’Tis the season for the ultrawealthy to fly private and make over-the-top holiday requests.
Bob Seidel, CEO of private-jet company Alerion Aviation, tells us that one mother didn’t want her daughter to be alone for the holidays, so “two years in a row they flew their family cat — mind you, the only passenger was the cat — to London to be with their daughter.”
In another instance, “someone wanted presents under a small tree on board, which meant they had to find a small tree and weight it so it didn’t topple during takeoff and landing.”
And “one passenger requested to have a pseudo-Rockettes show on board, which was very hard to accommodate, but they made it happen,” while another wanted the seemingly nightmarish scenario of “flight attendants [singing] Christmas carols the whole flight.” Other requests have included dressing a pilot as Santa.
Flights range from $6,800 to more than $1 million.