On November 6, the App in the Air team held a meetup for the some of our top users from the Seattle area (along with a few users from out of town who happened to be in Seattle for the evening). Participants came from many professional backgrounds, and even included local pilots and flight attendants.
The event took place in the legendary William E. Boeing “Red Barn”, a real barn where Boeing’s first aircraft were manufactured.
At the entrance of the barn we emulated the check-in procedure at the airport. Each boarding pass was scanned (guests received their passes in advance) allowing each guest’s flight maps and statistics to be displayed on TV monitors throughout the venue.
While guests gathered, they could check out some of the museum’s aviation exhibits and have a have a photo taken with one of our Flight Attendants at the App in the Air Press Wall. At the bar, our customers received App in the Air signature cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, a light dinner, and gifts including T-Shirts with flight stats taken from their individual App in the Air profile.
It was a treat to also see flight attendant Lynn Hodges in the house! Lynn worked with our colleague Mark Simon at Northwest Airlines and moved over to Alaska Airlines following the Northwest-Delta merger. Lynn’s career currently requires double duty; she flies for Alaska and works in their training department, while also teaching a class for Seattle’s Fear of Flying Clinic.
Over cocktails a ‘Docent’ from Boeing introduced the museum, gave a brief history of Red Barn, and explained how the first Boeing aircraft were assembled. Then, our CEO Bayram Annakov gave a short presentation on the company; Who we are, what we do, and what we are bringing to the industry (complete with a Q&A for our users).
At the event, guests were divided into teams for a couple of activities. To make things even more interesting — and fun — for guests, we began with an aviation quiz that included questions like, “who was the first female flight attendant”, “which aircraft currently has the longest range”, and “what is George Clooney’s favorite NBA team”? By the way, do you know the answers to these questions?
The next activity was an old standard from childhood… a paper airplane contest! After providing each team with possible designs, and instructions, each group embarked on a 15-minute period of airplane development. Then when 15 minutes were up, it was on to the engineering tests phase.
In this phase, each team was given three attempts to fly their best prototype. The rules were simple — the paper airplane that flew farther than the rest received the most points. The range of flight-test results were anywhere between ‘crash and burn’ and ‘insanely aerodynamic’!
As to the prizes themselves, in order of placement the first, second, and third place teams were awarded vouchers from Alaska Airlines, special edition Halcyon MK49 Goggles, and access to any Airline Lounge in the world that is supported by App in the Air. And, not to leave anyone out, all guests received T-shirts with their individual flying statistics, Seattle Frequent Flyer pins, “Remove Before Flight” tags, quick charging power banks, and App in the Air caps and eye masks, and more.
So, thanks to all our SEA frequent flyers. It was such a blast and we were so excited to meet you personally! It’s time to tag yourself and your friends 🙂
