People Poke Fun At Airline’s Ultimate Hawaiian Welcome With Ukelele Lessons Onboard Flight

Oct 05, 2022 by apost team

Flying to other parts of the world should always be a breeze. For passengers of a Southwest Airlines flight going to Hawaii, they were welcomed not with complimentary refreshments but with free music lessons in-flight on Sept. 16, 2022. However, netizens on Twitter roasted Southwest Airlines, poking fun at their unusual collaboration with a music store. 

Guitar Center is currently the world’s largest musical instrument retailer, and they took music lessons to greater heights as they surprised the passengers of a flight from Long Beach, California, to Honolulu, Hawaii – 23,000 miles up in the air.

Alexandra Windsor, Ryan Miyashiro, and Ryan Imata — music specialists from the Guitar Center — each took turns to teach the passengers the basics of playing a Ukulele. On the latter part of the six-hour trip, the three music instructors culminated the lesson by teaching the passengers cradled in the Boeing 737-800 aircraft to play “Hello, Aloha. How are you?” a song released in 2009 by Radiolites.

"I've taught students through Guitar Center Lessons since 2014, but never in an airplane. It was inspiring to see how quickly passengers of all ages picked up the ukulele – many with no musical background. The ukulele is the perfect instrument for beginners, and it shows just how fun and easy learning something new can be," Windsor said in a statement.

While the passengers in the aircraft seemed to have enjoyed the free ukulele music lessons, people on Twitter seemed to have thought the unusual interruption on the flight was a bit odd.

For Southwest Airlines Senior Public Relations Director Brandy King, the surprise music lessons celebrated the true spirit of an ultimate Hawaiian welcome. 

"Our customers anticipate warm Southwest Hospitality throughout their journeys with us, and these Surprise and Delight events are a unique way to create memorable experiences. Today's celebration of Hawaiian culture and Southwest Hospitality underscore our everyday commitment to serve and celebrate the spirit of Aloha," he said. 

Meanwhile, jazz and music author Ted Gioia did not seem very pleased with the added feature. “First they take away your leg room, and now this,” he said. Others were bothered by the idea of the loud ukuleles and took their frustration out on the airline. 

“What if you didn't want to hear a cacophony of ukuleles? What if you just wanted to sit in silence for the entire flight and watch TV or read, like a regular flight?” one person said. 

Responses to the free ukulele session have blown up on social media, mainly because of how netizens found the thought of it annoying, odd and somehow intrusive. 

“For anyone who wasn’t there, they can make it out to be as great or awful in their head. But if you were there in person, it was nothing but smiles. The lesson itself was a quick 20 minutes. It happened in the middle of the flight, and it was a nice break from what you’d normally be accustomed to doing on a long flight,” Miyashiro said to SFGATE.

After the plane descended in Hawaii, passengers on the flight took home a free Mitchell MU40 Soprano ukulele — the ones that they used in the music sessions — so they could continue learning and play “Hello, Aloha. How are you?” as they touched down on their vacations. 

apost.com

What do you think of the free ukulele and music lessons? Would you have enjoyed it as much as the people who boarded the Southwestern Flight? Let us know and make sure to forward this to your family and friends!