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Interesting airline analogy. I've never had the pleasure of flying with Virgin, but I have flown with a couple of their full-service competitors (or is it comrades? - I can never remember who is in Star Alliance and who is in OneWorld). I've also flown with a number of the "low-fares" carriers, and on some of these airlines, the customer experience has stopped short of torturous, but has been deeply unpleasant.

If you 'choose' the cheaper airline, you face a swarm of tiny inconveniences which can dent your happiness: the raft of hidden charges, airports which tend to be miles away from the cities they're named after (occasionally, in an entirely different country), the boarding process which resembles a game of musical chairs played in prison, the Lilliputian seats, paying restaurant prices for vending-machine food...

With planes, there's a choice between cheap and comfortable. The challenge for the NHS is to be both free and pleasant at the point of use.