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.