Here’s a cute airline/sports team partnership.
As the Houston Rockets basketball team’s official airline partner, Taiwan’s Eva Air has created a Rockets-themed experience for passengers flying on the airline out of Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH).
Houston travelers will see Rockets-branded signage and be able to download or print out Rockets-themed boarding passes and luggage tags.
The carrier currently flies between Houston and Taipei daily.
People of all ages love Hello Kitty and her friends.
Put them on – and in – and aircraft and fans will be delighted.
That’s why the carrier partners with Sanrio, the Hello Kitty marketing company to put Hello Kitty characters on a series of themed airplanes.
The newest is the Hello Kitty Besties Jet, which set out on its inaugural flight on August 29, 2024, from Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) to Taiwan Taoyuan Intl (TPE).
The aircraft will depart from Chicago every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday during the summer schedule, and Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in winter.
In addition to the lively Hello Kitty and friends livery on the outside of the plane, plenty of Hello Kitty elements are inside the cabin.
Fans will spot Hello Kitty, My Melody, and the popular character Kuromi as well as specially designed headrests and meal service place settings.
Fun, right?
EVA Air now has four routes that feature Hello Kitty Jets.
Hello Kitty Besties Jet will be flying the Chicago route, while BAD BADTZ-MARU Travel Fun is flying the Philipines route, and Celebration Flight and Joyful Dream are alternating on EVA Air’s Bali and Cebu routes (Indonesia & Philippines).
As a nice touch, EVA Air still offers all the Hello Kitty-themed in-cabin amenities on days when the specially liveried planes aren’t flying on these routes.
Fun!
Here are some travel tidbits from the Stuck at the Airport inbox to help you ease into the week, including music and travel advice, contests for travel adventures and, of course, airport news.
EVA Air is teaming up with the San Francisco Giants to host Hello Kitty Day at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Saturday, May 11, 2024.
As part of Hello Kitty Day, the first 15,000 fans to enter Oracle Park on May 11 will each receive a Hello Kitty Bucket Hat. On that day, EVA President, Clay Sun, will throw out the first pitch while Hello Kitty and the Giants Mascot Lou Seal mug on the field.
For planespotters: EVA’s Hello Kitty “Shining Star Jet” is flying between San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and Taoyuan International Airport (TPE) in Taipei, Taiwan. The Boeing 777-300ER is flying two days a week, on Fridays and Sundays, now through May 26. It will then shift to Sundays only, from June 2 to June 23.
Air Canada asked three Québec artists – Charlotte Cardin, Alexandra Stréliski and Sarahmée – to create music playlists to go with their favorite European cities.
Charlotte Cardin focused on Paris.
Sarahmée visits Barcelona.
And Alexandra Stréliski shares her faves in Amsterdam.
The playlists are available on the Air Canada website and Spotify. Give a listen.
J.D. Power’s 2024 North American Satisfaction study is out and concludes that investments some airlines have been making in trying to improve the overall flight experience with friendly, attentive service are paying off.
“The big takeaway from this year’s study is the power of people to positively influence the overall flight experience,” said Michael Taylor, J. D. Power senior managing director of travel, hospitality, retail and customer service. “Airlines investing in staff training and recruitment are finding ways to overcome the negative effects of crowded gates and planes simply by being nice to their customers.”
The North America Airline Satisfaction Study measures performance in seven categories: airline staff; digital tools; ease of travel; level of trust; on-board experience; pre/post-flight experience; and value for price paid. Scores are tallied on a 1,000-point scale.
Here are the top lines in Customer Satisfaction, but segment.
First/Business: Delta Air Lines ranks highest with a score of 743. JetBlue Airways (736) ranks second.
Premium Economy segment: Delta Air Lines ranks highest for a second consecutive year, with a score of 716. Alaska Airlines (687) ranks second and American Airlines (684) ranks third.
Economy/Basic Economy: Southwest Airlines ranks highest in customer satisfaction in the economy/basic economy segment for a third consecutive year, with a score of 685. Delta Air Lines (651) ranks second and Allegiant Air (633) ranks third.
