He wasn't complaining about having to wait 4 hours. He was complaining about the lack of respect they have for customers (not specifically him, but in general), and he was comparing his experience between Virgin and United.

With one, he was surprised by an unfortunate, not-well-known policy and OFFERED NO HELP, versus the other where they went above and beyond what he expected from them (sell him a ticket to get home).

I think this is a great example of how some companies "get it" and are going to keep and grow their customers, while other companies don't "get it" and it will lead to their demise.

Since when is selling you a ticket "above and beyond" expectations for an airline?

I think the parent is indicating that selling you a ticket is the expectation, and that Virgin went above and beyond that baseline.

Being treated like a human being is "above and beyond" with respect to airlines.

Actually, I don't find flying particularly frustrating. Waiting on the runway, getting kicked off my flight because it's overbooked, getting stuck in the airport - it goes with the territory, and I am okay with that. My grudge with United (and subsequent love affair with Virgin) was about the way they treat their customers.

IMO this is actually a problem.

We're so used to being treated like crap that we take it for granted and accept it.

If you have six widget, and you sell seven, you have to give the 7th a refund, otherwise it's fraud.

When an airline has six seats and sells 8, the extra two buyers get the shaft, and that's ok?

Well, when you get bumped they put you on another flight, and often offer free flights to the people who volunteer to get bumped...

So it's not really fraud. They don't just strand you at the airport.

No matter how you slice it, they're selling you something that they already sold to someone else.