ASHES fever gripped British Airways and Virgin Atlantic today as the UK rivals tried to outplay each other with cricket-themed promotions. BA scored an early point by offering seats on its Sydney and Melbourne routes for the price equivalent to Australia’s first innings tally in the Ashes decider at the Oval, starting tomorrow. The number of tickets available will be the same number as England’s first innings total. A special telephone line – 0870 850 2427 – will open immediately after both sides complete their first innings. Tickets will be restricted to a maximum of two per caller. A BA spokesman said chief executive Sir Rod Eddington, an avid cricket fan, was not behind the novel promotion. Virgin then quickly responded by unveiling ‘Freddie’ fares to Australia in honour of English all-rounder Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff’. Virgin said its deal is “an even better offer” than BA’s, which will be nullified if Australia scores a high runs’ tally in the next few days. Virgin’s promotion is based on the total number of runs scored by Flintoff in the series. The number and price of its special return air fares to Sydney will equal the sum total of Flintoff’s runs. So far Freddie has scored 322 runs. Virgin’
Chairman Sir Richard Branson has also announced Virgin will carry the Ashes urn to Australia ahead of the 2006/2007 Ashes contest for display Down Under during the next series.
The coveted urn, normally held at Lords Cricket Ground, has only been displayed once in Australia back in 1988.