The woman’s voice is soft and mellow.
“Go ahead, lean back, put your feet up,” she says. “And relax to some of the calming sounds of the airport.”
The calming sounds of the what now?
What follows is nearly nine minutes of low-key boarding announcements and musings set to a soundtrack of footsteps, crowd voices, keyboard-tapping fingers, rolling suitcases, planes taking off and landing, and other sounds typically associated with air travel. The audio is inspired by JetBlue’s Terminal 5 at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, and it’s the airline’s way into the YouTube trend of videos for autonomous sensory meridian response, or ASMR.
JetBlue posted the video, which it’s calling “AirSMR,” on its YouTube channel Monday ostensibly as a way to ease holiday travel stress, and it plans to promote it on other social channels.
“We loved the juxtaposition of taking what is often associated as one of the most hectic places during the holidays — the airport — and reimagining it to create a calming experience for travelers to enjoy,” Elizabeth Windram, JetBlue’s vice president of marketing, said in an email.