Err?, Pardon? If I have a gripe at all it's around the idea that being offered something beyond expectations - when it happens, which isn't often, and I certainly don't expect it - is actually something to be discouraged by staff because it somehow debases the brand. Which is rubbish, quite frankly. Good service, going beyond expectations, enhances any customer centric brand. The way you really delight customers and have them working for you to enhance your reputation is by doing more than they expect, and small gestures count for a lot. I appreciated it all the more on Saturday because it wasn't the norm, and it was the manner of the gesture that stood out - natural and unforced.

I complimented the member of staff involved in a feedback message to BA. I now understand that this might actually have her spoken to by a manager because she instilled unreasonable expectations. That's utterly deranged. In that sense it's the message that needs a fusillade rather than the messenger, but to trot it out unquestioningly seems to me symptomatic of attitudes within the business that work to constantly wear away at brand equity. Which is a shame.