Hang on standby Hi Liz, hi Joe I'm Lisa from British Airways
I know today is a really special day for you so we're here to add a bit of BA Magic
Joe and I were both at university together, we did the same course
We stayed friends after university and we used to meet up from time to time
Are you excited, we're off to Dublin I hear you've got some family over there as
well Yes, a lot of family
Joe went overseas to Sydney about the same time I moved to Hong Kong, but every now and
again we'd find ourselves in the same city and we'd always catch up for a drink or dinner
So this is our first surprise of the day Wow this is amazing
Good This is amazing
Our friendship became more and 8 months later I moved down to Australia to join Joe and
we got married in 2009 So it was June 2014 and it was one of those
things where your life just changes without any warning
One day everything is fine and the next day Joe suffered a severe bleed on his brain from
an aneurism that ruptured So just like that our life changed
A couple of days later I was actually told that Joe wouldn't survive it was a terrifying
time and Joe had to endure four operations on his brain
We've got some family and friends messages to you so you can watch on the way
No way Hey Liz, hey Joe, have a fantastic time in
Dublin Joe, delighted to hear you're off to Dublin,
have a great holiday, another milestone in your recovery
We miss you so much Have a great time
We're so proud of you, well done, hope it goes well and you have a great holiday, love
you lots, bye I heard about the BA Magic campaign and I
just thought wow He's worked so hard, so, so hard at improvement,
recovery and I just thought if we could make this special for him, he deserves it
We're going to be taking you through our First wing, which is normally reserved for our first
class customers and Gold card holders, but today we'd like to welcome you through
Welcome Joe and Liz This is very special
Beautiful Travelling has been a massive part of our
lives and it's something that we lost really Cheers
Congratulations Thank you
Most of my extended family are in Ireland I used to love my holidays there with my cousins
playing in the fields, climbing trees As my first flight, it's a very, very special
place to go Since going home, I've been itching to fly
again And it's happening today
Captain Ben was there to greet us, and when he got on the plane, he asked Joe would be
mind turning left Joe welcome to the flight deck, this is one
of our Airbus A320s that we're taking you off to Dublin to today
It meant so much for me to be able to give Joe recognition really for how far he's come
It's my privilege on behalf of British Airways to invite you to our multi million pound simulator
centre here at Heathrow Wow
Long term I think about living back in Australia if it works for us but that's a long way down
the track So obviously to be able to get there, I need
to be able to fly so this is about proving that I can tolerate flying
Today we're welcoming on board a very special customer, Joe Dowd
Joe was a frequent flyer with us but he hasn't been able to fly for quite some time
This is his first flight back, we would like to welcome Joe on board
Thank you very much We're there
We got to Dublin and we touched down and Joe's lovely aunt and uncle, Richard and Anne were
there to meet us Here he is
Hello I'm so happy you're here, it's so good to
see you I've had the Royal treatment
Joe and Liz, we've got one more surprise for you
We know that Australia is very dear to your heart so we wanted to give you a little gift
so it's two Club seats to Sydney Oh my god
Oh my god This has been an amazing day, just amazing
I can't explain today, it's just been beyond amazing
It was do or die with flying could my injured body tolerate flying and I did and I can
This is exciting Liz had said to me don't give up on your dream
of flying and I never had and it was the most incredible experience
I'm so grateful to BA for making it unique and special
The rest of my life is the best of my life