family during what was to be their inaugural family getaway.

Suzy Pope, a travel journalist by profession, had her plans thrown into disarray when upon arrival at Edinburgh Airport at 5am on October 5, with baby Maeve and spouse Mark in tow, they were informed the flight to Mallorca was overbooked and they were on standby.

Despite being early birds, securing their arrival several hours before their scheduled departure, the Popes faced the frustration of uncertainty as they were instructed to pass security to await further news at the gate post-pre-boarding. Hopes were momentarily high when they learnt of 'three spare seats' - exactly one more than they needed.

However, the relief was short-lived; after an agonising 20-minute wait filled with staff confusion at the gate, it became official: they wouldn't make it on board, their plane destined to take off without them. Since this debacle, BA has issued an apology to Suzy and her clan, promising rectification, reports Edinburgh Live.

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Standing by their annual tradition, albeit with a new addition, Suzy recounted booking the trip well in advance, stating, "We booked the holiday before I fell pregnant as soon as BA released the direct flights. We book it every year as I love to hike and my husband cycles but we thought it would also be the perfect place for our first holiday so we added our daughter to the flight as soon as we could."

"As a travel journalist the logistics of travelling do not phase me. I always make sure everything is done properly and in the past I found BA to be mostly reliable. We had some reward points left so decided to book in business class. When we arrived the lady at the BA desk told us we would be on stand-by and that our luggage, bike and baby items would need to go at the side of the plane.

"If we were allowed to board then they would be put on the plane. If not then we would need to collect them domestically. It was a shock as I thought being a young family with a baby we would not have been put on stand-by. We had also been in contact three or four times with BA prior to flying to book all the various elements and I could not book our seats but was reassured this was nothing to worry about."

"My suspicion now is we must have been in an emergency exit and when we added our child it caused an issue. But this was never raised with us and we were told everything was fine."

Suzy's family went through security and headed to the boarding gate, where they had to wait while everybody else boarded.

"This is when alarm bells started ringing. I travel a lot for work and felt it would not leave us with a lot of time to sort out any admin so I did not think we were going to get on the flight. Suddenly a lady said three seats were available and we rejoiced, even joking to those around us that we only really needed two. She disappeared for about 20 minutes and we started to become concerned again but were told they were carrying out some checks and not to worry," she said.

"But all of a sudden the woman returned and said sorry we would not be boarding. So we were left in complete limbo for a while."

What irked the Pope's was that they had a friend on the flight, who they were supposed to share a transfer with, who claimed the flight lay on the tarmac for some time as they claimed there was a discrepancy with passenger numbers. Stranded at Edinburgh Airport with their 10-week-old, Suzy and Mark approached the BA desk.

They were informed that their only options would include a five hour stopover in Munich or to fly to London to Madrid to Palma, going through security three times, in order to get to Mallorca on Saturday 5.

"When something goes wrong at an airport you normally know when it's your fault but we did everything right. We booked it so far in advance, added all the right things, paid all the extras and still did not get on that flight. We told them we were more than happy to sit in economy. We just wanted to get to Mallorca," Suzy continued,

"Our friend told us the flight left with empty seats which doesn't make sense for BA. My partner fed the baby while he waited for our luggage while I tried to work something out. The options we were given were not appropriate for travelling with a baby. Having to stop over for five hours or go through security three times, having the formula checked and baby disturbed, would have been too much.

"They tried to tell me the only other option would be to travel on Monday but due to my job I knew there were flights with other providers. They agreed to compensate us for any new flights we booked through another company. So we booked the 6.30pm flight to Palma through easyJet. But this meant we had to get taxis home before returning to the airport."

Suzy is seeking compensation for the way her family was treated. The couple ended up shelling out an additional £750 to book their bike box and extra luggage, as well as spending over £100 on taxis to and from Edinburgh Airport. On top of this, they had to arrange new transport to take them to their villa in Mallorca after missing their initial transfer.

"It was a drastic way to miss a flight. This is the worst experience I have had travelling with them. Travelling with a tiny baby you are already anxious about how they will cope on the flight but it never once crossed my mind we would not be allowed to board the plane. I'm not sure I would travel with BA again if there is another viable option," she added.

"The idea you can show up at the airport on time, do everything right and still not get on the plane really puts me off. The experience brought me to tears. It never once felt like they were really trying to help us out of the situation, it felt like everyone was flailing and every member of staff was more concerned about how they would look out of the situation. We just wanted someone to tell us how we could get to Mallorca."

Suzy, Mark and Maeve have since landed safely in Mallorca.

A BA spokesperson said: "We're really sorry for our customer's experience, and we're contacting them to apologise and put things right."