This week we’ve been poking around for cool airplane liveries and learned from Calgary-based WestJet that the carrier is getting ready to retire the Walt Disney World Resort livery on the popular “Frozen”-themed plane and on the “Magic Plane” that features Sorcerer Mickey on the tail.
According to a WestJet spokesperon, “later this year,” the airline will be repainting these planes to match the existing WestJet fleet.
If you’re a Hello Kitty fan, there’s some good news.
Tawain-based Eva Air, which currently operates four Hello Kitty-themed jets – Travel Fun, Celebration Flight, Joyful Dream and Shining Star – says it is “working hard to create designs for our next generation Hello Kitty Jets” and will share news about those new special liveries when they’re ready to go.
In the meantime, the carrier says it’s using the four current Hello Kitty jets on flights to Clark (in the Philippines), Bali and Sapporo but not on specific schedules.
“We are using them just as we operate other aircraft in our fleet. A passenger on one of these routes could end up on an EVA Hello Kitty Jet or on another aircraft.”
Japan’s All Nippon Airways – ANA – is getting its first Airbus A380 and will introduce it on the Tokyo-Honolulu route starting spring 2019. When it does, the plane will be painted to look like an endangered Hawaiian green sea turtle (‘Honu’ in Hawaiian) – which is a symbol of luck and prosperity.
The “FLYING HONU” design was chosen from more than 2,000 contest submissions and the winner received a pair of round-trip business class tickets between Tokyo and Honolulu.
ANA first A380 design is released with a nickname "Flying Honu", symbolized good luck, endurance & long life! ⇒ https://t.co/0SPAwvjWyx pic.twitter.com/QS369GByy1
— All Nippon Airways (@FlyANA_official) March 6, 2017
In announcing the special livery, ANA said it will also be supporting activities in Hawaii to protect the Hawaiian green sea turtle and will introduce yet-to-be-finalized new passengers services for the plane and the route.
Meanwhile, earlier this month EVA Air launched a new “Travel Fun” Sanrio character-jet adorned with the character Bad Badtz-Maru that will be flying on the Taipei-Fukuoka and Taipei-Seoul routes.
The Airbus A330-300 is the first to fly internationally with a Bad Badtz-Maru livery and shows a vacation-ready Bad Badtz-Maru and some of his friends, along with hats, a camera, snacks and other items.
During the party held to welcome EVA Air’s new Hello Kitty-themed jet at Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport on Friday, a wide variety of Hello Kitty-themed items were on display.
The food and toilet paper were designed to be used on board, but samples likely end up going home as souvenirs (which is probably why there are two rolls in the lavatories). But many other items are available for purchase only on Hello Kitty-themed flights.
Here are some of my favorites. (More to come..)
Hello Kitty barf bag
With a great deal of fanfare and classic Hello Kitty cuteness, EVA Air’s brand-new, specially painted Boeing 777-300ER landed at Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport on Friday, June 19, 2015, with the carrier’s Chairman KW Chang serving as captain.
Named the Hello Kitty Shining Star Jet, the plane’s livery features Little Twin Stars Kiki and Lala, Hello Kitty and My Melody and is EVA Air’s seventh specially painted aircraft and its second using a long-range Boeing 777-300ER. The plane will fly on EVA Air’s new route between Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental and Taipei’s Taoyuan International Airport three times a week. A fourth flight, using a Boeing 777-300ER with standard EVA livery, will be added on July 8, 2015.
Here are a few pictures from the arrival event at IAH Airport. More pictures of the Hello Kitty-themed items on board – and available for purchase on board the airplane – tomorrow on Souvenir Sunday.
EVA AIR HELLO KITTY JET – in flight. Courtesy EVA AIR
More tomorrow…
(All photos by Harriet Baskas, except the plane in flight, which is courtesy EVA AIR)
Eva Air’s Hello Kitty Jets not only have Hello Kitty characters painted on the outside of the plane, just about every item inside the plane – from the headrest covers to the meals – has a Hello Kitty theme as well.
