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The count down to World Pride 2019 and the 50th anniversary of Stonewall is finally upon us. New York city is about to experience Pride like no other. This is the first time that the United States has hosted World Pride and only the second time it has been hosted in North America (Toronto 2014). World Pride began in Rome, Italy (2000), Jerusalem (2006), London, England (2012), Madrid, Spain (2017) and heading to Copenhagen, Denmark in 2021.
It is exciting to see how some of our airlines are getting into the excitement of World Pride.
Jet Blue
Just last week New York based Jet Blue Air Lines released their newest member - "Shantay, Blue Stay" the fiercest plane in the sky. RuPaul's Drag stars Trixie Mattel and Bob the Drag Queen made a very special appearance and gave passengers aboard the inaugural flight a memorable safety flight announcement.
For fans of the Emmy award winning Reality TV series, Ru Paul Drag Race, you will know that the
host, Ru Paul will ask the finalist to "lip sync for their lives" and then one queen gets to stay, while the other queen packs her bags and leaves the show. When making her decision, Ru always says, "shantay, you stay" to the queen who gets to stay, while she says "sashay away" to the queen who is eliminated.
Jet Blue is now in their third year of partnership with the Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative (SIBI), which leverages Stonewall's historical significance to help underserved LGBTQ+ communities. Click here to learn more about Jet Blue's LGBTQ Stonewall50 release.
Virgin Atlantic
Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic announced back in October 2018 they would host a special Pride flight from London to New York city hosted by Tituss Burgess featuring drag queen bingo and live performances for the World Pride flight.
What makes this flight a little different is the entire crew from pilots to flight crew will all be LGBTQ. The non-stop flight takes off on June 28th to coincide with WorldPride as it marks the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall riots, setting in motion the modern LGBTQ movement for gender and sexual diversity. “We’re not the type of company to mark an occasion like this half-heartedly: we’re going to be pulling out all the stops,” said Mark Anderson, executive vice-president of Virgin Atlantic and global LGBT lead for Virgin Group. “We take our commitments to diversity and inclusion seriously, but you can rest assured we have a lot of fun along the way.” Click here to learn more.
United Airlines
United Airlines announced that when their MileagePlus members use their miles on Pride experiences in June, United will donate every mile redeemed to the Trevor Project, which provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services for LGBTQ youth.
United's Pride campaign, "All routes lead to love" is part of the airline's mission to become the most inclusive airline in the world. United employees are scheduled to participate in 12 pride parades world wide, demonstrating their unconditional support for Gender and Sexual Diversity.
"As Pride Month approaches, we invite MileagePlus members to show their pride, embrace the LGBTQ+ community and join United in saying 'all routes lead to love'," said Luc Bondar, United's president of MileagePlus and vice president of Loyalty. "United is thrilled to offer these unique Pride experiences and help The Trevor Project in their mission to support LGBTQ youth."
United's MileagePlus members can bid using award miles for three Pride Packages including:
* Five Pride parade travel packages to walk with United in the Pride parade in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Chicago or New York City for WorldPride 2019
* Drag Queen Brunches which will take place in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago and Newark Liberty International Airport with OTG
* Family Movie Night in the park in New York City
Click here to learn more.
Where do you want to jet off to?
departures X dean - Personal Travel Management (BC Reg. 2806)