Guitar Center Partners with Southwest Airlines to Surprise Passengers with Ukuleles and In-Flight Lessons

Long Beach, CA (September 19, 2022): Guitar Center, the world’s largest musical instrument retailer, surprised passengers on Southwest Airlines® from Long Beach to Honolulu, with the first-ever in-flight ukulele class by Guitar Center on Friday, September 16.

 
Above the clouds, passengers onboard the Boeing 737-800 aircraft all received a Mitchell MU40 Soprano ukulele, a Road Runner carrying case and a unique lesson in the sky. Best-in-class Guitar Center Lessons instructors taught passengers how easy it is to learn to play the ukulele, one of Hawaii’s happiest and most familiar instruments – so easy, passengers were able to learn to play the song “Hello, Aloha. How are you?” during the flight. Passengers on board kicked off their weekend travels flying across the Pacific Ocean, unified, one chord at a time, with a sweet-sounding surprise, and an unforgettable travel day to Honolulu.

Alexandra Windsor, educational affairs specialist for Guitar Center Lessons, and Ryan Miyashiro and Ryan Imata, Guitar Center instructors at Guitar Center’s Pearl City store, led passengers in a group lesson to kick off their travel to the beautiful island of Oahu, Hawaii. “I’ve taught students through Guitar Center Lessons since 2014, but never in an airplane. It was inspiring to see how quickly passengers of all ages picked up the ukulele – many with no musical background. The ukulele is the perfect instrument for beginners, and it shows just how fun and easy learning something new can be,” said Windsor. 
 
“Our Customers anticipate warm Southwest Hospitality throughout their journeys with us, and these Surprise and Delight events are a unique way to create memorable experiences,” said Brandy King, Senior Director of Public Relations at Southwest Airlines. “Today’s celebration of Hawaiian culture and Southwest Hospitality underscore our everyday commitment to serve and celebrate the spirit of Aloha.”

To celebrate the partnership beyond the in-flight entertainment, Southwest Airlines customers and Guitar Center fans can visit Southwest.fm/ukuleleflight to enter the Ukuleles Take Flight sweepstakes for a chance to win round trip air travel on Southwest for a winner and a guest, and two Mitchell MU40 Soprano ukuleles*.
 
“Playing music is our passion at Guitar Center. Learning an instrument like the ukulele is an enriching and rewarding experience that creates lifelong benefits and memories. We offer Guitar Center lessons in almost any instrument online and in our stores across the country and for this one-time special flight, above the clouds! Not many people can say they learned to play a song on a Southwest flight to Hawaii!” said Donny Gruendler, Guitar Center VP of music education.

 
Please see photos and B-roll from the event HERE.