Right now the Hello Kitty jets are ready for the Chinese New Year. And to welcome in the Year of the Goat, the headrest covers, placemats and a variety of inflight service items now feature Hello Kitty wearing a set of goat horns.
Eva Air’s Hello Kitty Hand-in-Hand jet is on the move again.
This time, with a beret and a baguette.
Part of a fleet of Hello Kitty-themed jets, this Boeing 777-300ER is the airline’s first long-range Hello Kitty-themed aircraft and has a collage of 19 Sanrio characters joining hands the entire length of the aircraft.
On board, it’s all about Hello Kitty, starting with the boarding passes and baggage stickers. Inside the plane, the cabin crew wears pink aprons with Hello Kitty designs and there are more than 100 in-flight service items with Hello Kitty themes – including the headrest covers, pillows, napkins, paper cups, utensils, snacks and meals.
Want to ride on this plane? EVA operates the Hello Kitty Hand-in-Hand Jet on three of its four weekly Paris flights as BR88 from Paris’ Charles de Gaulle (CDG) to Taiwan’s Taoyuan International Airport (TPE) on Monday, Thursday and Saturday. Return flight BR87 flies TPE – CDG on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday.
Airline amenity kits filled with personal care items have been handed out to business and/or first-class passengers on long commercial flights since at least the 1950s. Utilitarian at first, today these chic containers and their posh contents have become coveted and collectible and are often designed by top designers and filled with luxury products.
Here’s a look at some travelers’ favorite kits, past and present from the slide show I originally put together for CNBC Road Warrior.
A Pan Am World Airways amenity kit from the 1960s. “The President Special” was the name given to the airline’s first class service on several high-profile international routes. Courtesy SFO Museum
Courtesy SFO Museum
The SFO Museum has 355 airline kits representing 57 airlines in its collection. The earliest were called “Remain Over Night” kits and produced in “his” and “hers” versions by the Airline Textile Manufacturing Company (AirTex) based in Des Moines, Iowa.
The men’s kit included deodorant, aftershave, hair cream, a razor, shoe polish and a comb. The women’s kit had hair spray, cleansing cream, hand cream and nail polish remover, according to the SFO Museum.
Qantas, the flag carrier of Australia, partnered with Kate Spade New York and Jack Spade a couple of years ago to design exclusive amenity kits for customers traveling in the business class cabin. Each kit includes a selection of luxury Malin+Goetz skin care products as well as an eye mask, ear plugs, socks and other comfort essentials.
Delta’s Tumi amenity kit gets high marks from frequent travelers for both its contents and its re-usability. “It stands head and shoulders above the competition, with a good range of products, including lip balm, which is always something I forget,” said John Walton at Routehappy. It can also “easily be reused to pack thing likes extra batteries or headphone cords,” said Chris McGinnis, of Travelskills.com.
Singapore Airline’s Salvatore Ferragamo-branded amenity kits stand out to Paul Shrater, co-founder of the online travel-size site Minimus.biz because “not only is Ferragamo a well-known luxury brand, but the kits include travel-sized perfume and cologne, a rarity in amenity kits and a product we recently launched due to customer demand.”
Sadly EVA Air has not created Hello Kitty-themed amenity kits to go with its fleet of Hello Kitty-themed aircraft, but when the airline introduced three brand-new Boeing 777-300ERs on its North America routes in the summer of 2014, it also introduced two new colors for its sought-after Rimowa amenity kits. Royal Laurel business class passengers receive one color on inbound flights and the other outbound. Contents complement the shells’ colors and include natural lip balm and moisturizing products by HARNN, lens-cleaning cloths and adjustable silk eye masks.
All the items in Japan Airlines’ kit for First Class passengers “were perfectly color-coordinated,” said Oonagh Shiel, the editor who recently led a review of almost thirty airline amenity kits for Cheapflights.com. “The toothbrush matched the hair brush and the eye mask and we didn’t see another kit with a built-in hanger,” which open up possibilities for after-flight use in a hotel or at home, said Shiel. The airline distributes a beige canvas kits on flights departing Japan and a camel corduroy version on flights headed there.
More airline kits tomorrow.