Flying on Christmas Day. What Did Your Airline Do?

What did your airline do for Christmas? If you were a passenger, what did your airline do for you?

I was (un?)fortunate enough to be working Christmas night out of Los Angeles bound for Sydney. We had a great cabin crew who all seemed to embrace the Christmas season, so the ambience and mood on the crew bus and on the aircraft was actually quite uplifting – and there was a definite buzz.

Many airlines will avoid acknowledging Christmas because of the often debilitating political correctness that often tends to offend ‘minority’ sensibilities. Of course, defining a brand means embracing the spirit of the carrier’s home and those of its people. People understand this – including religions that don’t necessarily embrace the whole ‘Santa’ theme. Our guests of from cultural backgrounds were just as impressed as anybody else with the effort made on the night.

Our cabin crew decorated themselves with tinsel, reindeer ears, Mrs Claus aprons, ornaments and Santa suits while passengers were boarding, and then they (courageously) continued to wear them for a good portion of the flight. Countless passengers mentioned that this was the first time they had enjoyed any kind of Christmas celebration on board an aircraft – ever – and we had a number of guests comment that it was a joy to be with us after having flown with carriers into LAX earlier that day that completely overlooked the occasion. In the rush to get ready, Santa managed to keep the kiddies amused and the girls still found time for photos while they were handing out little Christmas packages.

I was personally impressed with the little effort that went a long way in keeping with the spirit of our brand and remaining true to the values of the airline… most notably – “Having Fun”.

In a desperate attempt to feel a little more Christmasy myself I watched ‘Jingle all the Way’ during my break in the crew rest. Mistake – it was a terrible movie.