Santa Claus boards airplane mid-flight to spread Christmas cheer

Virgin Atlantic delighted passengers last weekend with a very special Christmas experience when Santa boarded the plane in mid-flight.

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On Sunday, December 21, while passing by during a "trans-Atlantic reindeer training flight" over Greenland, Jolly Old Saint Nick radioed to the pilots of the Virgin Atlantic's 787 Dreamliner, asking if he could come aboard for some rest and refreshments.

The experience began at boarding, when all 264 customers on board flight VS11 were given an early Christmas present from Microsoft: a Windows tablet. Once on-board, they could log on to NORAD Santa Tracker, and enjoy a live chat as he took his sleigh for a spin over the Atlantic.

Passengers were then amazed to watch the sleigh land on the aircraft through glass panels in the roof before he accessed the plane through a special "Santa hatch."

Santa then walked down the aisles of the plane, delighting children and taking selfies with surprised passengers before jetting back off into the night sky.

Christmas continued for those on the plane with prizes of Xbox and Windows devices from Dell, Lenovo, and Microsoft being won in competitions during the flight.

The Santa experience was arranged as a joint-effort between Virgin Atlantic and Microsoft to create a 4D experience, "where technology was the enabler of bringing Christmas to life," said Microsoft Creative Director Fred Warren.