Video: British Airways’ 2019 Christmas Surprise

Video: British Airways’ 2019 Christmas Surprise

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British Airways is known for their “BA Magic” campaign, where they will make travel dreams come true for deserving people. This is something British Airways has consistently done an amazing job with, and this most definitely makes me feel more fondly about the company.

Every year around Christmas they seem to release some sort of BA Magic video, and they’ve just done that for this year.

In this installment of BA Magic, British Airways has taken a family on the trip of a lifetime to Australia to surprise their uncle for his wedding day. Of course this isn’t just your typical family holiday, though:

Cheryl Lawley, 36 from Nuneaton, contacted the airline in early 2019 to share her story. In 2016 Cheryl was diagnosed with incurable brain cancer and after undergoing a 14-hour operation, Cheryl woke to unexpectedly find her uncle, Ben, by her bedside. Ben had travelled from his home in Melbourne, Australia, to nurse Cheryl and help care for her three children, aged 16, 10 and 9.

After returning to Melbourne, Ben announced that he was engaged to marry his partner of 14 years, Andrew, but given Cheryl’s circumstances she would be unable to attend. Until BA Magic stepped in!

British Airways organized for Cheryl, her partner Adrian, 31, and children Mia, Ashdon and Carson to fly to Melbourne, with lots of surprises and adventure along the way.

As you’ll see, there are lots of surprises along the way, from a shopping experience at Heathrow, to Elemis spa treatments, to upgrades to business class, to a suite at the Langham Melbourne.

You can check out the full video here:

What a nice story, and kudos to British Airways for a just well done for this deserving family!

Conversations (18)
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  1. Vitor New Member

    People,
    Merry christmas! I’ve been a reader for quite long( on multiple daily basis). Ive seen hateful comments from we-all-know-who. After Lucky has banned these kind orf activities I believe we should simply ignore hateful comments like @Stanley.
    The best response is ignoring.
    Let’s use this website as an aviation geek kinda thing and let bad comments to die. Let’s engage in more productive conversation. Use our passion and knowledge for aviation...

    People,
    Merry christmas! I’ve been a reader for quite long( on multiple daily basis). Ive seen hateful comments from we-all-know-who. After Lucky has banned these kind orf activities I believe we should simply ignore hateful comments like @Stanley.
    The best response is ignoring.
    Let’s use this website as an aviation geek kinda thing and let bad comments to die. Let’s engage in more productive conversation. Use our passion and knowledge for aviation to create meaningful discussion.
    To you all, a very merry christmas

  2. vitor Guest

    People,
    Merry christmas! I’ve been a reader for quite long( on multiple daily basis). Ive seen hateful comments from we-all-know-who. After Lucky has banned these kind of activities I believe we should simply ignore hateful comments like @Stanley.
    The best response is ignoring.
    Let’s use this website as an aviation geek kinda thing and let bad comments to die. Let’s engage in more productive conversation. Use our passion and knowledge for aviation...

    People,
    Merry christmas! I’ve been a reader for quite long( on multiple daily basis). Ive seen hateful comments from we-all-know-who. After Lucky has banned these kind of activities I believe we should simply ignore hateful comments like @Stanley.
    The best response is ignoring.
    Let’s use this website as an aviation geek kinda thing and let bad comments to die. Let’s engage in more productive conversation. Use our passion and knowledge for aviation to create meaningful discussion.
    To you all, a very merry christmas

  3. Chris Guest

    @ Jimmy - well said, couldn’t agree more!

  4. Jimmy Guest

    As a loyal and happy BA flier I am glad to see someone in need get the opportunity to do something that they may not have been able to do without assistance. I don't care about the intent, I care that a few lives are now better because of these efforts. Well done BA!

  5. John Guest

    @Dave

    Thank you for pointing out the obvious. And I say that with no sarcasm intended! It needs to get pointed out. I'm personally glad for the folks involved here. They deserve a break in life. But first and foremost, as you point out, this is all about making BA look good through emotive and skillful marketing to generate goodwill and (potential) future revenue. Does that sound cynical? I would say it's just simple reality....

