Which Travel Companies Played April Fools Jokes This Year

It’s April 1 all day today, and in recent years travel companies have gotten in on the act of launching April Fools’ pranks, some with more success than others. Here’s a roundup of the best and worst this year…WestJet said it was rebranding itself as Canada Air, emphasizing the friendliness of its home nation while poking at its big brother Air Canada with the hashtag #MostCanadian:Emirates claimed to be launching a triple-decker aircraft with its own swimming pool, games room and more:Emirates takes it to the next level!Richard Branson fronted Virgin Atlantic’s contribution to the day of pranks. announcing the airline’s new “flapenergy” technology and the resulting airplane with flappable wings named the Dreambird 1417:Qatar Airways had a little fun playing off its new QSuites with YouSuite:And how about Travelodge’s new “Whiff and Wake” service that wafts the smell of bacon directly from your hotel room’s alarm clock?Mmmmm, Travelodge bacon…Meanwhile, the efforts of some travel companies didn’t quite make the grade. Southwest claimed to have created an in-flight matchmaking app called Bucklr:We don’t know what tattoos have to do with travel insurance, but that didn’t stop Australian company Travel Insurance Direct from promoting its new “tattoo spell checker” app…The tattoo was supposed to say “Jack”…We’re also not sure about the Lyft Mono, a wearable hailing device, nor about the guy randomly dancing around while wearing it:Sign up for our daily newsletterEmail addressSign upI would like to subscribe to The Points Guy newsletters and special email promotions. The Points Guy will not share or sell your email. See privacy policy.Finally, it’s not clear Etihad completely understands how this April Fools’ thing works:Cherry blossom tree in the desert. Get it? Get it…?Did you catch our own April Fools’ story this morning? Check it out here: New Uber Service Ditches Cars & Drivers for Piggyback Rides. And of course, make sure you’re following our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram posts, where TPG himself had a little fun today as well: