Virgin Atlantic is taking the kind deed of one passenger to spread some holiday cheer throughout their system over the next several days.
A Virgin Atlantic Passenger’s Selfless Act
A couple of weeks ago a heartwarming Facebook post went viral. It was written by a Virgin Atlantic flight attendant about what she witnessed on a flight. Essentially a man gave his Upper Class seat to an 88 year old woman who had always dreamed of flying in the front of the plane.
I think the post is worth sharing in its entirety:
Of the hundreds of flights I’ve operated, I’ve had the pleasure of looking after footballers, supermodels and some Hollywood movie stars but let me tell you about my two favourite passengers EVER!
Jack and Violet 💜 (I wish she was called Vera or Rose 🤣)
Jack and his family purchased seats in our upper class cabin for a flight home from New York, but when he got onboard, Jack went and found violet in economy and swapped seats with her.
He then sat on the row of seats directly next to the economy toilets and never made a peep or asked for anything the rest of the flight. No fuss, no attention, literally did it out of the kindness of his own heart, no one asked him too.
Violet is 88 years old, has been a nurse in both the UK and over in America. She travels to New York to see her daughter, but hasn’t been able to for a while because of a knee replacement. Her dream has always been to sit at the front, and Jack made that come true.
You should of seen her face, when I tucked her in her bed after supper ☺️
She said her daughter won’t believe her, and wanted a ‘selfie’ to prove it, but didn’t have a phone or an email address. These photos are getting sent in the post tomorrow, can you even cope 😩😍❤️😭😊
Virgin Atlantic Will Upgrade Oldest Passenger On Every Flight
Virgin Atlantic has revealed that they’ll be spreading the holiday cheer by upgrading the oldest passenger onboard every flight over the festive season (December 24 through January 1) to the highest cabin available.
This is being done in honor of Jack, who gave up his Upper Class seat to 88 year old Violet on a flight from New York to London.
Bottom Line
What a feel-good story to begin with, and in particular how awesome that Virgin Atlantic will be similarly generous for the next week on all flights. Well done, Virgin Atlantic!
@GogoBear
Blood well said! Everyone be generous, kind and giving, for a wee bit, think the positive of giving your elders some comfort and respect. Thank you to Jack, his family and Virgin Airlines for reminding all that being kind is worth more than gold.
Mmmmm, Jack is sexy....
Merry Christmas
Awesome idea! Kudos to Jack for initiating such a great deed. And to VS for taking it up!
Violet being offered this wonderful experience is simply lovely!
Jack belittling her experience by rubbishing business class harping on about “inequality” was unnecessary.
Merry Christmas x
BTW I bet this Rose would have moved over to let this Jack share her door with her!
To the people complaining that they are gold and should get afree upgrade should know that's not how VS does upgrades.
Your status is only part of it. Flight history and fare bucket also plays a part - in fact a greater part in deciding who gets the upgrade.
Fly Upper and drop to PE for a flight isn't going to get you an upgrade. But be a regular PE flyer then you will be...
To the people complaining that they are gold and should get afree upgrade should know that's not how VS does upgrades.
Your status is only part of it. Flight history and fare bucket also plays a part - in fact a greater part in deciding who gets the upgrade.
Fly Upper and drop to PE for a flight isn't going to get you an upgrade. But be a regular PE flyer then you will be higher in the queue because VS would hope to convert you to flying Upper more in the future. Why treat someone who already pays for the higher cabin most of the time?
And that's not even taking into account that VS does not offer free upgrades to elites just because there are empty seats
Its VSs seat and they can do what the heck they want with it.
And BA essentially operates the same system but with slightly different criteria.
Passenger does a lovely thing and airline decides to follow the example and do the same (but only where there is space) yet this is still a bad thing to some of you?
For the love of all that is holy....some of you people are so sad and angry and pathetic...
Common f'ing sense would tell you they wouldn't ask anyone to GIVE UP their upgraded seat. They simply will upgrade the oldest passenger to an EMPTY business class seat.
So f'ing paranoid that someone will take something from you...or worse...that you will miss an opportunity to feel superior to someone else.
You don't have to be an...
For the love of all that is holy....some of you people are so sad and angry and pathetic...
Common f'ing sense would tell you they wouldn't ask anyone to GIVE UP their upgraded seat. They simply will upgrade the oldest passenger to an EMPTY business class seat.
So f'ing paranoid that someone will take something from you...or worse...that you will miss an opportunity to feel superior to someone else.
You don't have to be an ugly, petty, paranoid person ALL THE TIME...let it go periodically...holiday season and all that...
Age discrimination!
Ben, it's Christmas season and Christmas cheer, not generic "holiday". I mean come on it's Christmas Eve today!!!!
Anyway, have a Merry Christmas!!
Is that Bill Cosby? Thought he was in lock-up?
