Dad misses flying so much he buys Delta plane seats

Airline CEO got in touch after videos went viral

Father and daughter are enjoying the Delta seats (Tiktok/lolnissy)

A father in the US missed flying so much that he bought a pair of Delta Air Lines seats and installed them in his home.

Steve Simao’s shrine to air travel quickly went viral after his daughter, Nissy Simao, uploaded several videos of him to Tiktok.  

The clips were viewed, liked and commented on hundreds of thousands of times.

“So this is my dad,” Nissy says on the first post. “If you know him, you know he’s pretty goofy, always doing the most, pretty extra.

@lolnissy

tiktok and @delta , please give my dad the attention he deserves!! ##fyp ##foryou ##dad ##parentsoftiktok ##funny ##airplane ##deltaairlines

♬ Elevator Music - Bohoman

“The other day I got this text that he missed travelling so much he wanted to buy these first-class Delta airplane seats.”

Steve bit the bullet and the next time Nissy went home to visit her parents, she found him sitting on his new seat, tucked in with a Delta blanket and watching the airline’s safety video.

He was even reading the safety card that came with the chairs, to fully simulate the flight experience.

“He’s absolutely obsessed with them,” Nissy said of her dad and the seats.

In another video, father and daughter position themselves in the seats with a backdrop of what looks like the view from a plane window on the TV screen and video call Nissy’s grandmother, pretending to be calling from a flight.

The Tiktok posts gained so much traction that Nissy got in touch with Delta on social media and shared the videos.

They caught the airline’s attention, and Steve was rewarded for his love of the carrier with a surprise video message from Delta CEO Ed Bastian.

“I understand your dad really misses travel on Delta during this really crazy year we’ve been through,” says Mr Bastian.

@lolnissy

UPDATE: THANK YOU ALL FOR MAKING THIS HAPPEN 🥺 we’ll have to film wherever we end up going!! ##fyp ##foryou ##deltaairlines ##parentsoftiktok ##dad ##funny

♬ original sound - nissy simao

“I’m glad he’s enjoying those first-class seats in your home, and we’ve got first-class seats waiting for him when he’s ready to start travelling again.”

The airline said it was gifting the family with three first-class round-trip tickets to anywhere that Delta flies to.