London Heathrow airport is making a conscious effort to bring festive cheer to those travelling through the hub airport during the holiday period with various Christmas-themed surprises.

 

From the 1 December, LHR says that it will deliver “unexpected surprises for the lucky 4.3 million passengers travelling through Heathrow”, for 24 days.

 

On Saturday 1 December, Heathrow surprised six passengers arriving in the UK with Ipads to stay in touch with loved ones whilst they are away.

 

Other gifts, which will be given away at random over the next three weeks, include his and hers designer watches from Watches of Switzerland worth £5,000; festive Hamley’s teddy bears to surprise children in baggage reclaim and Oakley winter survival kits for passengers flying off for a ski trip.

 

DAILY SURPRISES

Clues to the identity of the daily surprises will be posted on Heathrow’s Secret Santa Facebook page, giving “many passengers a fun, festive and memorable journey through Heathrow,” says the airport operator. “This is the first time the airport has surprised passengers in this way,” it adds.

 

LHR estimates that its busiest day will be Friday 21 December, when it expects 105,000 passengers departing from Heathrow. “Santa will be on hand in his grotto that day to help with any last minute present requests,” says LHR. Elves will be handing out mince pies and 100 bottle of fragrance from World Duty Free.

 

Carol Stokes, Head of Passenger Experience at Heathrow said: “The Christmas holidays are an exciting time for Heathrow and for the many families, friends and couples making the most of the festive break. We want to make sure the 4.3 million passengers travelling through Heathrow during December have a smooth journey with a touch of Christmas magic”.

 

As previously reported, passengers travelling through Heathrow will also be able to benefit from two new shopping services which have launched in time for Christmas.

 

 

MAJOR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN

The launch is being supported by a major advertising campaign on 26 November aimed at the 41% of passengers who travel through Heathrow to visit friends and family over Christmas.

 

As part of the airport’s emphasis on creating experiences which help ‘make every journey better’ at Christmas, Heathrow will be launching two new services:

 

An online shopping experience called ‘Heathrow Boutique’ allowing passengers to browse and reserve purchases before they arrive at the airport www.heathrow.com/boutique as well as a home delivery called ‘Heathrow delivered’ enabling passengers to have their purchases delivered for free to any UK mainland residential address free.