    @Dave

    Thank you for pointing out the obvious. And I say that with no sarcasm intended! It needs to get pointed out. I'm personally glad for the folks involved here. They deserve a break in life. But first and foremost, as you point out, this is all about making BA look good through emotive and skillful marketing to generate goodwill and (potential) future revenue. Does that sound cynical? I would say it's just simple reality. BA have a good track record of producing these marketing campaigns around xmas. I'm glad they have the side-effect of genuinely helping (albeit an extremely limited amount of people), but I don't get sucked in by the marketing process that was part of it.

  6. Chris Guest

    Jesus, humans really are the low point of evolution and the world would have been a much better place without people like Stanley and Michael in it. I’m not a fan of BA either and even if this is more about marketing and promo than anything else the fact is BA did something amazing for a family that is going through difficulties we can’t even begin to imagine. Will this video make me fly BA?...

    Jesus, humans really are the low point of evolution and the world would have been a much better place without people like Stanley and Michael in it. I’m not a fan of BA either and even if this is more about marketing and promo than anything else the fact is BA did something amazing for a family that is going through difficulties we can’t even begin to imagine. Will this video make me fly BA? Of course it won’t. But what they did for this family and the two guys in Australia is commendable. Kudos to them, they didn’t have to do this.

  7. robbo Member

    What a beautiful story to read and listen to on Christmas Day morning. There is hope, thanks for sharing OMAAT

  8. Journeying John Guest

    What a shame that the paying customers are treated with disdain and receive nothing like this or the marketing but dirty unserviced cabins with inadequate catering and brusque service followed by wholly unresponsive Customer service. At least in independent surveys at least they beat Ryanair even if no one else...

  9. Journeying John Guest

    What a shame that the paying customers are treated with disdain and receive nothing like this or the marketing but dirty unserviced cabins with inadequate catering and brusque service followed by wholly unresponsive Customer service. The first Still in independent surveys at least they beat Ryanair even if no one else...

  10. Dave Guest

    @Steve, well the video is a pure marketing tool designed to make people feel all warm and fuzzy about BA. The fact that they did something nice for a family is just a byproduct of the need to make you feel emotional.

    Having said all that, I don't have a problem with the video, and have had good experiences on BA. Let's just not lose sight of the fact that's it exists as a promotional tool.

  11. Toni Hoffman Guest

    Love hearing all the news! I don’t care about motivation. I’m just happy that it’s happening!

  12. Ivan Guest

    @Steve + 1 what a miserable & mean individual Stanley must be especially at Christmas time.

  13. Steve New Member

    @Stanley
    You are one sick person. You lack one basic human quality - compassion. This woman will be leaving her children behind because of cancer. I hope that nobody in your family comes down with cancer because they will get no compassion from you. Merry Christmas.

    Thank you BA for showing an amazing display of compassion.

  14. Eskimo Guest

    @Michael

    As long as the kids behave and not run and scream on board (in the lounge too)

    I'm still waiting for an airline to allow ESA for their marketing videos. They should start with the easiest like dogs then to the most conservative ESA, the Emotional Support AR-15.

  15. Boco Member

    If only they extended half that warm service to their paying customers

  16. Michael Gold

    Oh, great, kids in business class.

  17. Matt Member

    @Stanely

    Merry Christmas to you!

  18. Stanley Guest

    Yawnn.... As boring as Qatar Airways promo and safery videos.

Featured Comments Most helpful comments ( as chosen by the OMAAT community ).

The comments on this page have not been provided, reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser, and it is not an advertiser's responsibility to ensure posts and/or questions are answered.

Vitor New Member

People, Merry christmas! I’ve been a reader for quite long( on multiple daily basis). Ive seen hateful comments from we-all-know-who. After Lucky has banned these kind orf activities I believe we should simply ignore hateful comments like @Stanley. The best response is ignoring. Let’s use this website as an aviation geek kinda thing and let bad comments to die. Let’s engage in more productive conversation. Use our passion and knowledge for aviation to create meaningful discussion. To you all, a very merry christmas

0
vitor Guest

People, Merry christmas! I’ve been a reader for quite long( on multiple daily basis). Ive seen hateful comments from we-all-know-who. After Lucky has banned these kind of activities I believe we should simply ignore hateful comments like @Stanley. The best response is ignoring. Let’s use this website as an aviation geek kinda thing and let bad comments to die. Let’s engage in more productive conversation. Use our passion and knowledge for aviation to create meaningful discussion. To you all, a very merry christmas

0
Chris Guest

@ Jimmy - well said, couldn’t agree more!

0
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