like a virgin

I recently visited Australia. I flew with Virgin Atlantic.

Yesterday I talked with a colleague who had been to Kuala Lumpur – different airline, I’m not going to name them here. Some other time maybe.

But the conversation made me consider my experience with Virgin Atlantic in a new light.

Last time I flew with Virgin I ended up writing to their customer service people to praise the way in which a member of the cabin crew had coped with a disruptive passenger.

This time, nothing happened. So, unsurprisingly, I didn’t feel the need to write to anyone.

But what I’ve come to realise in the last day or two is that nothing happening can sometimes be a very good thing indeed.

Here’s a list of things that didn’t happen.

• Virgin Atlantic didn’t change the plane at the last minute to an aircraft with fewer seats, leaving many passengers stranded for 24 hours
• No one from Virgin Atlantic was rude
• The plane was not delayed taking off
• There were no problems with the transfer at Hong Kong
• My luggage did not get lost
• The food was not vile

You may be thinking, “but that’s the bare minimum anyone expects.” And you’d be right.

But it’s still more than a lot of people get from much larger airlines that have been operating for longer.

And just because it’s the bare minimum doesn’t mean we shouldn’t express gratitude.

So, thank you Virgin Atlantic. My flights to and from Sydney passed off completely incident free. Every one of your staff that I dealt with was polite and helpful.