A BEAstly Journey SIR,—Mr Ludovic Kennedy asks whether BEA, The
Line that Leaves You Behind, has a Chief Public Relations Officer. Yes, sir, it has: it also has a Cus- tomer Relations Manager, a Passenger Relations Officer, and a Manager of the Correspondence De- partment, all of whom wrote to me, or spoke to-me on the telephone, when I complained about my being left behind in Paris, and not one of whom gave the same explanation as was given by yet another func- tionary—this one was styled a Press Officer--to whom your Leslie Adrian spoke about the incident.
As you see, sir, there are plenty of BEA spokes- men : it would not surprise me if eventually they out- numbered the passengers, who must surely soon be declining in number. All that does surprise me is that the public has taken so long to tumble to what Mr Kennedy refers to as BEA's Inefficiency and lack of consideration for passengers.' It is four years since I filled in one of those 'comment cards' that used to be given (are they still?) to every passenger for his complaints and suggestions, and waited twenty-two days for one of the balls of fire in the Public Rela- tions Department to write and say that he was dealing with it 'at once.' Needless to say, he did not deal with it even then.
Mr Kennedy writes, 'Any other self-respecting organisation, faced with such detailed charges, would by now have had its Chief Public Relations Officer either deny the charges or give some explanation. .. Why should he suppose that the Chief Public Rela- flints Officer of BEA, The Line that Leaves You Behind, is in a position to deny the charges, or that any explanation he gave would hold water? Why, for that matter, does he suppose that BEA is a self- respecting organisation?
CYRIL RAY
Kenthurst House, Rolvenden, Kent
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