Virgin CEO gifts business class flights to baggage handler after TikTok goes viral

A flood of comments from concerned viewers ranged from "Super sweet but I would rather die than put my dog in cargo" to "I'd much rather sit next to someone's pet than a kid on an airline, it must be awful for them under there".

The plot took another twist as Virgin Australia's CEO Jane Hrdlicka made a special trip to Perth to surprise the staff member, Chad Williams.

In footage shared by the carrier, the airline executive can be heard telling Williams "we're just really proud of you", before offering the airline worker two round-trip business class tickets to anywhere in the network.

Hrdlicka also teased the man about the rumoured female attention he's received on the back of the viral video.

"[The business class flights] obviously gives you the ability to bring along a friend. So I know you've been getting lots of offers from amazing women around the world so, you know, you have the option to use it if you want," Hrdlicka says, with a laugh.

Williams, unrecognisable behind a mask covering and pair of sunglasses, responds: "Thank you so much, I'm blown away."

The original video, captured and shared by Channel 7 reporter Jacqueline Felgate on April 24, currently features more than 2600 comments from TikTok users across the world, praising the man.

William's soothing words for dog Cooper were later revealed in an interview with Felgate.

In the follow-up TikTok, he explains that despite his looks, he's a softie when it comes to animals.

"It's pretty loud out here and they're probably scared, they don't really know where they're going or what's happening so [we] try to look after them as best we can," he says in the clip.

"I was just reassuring him and asking him if he was ready to board really, just like the passengers get asked up at the gate. I said Coopy mate, you'll be fine, hope you have a safe flight. We'll see you on the other side."

When approached by Travelller, the airport worker said he's yet to appoint a seat mate, though he's had no shortage of interested parties ("There's a few [women] who've slid into my DMs volunteering themselves for the spare ticket").

As for destinations, he's in no rush to decide.

"Virgin aren't flying to that many places right now, so I'm sort of waiting for [international travel] to open up and go to Queenstown, as I'm a pretty avid snowboarder," Williams told Traveller.

Despite finding the attention "overwhelming" at times, Williams said the experience has been positive overall.

"I'm quite an introverted person and since the video I've had my phone blowing up and people recognising me, but the resounding response has been far more positive than negative. It's very heart warming."