By Craig Platt
A Virgin airline passenger whose hilarious complaint letter became a viral internet phenomenon has been invited to select food and wine on future flights.
The identity of the letter's author was revealed to be Oliver Beale, 29, a high-flying advertising executive, according to London's Daily Telegraph.
Mr Beale's addressed his letter directly to Virgin boss Richard Branson to complain about the quality of his in-flight meal during a flight from Mumbai to Heathrow in December last year.
He attached photographs of the meal as evidence.
In his colourful complaint, Mr Beale described his feelings about pulling back the tin foil on the main course thus:
"I'll try and explain how this felt. Imagine being a twelve-year-old boy Richard. Now imagine it's Christmas morning and you're sat their with your final present to open. It's a big one, and you know what it is. It's that Goodmans stereo you picked out the catalogue and wrote to Santa about.
Only you open the present and it's not in there. It's your hamster Richard. It's your hamster in the box and it's not breathing. That's how I felt when I peeled back the foil and saw this: [see image 3, above]."
(Read the complaint letter in full)
He then described the biscuit provided for dessert:
"There was a small cookie provided. It had caught my eye earlier due to it's baffling presentation: [see image 4, above].
It appears to be in an evidence bag from the scene of a crime. A CRIME AGAINST BLOODY COOKING. Either that or some sort of back-street underground cookie, purchased off a gun-toting maniac high on his own supply of yeast. You certainly wouldn't want to be caught carrying one of these through customs. Imagine biting into a piece of brass Richard. That would be softer on the teeth than the specimen above."
Mr Beale also complained about the TV screen for his in-flight entertainment, which he said had given him a headache due to the poor picture quality.
He finished off with: "So that was that Richard. I didn't eat a bloody thing. My only question is: How can you live like this? I can't imagine what dinner round your house is like, it must be like something out of a nature documentary."
The Telegraph reported Mr Branson had rung Mr Beale personally to apologise and invited him to select food and wine for future Virgin flights.
"He was incredibly nice about the whole thing but I haven't received any compensation since talking to him," Mr Beale said.
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