Sir Richard Branson, the self-made billionaire of Virgin fame, must have some spare time these days. The business mogul has taken it upon himself to applaud a humorous airline complaint letter that went viral. Written by tennis pro Arthur Hicks, the sarcastic letter thanks Caribbean carrier LIAT for taking him on a tour of the islands.
Dear LIAT,
May I say how considerate it is of you to enable your passengers such an in-depth and thorough tour of the Caribbean.
Most other airlines I have travelled on would simply wish to take me from point A to B in rather a hurry. I was intrigued that we were allowed to stop at not a lowly one or two but a magnificent six airports yesterday. And who wants to fly on the same airplane the entire time? We got to change and refuel every step of the way!
I particularly enjoyed sampling the security scanners at each and every airport. I find it preposterous that people imagine them all to be the same. And as for being patted down by a variety of islanders, well, I feel as if I’ve been hugged by most of the Caribbean already.
I also found it unique that this was all done on “island time,” because I do like to have time to absorb the atmosphere of the various departure lounges. As for our arrival, well, who wants to have to take a ferry at the end of all that flying anyway? I’m glad the boat was long gone by the time we arrived into Tortola last night – and that all those noisy bars and restaurants were closed.
So thank you, LIAT. I now truly understand why you are “The Caribbean Airline.”
P.S. Keep the bag. I never liked it anyway.
Branson himself is no stranger to airline grievances. He once received what many regard as the world’s most epic complaint letter, a detailed account of a passenger’s “culinary journey of hell” when faced with a spongy biscuit during an in-flight meal. But as the saying goes, there is no such thing as bad publicity — even in the case of funny airline complaints.