Virgin Atlantic’s response to my GU complaint
I’ve blogged before about my bout with food poisoning aboard my outbound Virgin Atlantic flight last month – which I wholeheartedly believe is from the GU mango and passionfruit cheesecake pot (I ate two of them) that was not properly refrigerated.
They responded by asking me to fill out a questionnaire listing every thing I ate in the last 72 hours (“I feel like such a heifer. I had two bowls of Special K, 3 pieces of turkey bacon, a handful of popcorn, 5 peanut butter M&M’s and like 3 pieces of licorice.” – Cher from “Clueless”) The full questionnaire can be viewed here.
After submitting my questionnaire, here is their response:
Thank you for returning your completed food poisoning questionnaire.
From the information you’ve kindly provided, we think it unlikely that the cause of your illness was due to the GU desserts you eaten on board our flight.
All of our caterers and food handlers follow strict food preparation and handling procedures and great care is taken to make sure that all food and drink is safe.
Where your claim is concerned, we’ve taken into account that at this time we have had no further complaints from any other passenger travelling on the same flight as you. It’s important to note that it is highly probable that if there were an issue with any food item served on your flight that other passengers would be affected.
Although it’s natural to assume the last meal eaten was the cause of your illness, the vast majority of illnesses are generally caused by viral infections. In your case it’s not possible to confirm an exact cause without any lab tests having been carried out.
We were obviously sorry to hear that you were unwell and assure you that we have taken this very seriously. We hope the next time you travel with us you’ll have a much better experience.
Kind regards
Asha Hurynag
Customer Relations
And here is my response, in my best, restrained British:
And what I’m really thinking:
Alright, British Airways, United, New Zealand Air, Delta … I’m all yours!
Posted on 2, May 2013, in Travel and tagged airplane, complaint, food poisoning, Gu, plane food, travel, Virgin Atlantic. Bookmark the permalink. 5 Comments.
BRITRISH.COM 
Sigh. I’d hoped for better than this from Virgin.
I still think overall they’re my number one choice on that route, but I will approach the Gu with caution!
I know! Disappointing!
What a bunch of jerkwads!
My thoughts exactly (well, the G-rated, family version). 🙂
Been dying from food poisoning I know for sure I got from a salad on virgin Atlantic flight 105. I’ve been deathly ill for 3 days now and my children are fine. The only difference in our diets during our trip is a salad on the flight home that they refused to eat but I ate mine and both of theirs. Wow….I feel extremely bad.