Our favourite April Fools Day Joke - Virgin Atlantic to introduce Hypnosis as inflight service

Forget about customer loyalty programmes because we believe Virgin has the answer. After receiving numerous April Fools Day jokes we selected this innovative creation from Virgin Atlantic as our 2004 favourite. Could this be the next big thing in travel?!

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Virgin Atlantic Airways has announced that it plans to introduce Inflight Hypnotherapists to its flights. Inflight Hypnotherapists (IFHTs) will be available onboard every flight and will be able to offer a range of different hypnotic services from making passengers believe the flight lasts only a few minutes to making passengers believe they are sitting next to their favourite celebrity.

Sir Richard Branson, Chairman of Virgin Atlantic commented:

"Virgin Atlantic always aims to be ahead of the game when it comes to creative thinking and innovation - from pioneering Inflight Beauty Therapists to the introduction of Inflight Meditation. We believe that passengers will be entranced with this new service. Our IFHTs are fully trained hypnotists able to offer a wide range of hypnotic therapies from making them believe they have been upgraded to thinking the person sitting next to them is their favourite celebrity.

"We are delighted to say that we have the support of the world's best known Hypnotist - Paul McKenna. Paul has been instrumental in the recruitment and selection of our IFHTs over the last few months and we are confident that we have an exceptional team of mesmerists ready to start swinging their pendulums. We will also be offering this service on our new flights between Sydney, Hong Kong and London, which we plan to introduce later this year, subject to regulatory approval."

Paul McKenna, the world's best-known Hypnotist, commented:

"I am delighted to have been involved in this project. Virgin Atlantic is always at the cutting edge of air travel and with this new service it can offer passengers the most exciting opportunities for personal enhancement. I am sure that this will be a positive experience for every passenger that takes part."

Hypnosis to be offered by the Virgin Atlantic IFHTs include:

Time flies - The IFHTs will hypnotise passengers to make them feel as if they are travelling at supersonic speed. Passengers can feel the thrill of breaking through the sound barrier and sit back and enjoy the inflight entertainment as their journey passes in less than half the time.

Sit next to a star - This hypnotic treatment enables passengers to believe that they are seated next to their favourite celebrity for the duration of their flight. They can pass the time swapping recipes with Nigella Lawson, gazing adoringly at Brad Pitt or being serenaded by Tom Jones - the choice is down to them.

Feel the Upgrade - This hypnosis takes part at the gate in the departure area to make passengers believe that they are going to be travelling in Upper Class. Passengers can spend the flight imagining that they are enjoying the Freedom menu, sitting at the onboard bar, enjoying a massage from the Inflight Beauty Therapist (IFBT) or sleeping through the flight in the Snooze Zone. For a supplement passengers can extend their hypnosis to believe they are picked up in a limo at the end of their journey.

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A little surprisingly no mention was made of a 'Do not fly BA' hypnotic session, but simply the idea of hypnotised passengers repeating, 'I will only fly Virgin, I will only fly Virgin' ensured that this years favourite April Fools Day joke was from one of the world's most creative airlines - Virgin. Now repeat after me..........