Air New Zealand crew handing over All Blacks jerseys to Aer Lingus crew after Ireland's loss to New Zealand in 2016.

Air New Zealand crew handed over All Blacks jerseys to Aer Lingus crew immediately after Ireland lost to New Zealand.

Aer Lingus Cabin Crew Kassie McEvoy on board flight EI158 from Dublin to London on Sunday 20th November.

Passengers on Aer Lingus flight EI158 were surprised yesterday to be greeted by cabin crew wearing All Blacks jerseys.

What was the story?

Aer Lingus was honouring its end of an #AirlineChallenge struck with Air New Zealand ahead of the Ireland v All Blacks game on Saturday.

Before the match, a good-natured Twitter war saw the airlines trade photoshopped images of each others' boarding passes, in-flight magazines and more.

Finally, they settled on a deal - the losing side's airline would have their cabin crew wear the opposing team's jersey on a flight after the game.

Ultimately, Ireland went down 9-21 in a bruising home encounter.

Kia Ora, welcome aboard. Today, black is the new green. #AirlineChallenge pic.twitter.com/yjio1ZtvtE — Air New Zealand✈️ (@FlyAirNZ) November 20, 2016

And so the crew on Aer Lingus flight EI158 from Dublin to London, which departed at 9.15am yesterday morning, wore the All Blacks jerseys.

The jerseys were handed over by Air New Zealand crew to their counterparts at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin after the game, it has emerged.

No hard feelings, @FlyAirNZ! We're looking forward to the next time! https://t.co/VdzQ0ZRWAK — Aer Lingus (@AerLingus) November 21, 2016

The sporting nature of the exchange has been widely praised on social media (though there have of course been quips about dodgy tackles).

"A deal is a deal," Aer Lingus has said.

The airline may have lost this particular encounter, but there's no doubt about the winners - two savvy social media teams celebrating behind the scenes.

Read more:

Read More

Online Editors