UPDATE: hat tip to Jackie Danicki for sending me this link via twitter.

yeah, I always have a string quartet at my “staff communication events”. Seriously, did this spokeswoman comprehend the idiocy of that statement before saying it? With so many flights canceled in the first three days, 20% of the European flights yesterday alone, they must have a warehouse full of those “free gifts” on hand.

A spokeswoman said: “It was not a party – it was a staff communication event. There was a string quartet, doughnuts and food but we would not describe that as a party. Free gifts were given out but they were the same items passengers received on the plane.

[From BA'S bosses partied as as Heathrow Terminal Five crashed - Sunday Mirror]

(note the red footprints on the floor behind Willie, most surely a sign of the blood that will be spilled as a result of this massive PR disaster, the financial bill owed to passengers under EU rules, and embarrassment to the UK government.)