Ailing Kids Fly To North Pole, Meet Santa

By ERIC KIEFER (Patch Staff)

Newark, NJ -- Look. It’s 2015. Forget about all that “one-horse open sleigh” stuff.

The best way to get to the North Pole these days is aboard a jet airliner.

This holiday season, almost 5,000 in-need and pediatric children will get the chance to visit the “North Pole” via United Airlines’ Fantasy Flight program. Now in its 22nd year, the program will be conducted at 11 airports around the country, including Newark, Cleveland, Houston, Chicago, Austin, San Francisco and Denver.

The annual volunteer-run initiative kicked off in the contiguous U.S. with a flight in Phoenix on Dec. 4, and will conclude with flights in Denver and Washington (Dulles) on Dec. 12.

As part of the festivities, the airline takes each planeload of children on a short flight to the “hometown of Santa Claus.”

For example, this year, children aboard the Newark flight took an hour-long flight dubbed “North Pole One” that eventually landed at Newark Airport’s Gate C90.

Passengers on the Newark flight included 14-year-old Yesenia Parker, who was shot in the face by her father in 2013 and is currently struggling with health issues, the Huffington Post reported.

On arrival, a host of familiar faces were there to greet them at the festively decorated gate entrance, including Santa Claus, his elves, reindeer and a cast of volunteer holiday helpers with United Airlines.

Video by WGN-Chicago

“Planning for a fantasy flight starts well before December,” United Airlines states on its web blog. “It takes a team of volunteers to coordinate the festivities at each airport… Employees and retirees bake cookies, decorate hangars and gates, raise money and even dress up in holiday themed costumes.”

“The kids really bring home the spirit of Christmas for me,” said LAX Fantasy Flight, Customer Service Representative David Tomb, who has played Santa for the past several years. “Sometimes they share a very personal thought or a wish that gives me just a hint of what their lives are like, what they’re going through and what they’re feeling at Christmas time. I’m just grateful that I can bring a little bit of joy into their lives.”

Photos via Hub.United.com