Starbucks holiday cups have been recently unveiled, and travelers seen holding them at Alaska Airlines will get "priority boarding."
The airline and the popular coffee company have partnered to offer priority boarding to passengers holding Starbucks holiday cups for four days, starting Thursday and ending Sunday.
Passengers are reminded that "priority boarding" means they will be served after the groups of disabled, passengers with babies, active military, first-class passengers, and elite program fliers have boarded the plane.
Starbucks has been releasing holiday cups since 1997. “We came up with this idea of wrapping the stores in holiday joy and wrapping the cups like a gift to our partners and customers,” Jen Quotson, vice president of Starbucks Creative, said in a press release. “We wanted coming to Starbucks to be like uncovering a present.”
The new cups use the colors red and green and have four Yuletide designs: Polka Dots (red cup with green spots), Merry Dance (white cup striped with the words “Merry” in red), Merry Stripes (green cup with “Merry coffee”) and Candy Cane Stripes (a candy-cane-patterned cup with the Starbucks logo and name).
Quotson said that typography as art and the green dot of the Starbucks logo are the major elements of their design. “We just thought that was a very sweet expression of the brand, but still felt very holiday.”
Starbucks has also launched specialty holiday drinks: the peppermint mocha, toasted white chocolate mocha, caramel brulee latte, chestnut praline latte and eggnog latte.
Alaska Airlines is known for promotional strategies such as the Starbucks holiday cups. Alaska Airlines is considered one of the world’s safest airlines and remains number one at the the J.D. Power North America Airline Satisfaction Study for 11 years in a row.
