We haven't been able to take payment
You must update your payment details via My Account or by clicking update payment details to keep your subscription.
Act now to keep your subscription
We've tried to contact you several times as we haven't been able to take payment. You must update your payment details via My Account or by clicking update payment details to keep your subscription.
Your subscription is due to terminate
We've tried to contact you several times as we haven't been able to take payment. You must update your payment details via My Account, otherwise your subscription will terminate.

Upgraded MPs praise Virgin to the skies

A group of MPs who accepted flight upgrades and free trips from Virgin Atlantic have tabled a parliamentary motion which heaps praise on the airline and even quotes its advertising slogan.

The early day motion (EDM) places Virgin at the "forefront of the aviation industry", lavishes approval on its green credentials and puffs its "award winning on-board experience". It goes on to refer to Virgin Atlantic as "red hot" - a reference to a recent TV advertising campaign in which air hostesses in scarlet uniforms and stilettos parade before gawping male passengers.

Of the 30 MPs who have so far backed the motion, five, including its author Paul Keetch, have declared upgrades or free flights from the carrier in the past few years in the Commons' register of members interests.

Other signatories may have accepted the upgrades and, quite legitimately, decided not to declare them. Upgrades on transatlantic flights can be worth thousands of pounds.

Keetch's motion appears also to have a more serious purpose in opposing plans by rival British Airways to link up with American Airlines. It speaks of "welcoming the competition that currently exists in the aviation sector".

Advertisement

Keetch, the Liberal Democrat MP for Hereford, said he was inspired to draft an EDM celebrating Virgin's silver anniversary because his life had been saved by a Virgin cabin crew when he suffered a heart attack on a flight two years ago.

Gordon Brown is to fly Virgin instead of BA to the G20 summit in the US this month.