Saturday Night Live’s #FunnyNotFunny Alaska Airlines Skit is Full of Zingers

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Over the weekend, Saturday Night Live (SNL) made a spoof commercial for Alaska Airlines (AS) and you don’t want to miss it. Unless, of course, you’re an executive over at AS. Then you might want to skip it. Below is the two-minute video. It’s full of zingers. RELATED: What to Do if You’re Booked on a 737 MAX 9 Jet

The “commercial” is about the incident that took place on January 5 shortly after takeoff from Portland, Oregon (PDX). At 16,000 feet, a 60-pound door plug blew out from a nearly new Boeing 737 MAX 9 leaving a gaping hole in the fuselage. Miraculously, no one was killed but the incident raised some serious questions; it turns out Boeing and Alaska knew of the potential dangers.

I was happy to see SNL cover this important topic but they should have directed some of the zingers towards Boeing as well.

The video opens up with “flight attendants” talking about the incident. Australian actor and SNL host Jacob Elordi opens with, “Here at Alaska, safety is our number one concern.” Then another employee, played by Kenan Thompson, chimes in and says, “Buuuut you gotta admit, it looked pretty cool. Plane flying around, no door.”

Elordi’s character agrees and says, “Everyone’s screaming, cell phones whipping out into the sky. It was awesome.”

SNL regular Heidi Gardner’s character comes on and says, “That’s why our new slogan is, ‘Alaska Airlines: You didn’t die and you got a cool story.'” Then Jacob Elordi says, “On other airlines, you can watch movies—but on Alaska, you’re in the movie.” Then the commercial shows a disturbing scene recreating what happened with passengers screaming and wind ripping through the cabin. While the spoof is funny, it’s actually terrifying to think what this experience must have been like for those passengers.

Gardner says, “If you think the state of Alaska is cold, just wait until our roof rips off.”

Thompson’s character then quips, “Since the incident, we’re going to make some changes.” Elordi follows up with, “You know those bolts that, like, hold the plane together? We’re going to go ahead and tighten some of those.”

Gardner says, “We’ve also made some small updates to our in-flight safety brochure” and the video cuts to a passenger pulling out a tome-sized safety book.

“We’ll now be taking off with the inflatable slide already deployed,” says Elordi. There are many more humorous lines. You really have to watch the two-minute video to appreciate them. One comes from an actor playing Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, who they’ve brought out of retirement and another is when a passenger says, “Some airlines gives passengers a wing pin when you get off the plane but Alaska gives you a commemorative photo of your flight” and holds up a photo like the kind you get from an amusement park after taking a roller coaster ride. He says, “This was $50.”

The commercial ends with Thompson poking fun of another Alaska Airlines (Horizon Air) incident that made worldwide news. “We’re the same airline where a pilot tried to turn off the engine mid-flight while on mushrooms. And now we’re so proud to say that’s our second worst flight.”

The skit ends with: “Alaska Airlines, still better than Spirit.” I mean, the writers and actors didn’t miss a beat on this one.

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