To create an airline where the staff were united to offer a wonderful service to their customers. Sounds great, pity it's PR rubbish. The service that I got fr

To create an airline where the staff were united to offer a wonderful service to their customers. Sounds great, pity it's PR rubbish. The service that I got from Virgin Atlantic in December 2010 when Heathrow was troubled with a little snow was nothing short of crappy. They may be good in the air, but if you have to call them to sort out a problem, you are already screwed. I have avoided flying with them since. The December airport closure was out of Virgin Atlantic's control, and affected all carriers, but their lack of information, the inability to take any calls on the helpline for 48 hours afterwards, and the slowness and opacity of the process of offering the bare legal minimum of a refund for a wrecked Christmas holiday leave everything be desired. They offered a statement about the "unprecedented" conditions. I don't care and it doesn't matter if the conditions had precedent or not. Stuff that hasn't happened before happens every day. What matters is if it was predicted (it could have been, it was not) and if it was managed acceptably (likewise).