Thomas Cook Airlines hypnotises frequent flyers to experience flying for the 'first' time
After research revealed that 35% of Brits had fallen out of love with air travel because it had become mundane, Thomas Cook Airlines enlisted TV hypnotist Aaron Calvert to relight the fire by giving frequent passengers a first-time flight experience while under hypnosis.
Thomas Cook hypnotises frequent flyers
The idea stemmed from research that found people had stopped feeling excited by flying, with 55% feeling that flying is a means to an end. However, 72% of adults polled remember their first flight fondly.
With this in mind, Thomas Cook wanted to give frequent flyers a ‘first-time’ flying experience to help them fall back in love with flying.
To do this, Calvert spent 20 minutes putting a group of frequent flyers under hypnosis to make them believe they'd never stepped foot on a plane. They were then told they were part of a documentary on first-time flyers.
In total, the participants spent eight hours under hypnosis, in which time they caught a flight to an unspecified location. The group were filmed as they waited expectantly in the departure lounge, anticipating the flying experience before they boarded an A321 to experience it for themselves.
Director of group cabin crew management at Thomas Cook Airlines, Maggie Kennedy, said: “We think that your holiday should start as you arrive at the airport and board the aircraft, which is why we want to show the fun of flying through this experiment.
"Flying with us allows you to sit back, relax and disconnect from the everyday before reaching a fantastic holiday destination. What can be better?!”
Mandy Sharp, founder of Tin Man, said: ‘Flying has become such second nature to us that to really establish the brand in travellers' consciousness, we needed to emotionally engage our audience.
"We did that by taking people back to their ‘first time’ flying experience and reliving all those emotions — essentially helping Brits fall back in love with flying.”
