Christmas Day

[nasus2]

we are flying economy to Bali on Singapore airlines from Heathrow uk. Can we expect the flight to be special because it’s Christmas Day . 

[CDNPolar]

4 hours ago, nasus2 said:

we are flying economy to Bali on Singapore airlines from Heathrow uk. Can we expect the flight to be special because it’s Christmas Day . 

 

Personally I would say NO.  Expect nothing more than a typical flight.

 

I have flown many times on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years Eve, and New Years Day, and never had any special surprise.

 

 

[6rugrats]

I am not sure what you mean by “special.”  Not anything different in my experience.  Many people do not celebrate Christmas.

[Zach1213]

8 hours ago, nasus2 said:

we are flying economy to Bali on Singapore airlines from Heathrow uk. Can we expect the flight to be special because it’s Christmas Day . 

 

Probably not. Oh sorry, I mean probably not.

[waterbug123]

I've flown several times on Christmas Day, although not on Singapore Air.  Nothing special, unless you count perhaps a gate agent wearing a Santa hat.

But no, they don't hand out any special treats or anything like that.  In fact, I've taken treats for the flight crew as a thank you for working a holiday away from their families.

[FlyerTalker]

14 hours ago, nasus2 said:

we are flying economy to Bali on Singapore airlines from Heathrow uk. Can we expect the flight to be special because it’s Christmas Day . 

 

And just what kind of "special" were you anticipating?

 

 

[pootsien2]

Flying isn't like it used to be, so don't be surprised if your flight is just normal. I was a flight attendant in the 80's and the captain gave us permission to serve champagne if we had enough to the whole plane. Other times, we played games and gave away bottles of wine and champagne.Now i don't know if they are even allowed to do that or may not have full size bottles! Once, a passenger brought our crew a box of cinnabons! occasionally a box of chocolates, sometimes we got tickets to events.

[nasus2]

Thank you all for your comments - I guess my ‘special’ will come from inside me in the form of excitement - happy Christmas everyone. 

[klfrodo]

For me, Christmas day or Thanksgiving Day is a great time to do that end of year mileage run. Plane is usually half full. Give an extra smile or thanks to the flight crew because they are at work instead of being home with their family.

[6rugrats]

7 minutes ago, klfrodo said:

 Give an extra smile or thanks to the flight crew because they are at work instead of being home with their family.

And, the gate agents, lobby agents and other customer service agents, as well as other employees that are there so you can travel.

[fbgd]

British Airways serve a Xmas dinner in the days around Christmas. I've only ever had the Club World/First iterations and it's pretty institutional in quality but I am a fan of roast turkey and accompaniments so usually pick it regardless...

 

Singapore Airlines have a "Book The Cook" service, so have a look and see if you have any preferable options...

[Zach1213]

3 minutes ago, fbgd said:

British Airways serve a Xmas dinner in the days around Christmas. I've only ever had the Club World/First iterations and it's pretty institutional in quality but I am a fan of roast turkey and accompaniments so usually pick it regardless...

 

Singapore Airlines have a "Book The Cook" service, so have a look and see if you have any preferable options...

 

I flew BA just a couple of days ago across the Atlantic and they had a Holiday themed menu. I don't remember exactly what it was since I had already ordered a special meal, but I remember being surprised that it was the very start of December and it was already out there. 

[Globaliser]

23 minutes ago, Zach1213 said:

I flew BA just a couple of days ago across the Atlantic and they had a Holiday themed menu. I don't remember exactly what it was since I had already ordered a special meal, but I remember being surprised that it was the very start of December and it was already out there. 

 

Monthly cycles for catering planning purposes, possibly? I've lost track of how December works now.

 

On 12/1/2023 at 6:12 PM, klfrodo said:

Give an extra smile or thanks to the flight crew because they are at work instead of being home with their family.

 

On 12/1/2023 at 6:20 PM, 6rugrats said:

And, the gate agents, lobby agents and other customer service agents, as well as other employees that are there so you can travel.

 

On BA at least, a lot of the crew are in effect volunteers: they choose to fly around then and to be away from home, because they can turn it into a holiday. So these trips can actually be in high demand. The last time that I flew close enough to Christmas that my crew were going to be downroute on Christmas Day, they were basically all getting four or five full days in Singapore before their rostered flight home - so lots of them had family with them. One of them burst into tears when I was chatting to her mid-flight, because her partner hadn't managed to get a seat on that aircraft (staff travel is like that); but after we arrived she came to tell me that he'd got on the later flight that evening and so they would be getting their holiday after all.

 

I suspect that ground staff have much less choice.

[SelectSys]

6 hours ago, fbgd said:

British Airways serve a Xmas dinner in the days around Christmas.

It was already started at least on the flight to San Diego in premium economy.  I flew home from the UK on Monday and it was being served.

 

On 12/1/2023 at 10:12 AM, klfrodo said:

For me, Christmas day or Thanksgiving Day is a great time to do that end of year mileage run. Plane is usually half full.

And as a corollary the airfares can be cheaper too in comparison to peak holiday travel days making those runs more affordable too.

[6rugrats]

11 hours ago, Globaliser said:

 

 

I suspect that ground staff have much less choice.

For the airline I work for, that would be NO choice.  If your days off don’t fall on a holiday, you will be working.

[Hezu]

17 hours ago, Zach1213 said:

I flew BA just a couple of days ago across the Atlantic and they had a Holiday themed menu. I don't remember exactly what it was since I had already ordered a special meal, but I remember being surprised that it was the very start of December and it was already out there. 

Start of December does not sound that early to me, I recall the cruise ferries that sail between Finland and Sweden and Finland and Estonia used to start their Christmas season early and I decided to check the websites and apparently this year on Tallink Silja ships their buffet restaurants switched to Christmas menu on 15.11. (and offering this until 26.12. or 31.12. depending on individual ships) and Viking Line offers their Christmas buffet from 16.11. to 26.12. on most ships, M/S Cinderella starting few days later on 20.11.

[Zach1213]

4 hours ago, Hezu said:

Start of December does not sound that early to me, I recall the cruise ferries that sail between Finland and Sweden and Finland and Estonia used to start their Christmas season early and I decided to check the websites and apparently this year on Tallink Silja ships their buffet restaurants switched to Christmas menu on 15.11. (and offering this until 26.12. or 31.12. depending on individual ships) and Viking Line offers their Christmas buffet from 16.11. to 26.12. on most ships, M/S Cinderella starting few days later on 20.11.

OK that just seems excessively early to me! 

[Globaliser]

With apologies for it almost certainly being a PR-supplied puff piece, here's a Sydney Morning Herald article about Christmas and airlines: https://www.smh.com.au/traveller/travel-news/turkey-at-38-000-feet-what-passengers-flying-this-christmas-can-expect-20231221-p5eswd.html

[6rugrats]

Here’s my report on where I work today.  I work for a major US airline at an east coast hub.  We are allowed to wear Christmas sweaters today only.  Last year, we were allowed to wear them in the two weeks prior to Christmas.  Why?  Because it might confuse the pax because they wouldn’t know what airline we worked for.  This is despite wearing a name badge, and an airline branded lanyard and the rest of the uniform.

Ironically, during football season, we are allowed to wear football jerseys on Sundays.  I guess that’s the day the more intelligent pax fly who can see we work for the airline.

The airport is pretty deserted at this early morning hour, and it actually hasn’t been too bad the last few days, although loads are high.

No delays or cancellations so far; much better than this time last year.  Today is a good day to fly.