Watch above: Air Canada gives Canadian expats the gift of home for the holidays in its latest Christmas marketing video
EDMONTON – Just days after WestJet released its latest heartwarming Christmas Miracle video, rival airline Air Canada has released a holiday video of its own.
Late last month, Air Canada employees went into a Canadian pub in London, England to surprise expats with the “gift of home.”
The video captures two pilots going into “The Maple Leaf,” a popular bar Canadians go for a taste of home. After asking several patrons what they miss most about Canada, the pilots silence the bar with the ring of a loud bell.
“We have an announcement,” says one of the pilots.
“Because we are in the holiday season, I would like to take this occasion to offer everybody here present this evening a round,” said the other pilot.
With the promise of a free drink, the bar, of course, erupts in cheers. But, it’s not a free drink the pilots are handing out.
“There’s more to the story,” says one of the pilots. “When we say ‘a round’ we mean round-trip tickets for everyone to back to Canada for the holiday season.”
In disbelief, Canadians in the bar begin to cheer, shed tears and hug each other.
“My husband’s sister is pregnant and so we’re going to get to see her,” said one woman.
In true Canadian fashion, the crowd then breaks into a sing-along, belting out ‘O Canada.’
Earlier this week WestJet posted its latest holiday marketing video, which brings the miracle of Christmas to a small community in the Dominican Republic.
WATCH: WestJet releases latest, heartwarming Christmas video
WestJet’s video was posted on Sunday and had about 1.7 million views by Wednesday.