Like a Virgin

A throwaway comment by the friend of a friend on Facebook was the impetus behind resolving what was becoming a real concern for me, my weight... my allocated weight allowance that is..

Last weekend I asked via Facebook if any of my friends had a contact at Auckland International Airport, as I really needed to do something about my luggage allowance.  It was becoming a real concern for me that with over 100 LifeStraws, nearly 2000 condoms and now 10 basketballs, this left very little room for anything like clothes and personal items.  Now I'm not heading off with a case full of clothes expecting a fashion show.  But a few pairs of shorts, some t-shirts and some clean underwear are a kind of important to me, strange that.  It was quickly becoming apparent I need approximately another 10kg of luggage if I wanted to take clothes, upon discussion with the airlines I discovered it would cost me in excess of $59:00 per additional kilo, $590:00 eeeeek (do you know how many LifeStraws that is?)

Hence the weekend Facebook post requesting a contact at the airport, well the comments that ensued were varied, but when asked who I was flying with I shared that the flight that I would be checking my luggage with was a VirginAustralia flight departing at 06:00 from Auckland..... a friend of a friend suggested

"Try Richard Branson"

Hmmmmmm..... and not a bad idea, thought Jacqui...

I decided maybe Mr Branson would be hard to contact, but I'm sure I could find out who the CEO of VirginAustralia is, and I did.... Long story short, I emailed him explained my plight, (the point I raised, I weigh 69kg and I'm allowed 23kg of luggage, if I weighed 79kg I would still be entitled to 23kg of luggage, so why not just pretend I weigh 79kg and lets not tell the payload specialist??)

Monday morning saw an email from a gentleman by the name of Micheal Betteridge.  Michael is the Managing Director of VirginAustralia  and the email had been forwarded to him by the CEO and he had been given the task of dealing with my request.

By mid Wednesday I had begun to think the reply I had received from Micheal Betteridge was just a cursory response to the many requests that they must receive on a daily basis and nothing was going to happen, so I gave him a gentle nudge to remind him of my dilemma.  His reply was back within the hour, the explanation being he was waiting for the various cutting of redtape to take place, but he was happy to confirm that VirginAustralia were going to increase my luggage allocation by ten kilograms, but he still was awaiting confirmation from Etihad.  9pm last night, (7pm in Sydney)  I received an email from Michael Betteridge, confirming he had secured an additional 10kg of luggage on all legs of my trip too and from Nairobi.  Michael Betteridge, you are a legend, it's always the right time to do the right thing... and you did it, for that I thank you.

VirginAustralia and Etihad Airways may I express my sincere and heartfelt thanks to you, it's heartwarming to know that you are able to help out the 'little guy' now and again..

Asante