Airline grants passenger wishes in heartwarming Christmas stunt
By Maryn Edwards on Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Now, I know what you’re thinking – it’s an airport and an airline, during the holidays; heartwarming, joyous and festive are not normally the words that come to mind at this time of the year. More often than not those feelings are instead stress, anger and disappointment at missed flights.
But Canadian airline WestJet is different, and they are known for their public stunts and viral videos. Take, for example, their Christmas flash mob from last year, or this past April Fools, when they lifted restrictions on what animals could be brought onto flights through their “Furry Family” program.
This year, the airline took their annual stunt a step further, and have provided the internet with one of the most heartwarming videos of the season.
Passengers on two flights were asked to scan their boarding passes at a screen embedded in a massive present, where they were then able to talk to Santa in real time via a FaceTime/Skype setup. Santa, being Santa (and knowing every person’s name), made sure to ask each passenger what they wanted for Christmas.
The rest? Well, you’ll just need to watch the video. And make sure you have Kleenex, or an excuse for your co-workers as to why you’re crying at your desk:
Here’s a behind the scenes from the airline about why they ran this program:
And, of course, it wouldn’t be a good video if it didn’t include some Santa bloopers: