Is "thanks" appropriate to be polite in this situation? [closed]

Solution 1:

There are many phrases that you could have used to thank them. Here are a few of them:

1. "Thank you" / "Thanks" / "Thank you very much". These are all polite enough.

2. "Cheers!". More informal, but still polite enough. This would have been valid because you were in the UK. But it doesn't apply to the US, for example.

3. "Thank you very much. That was very kind!"

Based on your description of the situation, I think that #3 would have better expressed to them what you felt.

Solution 2:

It sounds polite to me. As a native speaker (Canadian English) I probably would have said the same thing.