Whether it is a serious post or not - everyone is criticizing John. But how many people reading this would give up their paid or points or upgrades business class seat and go sit in economy? Not too many I'd imagine.
But I do think Jack is rather cute. If I had to sit in economy, I wouldn't mind being next to him.
Basically, Virgin has just killed loyalty and gives the middle finger to their Gold members.
Nice one Richard.
@ktc
I've swapped seat dozens of time in the states. Never got arrested or thrown out.
It's paranoid freaks like this that makes America worse.
Anyone who swap seat is suspicious.
Anyone disobeying FA will get a David Dao.
Anyone wearing a turban is a terrorist.
Anyone speaking anything but English is trying to blow up the plane.
Anyone who isn't white seems to say the word bomb in every...
@ktc
I've swapped seat dozens of time in the states. Never got arrested or thrown out.
It's paranoid freaks like this that makes America worse.
Anyone who swap seat is suspicious.
Anyone disobeying FA will get a David Dao.
Anyone wearing a turban is a terrorist.
Anyone speaking anything but English is trying to blow up the plane.
Anyone who isn't white seems to say the word bomb in every sentence.
Surprisingly a paranoid country like this still have mass school shooting every year. It's not the guns. It's all the paranoid freaks.
Never saw any mass shooting in USA carried out by a person wearing a turban firing AR-15. All school shooting seems to be carried out by a native English speaker. Better stay home, USA is too dangerous.
I understand John may be joking, but wow man... this shows exactly what is wrong with our societies today. These are the monsters we’re creating. If it’s not good for/benefits me, it’s not good
You and most other Americans probably didn’t get the reference why she said I’d like her to be called Vera it’s because Jack and Vera were a famous couple on the UK’s longest running soap opera Coronation Street https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vera_Duckworth
You’d love Coronation Street Lucky, it’s fabulously trashy
@John: Top "tier" or not, you're not that important to Virgin if you're not buying business class tickets in the first place. They won't miss you if you switch loyalty. Sorry to have to break the news to you on Xmas Eve, but your holiday spirit sucks anyways so not a huge deal I guess.
@Eskimo
if you are referring to an elderly & another pax , there is no US way - see 1st post above.
I'm imagining all of the pre-boards chatting and comparing birthdays beforehand.
@Joe
To decide it the Asian airline way, both will get upgraded.
To decide it the EU airline way, the tie breaker is probably the check in time.
To decide it the US airline way, the tie breaker is probably the higher fare class.
@John,
Bah humbug, my friend. I'm going to assume you're a work of fiction too.
US airlines employees only upgrade their family members. I never seen so many family and friends flying for free on business class in US airlines.
@Ben Holz
It's peak season for leisure travel with people traveling home for the holidays, not business travel. I've flown LAX-LHR in between Christmas and New Years multiple times, and business class is generally not very full.
I think this is great especially for elderly travelling alone. If travelling with family, it might be tricky. I've travelled with my grandmother in the past (she's in her 90s) and I know she wouldn't take the upgrade even if we insisted on it as she prefers to sit next to someone she knows.
Good for VS for doing this. Several years ago I recall travelling during the holiday season and before boarding they...
I think this is great especially for elderly travelling alone. If travelling with family, it might be tricky. I've travelled with my grandmother in the past (she's in her 90s) and I know she wouldn't take the upgrade even if we insisted on it as she prefers to sit next to someone she knows.
Good for VS for doing this. Several years ago I recall travelling during the holiday season and before boarding they had a small carol singing competition and whoever won got an upgrade to upper class. Pretty cool and certainly made a lot of people get into the holiday mood.
@LongWayAround Haha I agree! It's the season of giving and some sad, probably lonely people are still 'me me me'. You really can't buy class. This is a great gesture by Virgin Atlantic.
@ Gene: LMAO thanks for the laugh
@John is a proof that all the status in the world can't really buy you class...
What would happen if 2 people share the same birthday and are the same age?
Why would elderly have priority over me is just plain ridiculous. I'm top tier with Virgin Atlantic and find this atrocious.
@Gene, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I am dying over here, literally DYING! I never saw the resemblance until now!
@ Ben -- When I first a picture about this kind act (the middle one above), my immediate question was "When did Bill Cosby get released from prison?"
"You should of seen her face..." aaarrrggghhhh I think I'm going to start a support group for people who have not had the benefit of English teachers in their lives.
I imagine this is subject to availability? Might be on the wrong here, but with this being high-peak season, isn't the likelihood of there being a free business class seat very low?
@tcATL... nailed it!
So nice to see an airline doing the right thing just because (though I’m sure the free publicity didn’t hurt).
Literally would never happen on a US airline - you’d be more likely to see Jack get dragged off the flight and have the cops called on him. And that staff giving free upgrades would get fired.