“It was a mad house.”
That’s how Julee McCully, a screener for theTransportation Security 
Carolers were crooning Christmas classics in the terminal lobby. Eighty of Santa’s elves were trying to get 60 kids from this year’s “nice” list through security for Alaska Airline’s secret Flight 1225 (get it?) to the North Pole. And alarms kept going off at the metal detector.
“It was all those jingle bells,” McCully said. “The elves had metal bells sewn onto their clothes and stuffed into these little purses that said ‘Elf Stuff.’ It was like a puzzle finding all the bells on each elf. My hands were covered in elf glitter after just the first pat-down.”
Elves? A secret flight to the North Pole? What is this, a Hallmark/Homeland Security Christmas special?
Well, yes, sort of.
Thanks to the efforts of airline and airport employees, the
What happens up there?
Embedded as an elf, I was able to tag along on Flight 1225 organized by Spokane Fantasy Flight, a non-profit group that invites area shelters and community programs to pick a group of kids who could use “an evening of wonderment and surprise” — and a pile of presents.
On the big day, kids meet their “buddy elf” at the airport and set off for a 40-minute flight to the North Pole, which is actually nearby hangar, populated by Santa, Mrs. Claus, extra elves and, of course, a few reindeer.
Some might call it cheating, but as one elf mused: “If you’re a little kid on your first plane ride and your ticket says North Pole, and the shades are drawn, and everyone, including the flight attendants and all the elves are saying the magic words, then who’s to say you haven’t landed at the real North Pole?”
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Alycia Staggs Alaska Airlines Flight 1225 out of Spokane International may be a fictional trip to the North Pole, but it is just one of many around the country. |
She has a point.
This is the 12th year a North Pole-bound flight has “taken off” from Spokane International. Despite two months of planning meetings between the TSA, the airport and airline representatives, Horizon/Alaska Airlines customer service manager Dave Burris was still anxious. “This is only the second year our airline has been the official North Pole carrier,” Burris said. “United Airlines used to host these flights, but in 2008, there was a mix-up and no plane was available. Alaska Airlines stepped in at the last minute and it was such a hit with the kids and our employees … now that we have our foot in the door, we’re not going to pull it out.”
Plenty of North Poles to go around
Don’t worry: Alaska hasn’t pushed United out of the Christmas business — not by a long shot. For the past two decades, United has hosted an annual North Pole flight from Washington’s Dulles International Airport. Airline employees also organize North Pole flights in Phoenix, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires, Sydney and, for the first time this year, Denver.
“United provides the airplanes, the gates and the use of our resources, but it’s the local employees at each airport who work endlessly to make it a success,” said Sonya Jackson, president of United Airlines Foundation.
In addition to gathering gifts and transforming a gate area, airport employees make sure the flight is posted on the departure board and that everyone’s ticket destination says North Pole. “There’s even a special ‘North Pole Only’ check-in area,” she said.
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