Claus
Of all the bad lists Las Vegas is on top of and good lists of which it’s left off, this one has to be the worst.
Southwest Airlines announced today that it is transporting Santa Claus for visits to 21 airports and three other locations across the country — but Las Vegas isn’t one of them.
Talk about finding out who’s naughty and nice.
The airline is conducting a holiday promotion with Microsoft and its Windows products to offer free photos of travelers with Santa in his workshop between Dec. 13 and 24. As part of the promotion, a Windows PC and a year of travel on Southwest are being given away.
McCarran International Airport is the second-busiest station for the Dallas-based airline, behind Chicago’s Midway Airport, and Southwest carries the most passengers to Las Vegas, which is kind of like a gift that keeps on giving year-round.
But as far as bringing Santa to Vegas...no dice.
Santa will be at airports in San Francisco and Oakland. And San Jose. And Sacramento. Also, San Diego, Ontario and a shopping center in suburban Los Angeles. Do you get the feeling Santa has a thing for California?
The home-state bases are covered with Santa appearances in Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio.
What really hurts is that the airline is taking him to Philadelphia, where the football fans at Eagles games actually boo Santa.
A spokeswoman for the airline said some airports were left out because of a limited budget, which will make some worry about what they’ll see under the tree come Christmas.
But Southwest does have some good news for Las Vegas.
The airline expects to make a big commemoration of its 30th anniversary of service to McCarran next month.
Call it a Christmas after-party, Vegas style.