Canada’s WestJet Airlines scored a huge PR coup after Calgary-bound passengers divulged their “Christmas Miracle” video wish lists to Santa Claus recently.

No sooner did their planes later land from Toronto than these same passengers crowded around Calgary Airport’s baggage claim to be met by individually wrapped and labelled gifts sitting on the baggage carousels – amidst fake falling snow.

These gifts for passengers included mobile phones, televisions, free flights, toys for children and many other items based on their previous video chats with “Santa” – all meticulously noted secretly by WestJet staff and then acquired and wrapped while passengers were still in mid air.

While initially running the promotion in early December as a mere publicity stunt, the airline also promised free tickets for a needy family if the YouTube video of the passengers talking to Santa generated more than 0.2m hits. Just a few weeks after it was first shown, the video has since crashed through the 27.6m hits barrier.

WestJet Airlines is a Canadian low-cost carrier providing scheduled and charter air services to 88 destinations in Canada, the US, Europe, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. It is presently the second-largest Canadian air carrier behind Air Canada and in 2012 it carried a total of 17,453,352 passengers.