3 minute read
British Airways - #BAMagic
Over the past few months, British Airways has been rolling out an initiative called #BAMagic. According to the airline, “We witness some amazing moments in airports. Whether it’s travelling home to see loved ones or taking children for their very first overseas holiday, travel can be special.”
As a result, BA Magic is a campaign that seeks to reward these special stories through free flights and experiences. Applying is straightforward, simply email the story to digital.marketing@ba.com, and (crucially) agree to have it talked about on social media if chosen as each story is turned into a short video.
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Over the past month, two BA Magic stories appeared. In the first one, Sarah MacFarlane from London was brought to Hong Kong on a surprise 24-trip to see her nephew perform “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.” In addition to tickets to the show, the experience included Priscilla dressed characters meeting her at the airport, and a helicopter ride for the family.
The second story, “Joe’s First Flight Back” involved Joe Dowd, who suffered life changing brain injury in 2014, going to Dublin with his wife Liz on his first flight since being injured. British Airways organised a Rolls Royce to take the couple to Heathrow, hosted them in the First Class lounge and then flew them to Dublin while presenting Joe with a flight simulator experience in the cockpit.
Upon arrival in Dublin, British Airways gave Joe and Liz a final surprise by presenting them with two Club World tickets to Australia, where Joe had previously lived.
When we saw the first videos in isolation, our reaction was much like the one expressed in the London Air Travel Blog:
This is especially since an earlier video featured a man proposing to his girlfriend on-board a packed flight to Cyprus in front of other passengers - a classic “awww” moment that airlines and aviation brands often pull out of their PR hats..
However you would have to have a heart of stone not to be moved by Joe Dowd’s flight to Dublin. As the blog says: “It is a salutary reminder for all that be able to fly is something that should never be taken for granted and aviation is fundamentally about bringing people together. And, irrespective of any motive for positive publicity, BA deserves praise for its responsiveness and generosity.”
Indeed what struck us in particular was the lengths British Airways went through to help the couple. The free flights to Australia rounded off what would have been a moving story, even had they not been offered.
In the words of ‘One Mile at a Time’ - “A Rolls Royce ride to the airport, business class tickets to Australia, a ride in the British Airways flight simulator, and more? They really took care of them, and it was well deserved.”
Key Take-Away
As a one-off the BA initiative could just be dismissed as a PR stunt designed to deflect attention from some of the reputational issues the airline has been facing.
However, three things make #BAMagic noteworthy. First of all there is consistency. This isn’t a ‘one hit wonder’ - a new story seems to be released every few weeks. Secondly British Airways has done more than just throw unsold seats at deserving passengers. Instead, each BA Magic story involves the airline creating a full and thought out experience from helicopter rides to flight simulator psses.
Finally, an unspoken but implicit message in these videos is ‘Only BA can do that.’ No other UK carrier would have the ability to pull off the things British Airways does in the videos, because competitors such as easyJet simply don’t have the same global network.
