The following post is written by VeryGoodPoints contributor, Rachel Brean.
In the spirit of the holiday season, JetBlue has recently launched a “Flying It Forward” campaign where they have asked individuals “If you were given one flight to spread good where would you go?” The individual is given a ticket to fly to where they feel they can make a difference. The first trip sent Tameka, a Chicago community worker, to New York City to meet with the United Nations. There have been six trips since then with the most recent sending Jill from New Jersey to Southern California to spread awareness on ovarian cancer. The “flying it forward” comes into play because each person selected gets to choose who will travel next on Jet Blue’s dime.
JetBlue, in partnership with their marketing agency Mullen, based in Boston, has been pumping a lot of energy into promoting Flying It Forward via social media. On JetBlue’s website, you can read about the travelers thus far and their causes. They have posted a heartwarming video to YouTube showing the flights that has had 1.6 million views so far. On Twitter, you can follow the fliers and post with the hashtag #FlyingItForward. According to Marty St. George, JetBlue’s senior vice president of commercial, “With Flying It Forward, we’re pulling the humanity and goodness that already exists to the forefront by making the sharing of these stories possible. It’s easy to say our mission is to inspire humanity, but it’s quite a feat to make that mission known and felt.”
JetBlue is in good company of other airlines that have shown their benevolent side during the holidays. My heart strings were tug at last year when Canadian airline WestJet staged a Christmas miracle sending presents off of the baggage claim area to surprised passengers. This WestJet ad has generated over 36 million YouTube views. This year, their campaign is called “Above & Beyond” and profiles Canadians who “go above and beyond every day and inspire us all to do the same”. British Airways launched a “The Welcome of Home” campaign that will award select Twitter users with a free round trip. Delta has a Force for Global Good program that encourages employees to volunteer at organizations such as Habitat for Humanity and the United Way.
The first JetBlue pay it forward recipients were found and picked by JetBlue employees but now people can submit their own nominations through the Flying It Forward microsite and by using the hashtag #FlyingItForward.