{"id":4477,"date":"2018-12-17T13:39:45","date_gmt":"2018-12-17T13:39:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tui.co.uk\/press\/?p=4477"},"modified":"2018-12-17T14:00:17","modified_gmt":"2018-12-17T14:00:17","slug":"tui-and-buddy-the-elf-spread-christmas-cheer-for-all-of-aircraft-to-hear-youngest-passenger-wins-childhood-supply-of-holidays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tui.co.uk\/press\/tui-and-buddy-the-elf-spread-christmas-cheer-for-all-of-aircraft-to-hear-youngest-passenger-wins-childhood-supply-of-holidays\/","title":{"rendered":"TUI AND \u201cBUDDY THE ELF\u201d SPREAD CHRISTMAS CHEER FOR ALL OF AIRCRAFT TO HEAR \u2013 YOUNGEST PASSENGER WINS CHILDHOOD SUPPLY OF HOLIDAYS"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>TUI enlist help of Buddy, world\u2019s most \u2018famous\u2019 elf, to surprise unsuspecting passengers on a flight to Lapland<\/li>\n<li>Youngest passenger Wallace Walkden, aged 18 months from Cheshire, on the flight wins ultimate Christmas prize &#8211; a childhood supply of holidays until the age of 18<\/li>\n<li>Celebration takes place on board inaugural 737 MAX flight to Kittila, Lapland<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>17 December 2018 &#8211;<\/strong> \u201cThe best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear\u201d and that\u2019s certainly what happened on TUI Airways flight TOM2144 from Manchester to Lapland today as one unsuspecting young passenger and his family we\u2019re surprised with a visit from Buddy, the world\u2019s most \u2018famous\u2019 elf.<\/p>\n<p>Just before take-off, the cabin full of passengers on their way to see Santa, were greeted by a spontaneous visit from everyone\u2019s favourite elf who encouraged the whole aircraft to take part in a mass sing along to\u00a0&#8216;Santa Claus Is Coming to Town&#8217; at the top of their voices.<\/p>\n<p>Appearing from behind the cockpit door and entertaining the plane, Buddy had a very special gift from Santa for one small passenger. Wallace Walkden, aged 18 months from Cheshire, was gifted the ultimate Christmas stocking filler for many years to come \u2013 a golden boarding pass entitling Wallace to an annual holiday every year until the age of 18.<\/p>\n<p>The early Christmas present was to celebrate the inaugural flight on this brand, new Boeing 737 MAX aircraft to Kittila, the Finnish gateway to Lapland which the aircraft is named after. This is part of the leading holiday company\u2019s introduction of new aircraft over the next five years meaning TUI will soon have one of the youngest fleet\u2019s in the sky &#8211; a fitting gift for the flight\u2019s youngest passenger.<\/p>\n<p>Jill Nye, Director of Customer TUI Airways said, \u201cSon of a nutcracker! What a pleasure it was to create the ultimate Christmas moment for our customers on today\u2019s special Lapland flight. We believe the holiday magic begins as soon as you board our aircraft, and our honorary crew member, Buddy certainly brought the Christmas experience to life &#8211; including an early gift from Santa. Hopefully the golden holiday ticket will allow the Walkden family to create memorable moments for years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>TUI Airways Moment Maker initiative aims to create thoughtful inflight experiences for customers based on tried and tested ideas from the crew to bring that holiday feeling to life on board, this includes anything from mini future crew kits, to helping customers celebrate special occasions. On selected 737 MAX next year aircraft these moments will be taken to the MAX \u2013 watch this space!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TUI enlist help of Buddy, world\u2019s most \u2018famous\u2019 elf, to surprise unsuspecting passengers on a flight to Lapland Youngest passenger Wallace Walkden, aged 18 months from Cheshire, on the flight wins ultimate Christmas prize &#8211; a childhood supply of holidays until the age of 18 Celebration takes place on board inaugural 737 MAX flight to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":4479,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","post_format-post-format-image"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>TUI AND \u201cBUDDY THE ELF\u201d SPREAD CHRISTMAS CHEER FOR ALL OF AIRCRAFT TO HEAR \u2013 YOUNGEST PASSENGER WINS CHILDHOOD