Christmas Comes Early For Some Lucky WestJet Passengers

While most of us are still keeping our fingers crossed that Santa will deliver at least a few items from our extensive wish lists, the lucky passengers of two recent WestJet flights have already had one of their requests fulfilled.

To celebrate the holiday season, earlier this month, the Canadian airline set up a special screen near the entrance of the boarding area at the Hamilton and Toronto airports. They then selected two flights, both heading to Calgary, and asked passengers to scan their boarding passes if they wished to talk to a virtual Santa.

While some ignored it thinking it was a just a ploy to keep them entertained, others did exactly that and asked the 'Ho Ho Hoing' Santa for all kinds of things ranging from a Choo-Choo train to socks and underwear to even a large screen television. The 250 passengers then settled into their respective airplanes and promptly forgot about the whole incident.

You can only imagine their surprise when they landed in Calgary five hours later, and found exactly what they had asked for, coming down a special baggage carousel. Turns out that while the passengers were flying to their destination, the staff at the discount airline's Calgary office had been frantically shopping, to get their wishes fulfilled! The only unfortunate part? Those that had not checked in any luggage lost out on their requests because they never made it to the area. But they can take heart in the fact that the unclaimed gifts were donated to charity.

The best part is that the company had placed 19 cameras at strategic locations so that the passenger reactions could be filmed and seen by the entire world. And just to show they appreciated the heart-warming response they have received from the millions of fans worldwide, WestJet even donated a flight to a family in need when the YouTube video garnered 200,000 views.

This is not the first time WestJet has shared some holiday cheer with its customers. In 2012, they organized a flash mob of 150 volunteers who performed a jolly dance for some weary passengers waiting to board a red-eye flight and then had Santa hand out stockings that were stuffed with the latest iPods!

Resources: Huffingtonpost.com, LAtimes.com