First time flyer gets special Emirates welcome

Dubai A first time Emirates flyer who suffered near fatal burns more than two years ago has got a welcome gesture he will not forget in a hurry.

Graduation gift

Aussie Callum Biggs, 24, who suffered over 45 per cent burns in a camping accident near Perth around two years back, completed his chemical engineering degree from the University of Western Australia only two months ago. As a graduation gift his parents gave him a one-way business class ticket aboard flight EK425 from Perth, his hometown, to London last month.

When a member of the cabin crew overheard his story, the entire team came up to give him a card with wishes written in eight languages.

“It was a very special moment and something that took me by complete surprise,” Biggs told XPRESS from the UK where he is currently holidaying. “It means a lot to me because I had spent the toughest couple of years of my life after the accident. I felt really welcome and accepted,” said Biggs whose parents bought him the business class flight using their frequent flyer points in celebration of his triumph over tragedy.

Biggs said he was given 10 per cent chance of surviving and was in coma for a week out of the five he stayed in a hospital. Even after he was out of the hospital he had to wear “really uncomfortable” pressure bandages for months to heal wounds all over his body including his face, neck, legs and hands.

“All this while I was trying to finish my studies. So flying business class was not just a celebration of my graduation but also my overcoming the odds, and getting the personalised card was like the icing on the cake,” said Biggs, who was given a card with a photo of him taken onboard and greetings signed by all 14 members of the crew in German, English, Portuguese, Malaysian, French, Thai, Afrikaans, Korean and Arabic.

Biggs, a fan of the hockeyroos (Australian hockey team) and the Aussie cricket team, now hopes to earn enough money working in a restaurant to explore Europe and drive around the US in a caravan before eventually returning to Australia to work as an engineer. “Somewhere along the way, I would love to drop by in Dubai as well,” he said.