SUPPLY OF HOLIDAYS | TUI UK Media Centre<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tui.co.uk\/press\/tui-and-buddy-the-elf-spread-christmas-cheer-for-all-of-aircraft-to-hear-youngest-passenger-wins-childhood-supply-of-holidays\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"TUI AND \u201cBUDDY THE ELF\u201d SPREAD CHRISTMAS CHEER FOR ALL OF AIRCRAFT TO HEAR \u2013 YOUNGEST PASSENGER WINS CHILDHOOD SUPPLY OF HOLIDAYS | TUI UK Media Centre\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"TUI enlist help of Buddy, world\u2019s most \u2018famous\u2019 elf, to surprise unsuspecting passengers on a flight to Lapland Youngest passenger Wallace Walkden, aged 18 months from Cheshire, on the flight wins ultimate Christmas prize &#8211; a childhood supply of holidays until the age of 18 Celebration takes place on board inaugural 737 MAX flight to [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.tui.co.uk\/press\/tui-and-buddy-the-elf-spread-christmas-cheer-for-all-of-aircraft-to-hear-youngest-passenger-wins-childhood-supply-of-holidays\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TUI UK Newsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-12-17T13:39:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-12-17T14:00:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.tui.co.uk\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/TUIBuddyElf_01.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"4000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2666\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Louise Wiseman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Louise Wiseman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.tui.co.uk\/press\/tui-and-buddy-the-elf-spread-christmas-cheer-for-all-of-aircraft-to-hear-youngest-passenger-wins-childhood-supply-of-holidays\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.tui.co.uk\/press\/tui-and-buddy-the-elf-spread-christmas-cheer-for-all-of-aircraft-to-hear-youngest-passenger-wins-childhood-supply-of-holidays\/\",\"name\":\"TUI AND \u201cBUDDY THE ELF\u201d SPREAD CHRISTMAS CHEER FOR ALL OF AIRCRAFT TO HEAR \u2013 YOUNGEST PASSENGER WINS CHILDHOOD SUPPLY OF HOLIDAYS | TUI UK Media Centre\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.tui.co.uk\/press\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.tui.co.uk\/press\/tui-and-buddy-the-elf-spread-christmas-cheer-for-all-of-aircraft-to-hear-youngest-passenger-wins-childhood-supply-of-holidays\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.tui.co.uk\/press\/tui-and-buddy-the-elf-spread-christmas-cheer-for-all-of-aircraft-to-hear-youngest-passenger-wins-childhood-supply-of-holidays\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.tui.co.uk\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/TUIBuddyElf_01.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-12-17T13:39:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-12-17T14:00:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.tui.co.uk\/press\/#\/schema\/person\/9e8d733564656cac2f5d6c6a165faa14\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.tui.co.uk\/press\/tui-and-buddy-the-elf-spread-christmas-cheer-for-all-of-aircraft-to-hear-youngest-passenger-wins-childhood-supply-of-holidays\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.tui.co.uk\/press\/tui-and-buddy-the-elf-spread-christmas-cheer-for-all-of-aircraft-to-hear-youngest-passenger-wins-childhood-supply-of-holidays\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.tui.co.uk\/press\/tui-and-buddy-the-elf-spread-christmas-cheer-for-all-of-aircraft-to-hear-youngest-passenger-wins-childhood-supply-of-holidays\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.tui.co.uk\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/TUIBuddyElf_01.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.tui.co.uk\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/TUIBuddyElf_01.jpg\",\"width\":4000,\"height\":2666,\"caption\":\"EDITORIAL USE ONLY A Buddy the Elf lookalike poses with the pilot on board TUI Airways flight TOM2144 from Manchester to Lapland, as Wallace Walkden, aged 18 months, receives the ultimate Christmas gift from the holiday company in the form of a golden boarding pass entitling him to an annual holiday until he is 18 years old. 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