WestJet 'Christmas miracle' video a gift for Hamilton travelers
Passengers landed in Calgary to find gifts left by Santa on baggage carousel
More than 250 passengers from Hamilton and Toronto on Calgary-bound flights were part of a "Christmas miracle" thanks to WestJet.
The airline had a virtual Santa ask passengers what they wanted for Christmas as they scanned their boarding passes at a kiosk in Toronto and Hamilton.
While the flights were en route, 175 WestJet volunteers gathered gifts from Best Buy and CrossIron Mills.
Once at the Calgary International Airport, the gifts came down the baggage carousel.
In a blog post explaining the video, WestJet's sponsorship lead Greg Plata wrote they would give away holiday flights to a family in need if the company cracked its goal of 200,000 views. As of 11:00 a.m. Tuesday morning the video had 1,099,892 views.
"In early August, we sat down with our friends at Studio M and started brainstorming what ‘giving’ looked like at its best. We wanted to do something big, exciting and fresh," wrote Plata.
Studio M is a digital production company based out of Toronto.
The airline tried a similar stunt last year, when passengers going from Calgary to Toronto were surprised by a flash mob of singing and dancing elves.