Passengers steal British Airways magazine due to Benedict Cumberbatch being on the cover
HE'S established himself as a fully-fledged Hollywood star in the last year, and now it seems Benedict Cumberbatch is becoming a heartthrob too.
Fans of the 37-year-old actor are so desperate for a piece of him that they've resorted to paying for a freebie magazine just because he is on the cover.
Recently, British Airways managers were left scratching their heads after seeing a huge increase in the number of High Life magazines disappearing from their aircrafts.
However, they've now discovered that fans of the 'Sherlock' star have been taking copies of the magazine home with them and auctioning them on social media sites and eBay.
Benedict features heavily in the April issue if the magazine as he takes on the frozen lake of Hameenlinna in Finland for a Jaguar ice-driving course.
It seems the interest in the latest issue of the magazine started when Cedar Communications - who produce British Airways’ High Life in-flight magazine - tweeted preview pictures of the magazine cover.
This led to tens of thousands of Cumberbatch fans retweeting the image, and vying for their own copy.
Behind-the-scenes pictures were also tweeted by the article’s photographer and author, and prompted fans to begin recreating images from the shoot in various art forms from cupcakes to digital giffs.
We love the reaction we’ve had from customers both on flights and across social media and it’s testament to a great edition when we have to re-stock our aircraft
"We love the reaction we’ve had from customers both on flights and across social media and it’s testament to a great edition when we have to re-stock our aircraft!" said Abigail Comber, British Airways’ head of marketing.
Kerry Smith, High Life’s editor, added: "We are thrilled with the response so far. We always strive to create the best-in-class content and Benedict Cumberbatch is quickly proving the most popular cover star we have ever had in our 41-year history.
"And that takes some doing thanks to a long line of British cover stars including Heston Blumenthal, Tracy Emin and Bradley Wiggins."