Deaf British Airways worker breaks ground by following in his father's footsteps

26 April 2023 , 10:49

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Fredrick Da Costa is breaking new ground at BA

Fredrick Da Costa greeted the two passengers at check-in desk F15 in Heathrow Terminal 5 with a warm smile, before signing to Kelly, his interpreter for the day, "Hello, my name is Fredrick".

Fredrick, 22, was born deaf, but that did not deter him from following in the footsteps of his father, a British Airways ground operations agent for the past 15 years.

And by doing so he has become the first deaf customer experience agent to be employed by the UK flag carrier.

Since joining last October as an apprentice customer service agent he has successfully shown that being deaf is no barrier in his career path.

One of the highlights of his apprenticeship was helping to check in a deaf family, and he was excited to discover they could communicate in sign language.

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Marjorie Yue meets Fredrick, who is following in his father's footsteps

The 22-year-old is the first deaf customer experience agent to be employed by the UK flag carrier

In between shifts at Heathrow and studying for his level 2 customer service qualification, Fredrick finds time to coach children at Brentford FC Community Sports Trust.

A strong team player and popular among his colleagues, Fredrick has been teaching fellow apprentices basic signing too.

Watching him meticulously going through the check-in procedure with the couple, his passion and commitment shone through.

Immediately spotting a visa issue – the couple were travelling to India and a hard copy is required for entry into the country – he used another means of communication.

Picking up an iPad to request assistance, a printout of the visa subsequently arrived at the desk.

The smiling couple clutching their boarding passes enthused how seamless the experience had been. But they had one final query for Fredrick. "How do you sign thank you?"

British Airways is the only airline in the UK with a specialist accessibility team that each year provides a range of support to around half a million customers with visible and non-visible disabilities.

Help might involve an escort for boarding and disembarking the aircraft, or travelling with a service dog.

It is also the first UK carrier to feature British Sign Language in its customer engagement centres in a partnership with SignLive.

And last month, to mark World Autism Acceptance Week, British Airways teamed up with Learning Rose to become the first airline in the UK to launch a visual guide to flying for passengers with autism.

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You can find out more on britishairways.com/en-gb/information/disability-assistance.

Marjorie Yue