'There's an omission that needs to be righted': Kelly Ripa says YVR should be on best airport list

Vancouver’s airport kicked off this week with a celebrity endorsement from American sweetheart Kelly Ripa.

On Monday’s Live! With Kelly and Ryan, co-host Ripa brought up an article she’d recently read about the best airports in the world, which failed to include Vancouver.

“So I just wanted to say to the list makers that they have clearly made an error,” Ripa said, roughly 15 minutes into the morning show.

She clarified that the authors had likely just made an error—not a deliberate snub.

“I’m not a conspiracy theorist. I’m just saying there’s an omission that needs to be righted,” Ripa explains.

She ended her campaign with a “Thank you,” which was met with applause and cheers from the live studio audience.

While Ripa didn’t specify which “list makers” had erroneously omitted Vancouver, CNN published an article just after 2 a.m. on Monday titled “These are the world’s best airports for customer experience.”

The 69 airports received Airport Service Quality awards, which were also announced Monday.

The only Canadian airport that received an award was Alberta’s Fort McMurray International Airport, which was recognized as one of the world’s “most enjoyable” airports, as well as one of the top North American airports.

Even though YVR didn’t make the cut for this particular list, a spokesperson for the airport says Ripa’s support is much appreciated.

“The entire YVR team, including all our partners, work incredibly hard to serve our community, so when somebody with a wide audience like Kelly Ripa says positive things about the airport, it reflects that commitment the team has to providing an amazing passenger experience,” the spokesperson wrote in an email to CTV News on Tuesday.

“We look forward to welcoming her next time she visits beautiful B.C.”

Ripa doubled down on her YVR support by sharing a social media post by Eric Pateman, the airport’s chief experience officer, with her 3.4 million followers on Instagram.

“Thank you for the (love) today @kellyripa!” Pateman wrote over a screenshot of Monday’s morning show. “@yvrairport agrees and I am sure the 'list makers' will take notice next year!”