John Barrow has sent me this email below, as well as copying it to the airport management.
Maybe someone reading this knows who the manager is there so a formal complaint can be put against him.
My wife and I have just been evicted from the Airport Lounge at Funchal
I am 76 and quite severely disabled with heart disease which requires me to stay unstressed and calm, my wife is 71 with a knee injury which means that she needs assistance in walking long distances. We had booked airport assistance for both of us when we booked our holiday, back in January.
My Way , the assistance company at the airport have been wonderful throughout, courteous and compassionate.
Our return flight to Manchester was due to leave Funchal at 11:10 this morning but, on arrival at the airport, we were informed that our TUI flight was delayed for at least six hours and no actual departure time could be given.
No problem, we thought. I worked for BA for many years; we have travelled hundreds of thousands of miles by air and we’re quite philosophical about delays.
We also have Dragon Card membership which gives us access to airport lounges worldwide.
After checking in, a process facilitated by the MyWay staff, we were taken to the airport lounge at about 10:30 am and booked in, reassured that however long the delay, we would be comfortable. Since this airport doesn’t recognise Dragon passes anymore, we decided to pay. It cost us €76 in total but we decided it was with it for the freedom from stress and the comfort.
Imagine our utter disbelief when we were approached by the manager of the Lounge at 1330 hrs and told we had to vacate it, as we had outstayed our three hours. It wasn’t made clear to us at the time we paid the €76 , but there is a three hour limit to stays in the lounge.
The lounge is open until 2200 hrs and I pleaded with the manager asking if we could be allowed to remain due to our medical conditions, but he refused, pointing out some very small print on a framed notice on the reception desk listing Ts and Cs , including this three hour limit. Confusingly, the same notice mentions the purchase of a pass “for one day”.
I asked the unsympathetic manager for his name but he refused to give it to me and hid his ID card in his shirt. He rudely told he would start listening to me when I paid his wages. I pointed out that, by paying to use the Lounge, we were in fact paying his wages!
My wife is justifiably very hurt and upset ; she is suffering heart palpitations, whilst I am experiencing an angina attack due to getting angry with this petty bureaucrat and his lack of empathy and compassion. There were only two other pax in the Lounge and it would have been easy for him to waive the rule given the extenuating circumstances.
I am writing to you and copying in the airport operators in the hope that some adverse publicity will cause the airport company to reconsider their inflexible policies and retrain their managers to act independently, when faced with an unusual situation such as a long flight delay and disabled passengers. Also to stay polite and give their name when asked for it.