Transport / Loganair says NHS patients are ‘always prioritised’ when flights are disrupted
LOGANAIR says it “always prioritises NHS patients” if flights are disrupted.
The airline’s assertion comes after members of the NHS Shetland board heard a patient experience story on Tuesday involving the premature birth of a baby three and a half years ago.
Ann Thomson said the NHS had organised for her to fly to Aberdeen to hospital, but her early morning Loganair flight was delayed and then cancelled.
However, she said she was not able to get onto the next flight, as it was full, with the patient only getting to fly later on that day.
Thomson, who gave birth shortly after arriving in Aberdeen, questioned in hindsight whether she should have had priority for the trip which followed the cancelled flight.
In response, a spokesperson for Loganair said the airline always prioritises NHS patient travellers when flights are disrupted.
“This includes priority for re-accommodation on subsequent flights and ensuring that any particular needs, such as arranging separate transport to overnight hotel accommodation, are fully attended to,” they said.
The spokesperson said that in the following three years “we have opened a dedicated pre-flight lounge facility at Aberdeen for NHS patient travellers, introduced new flight information updates and accessible boarding ramps, and our overall service reliability and punctuality is the strongest of any UK regional airline”.
“That doesn’t mean that disruptions won’t occur from time to time, yet we are absolutely confident that all customers and most particularly our NHS patient travellers will be kept fully informed and looked after in such circumstances,” they added.
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