Flirting on an airplane can be tricky business. Not only are passengers confined to their seats for most of the flight, the clinical environment of a plane and forward-facing rows essentially discourage anyone from mingling. You might increase your odds if you're sitting right next to someone you may be interested in, but chances are slim. Even if by chance you’re seated by your crush, you can never be sure if they’re single or even open to flirtation.
At the same time, it’s a diverse array of people all coming together, free of distractions and nothing but time to kill. Airlines must have realized that there’s something to this idea, because they’ve introduced some new ways to get to know your fellow passengers, but someone is yet to execute their ideas successfully. Virgin America, for example, had a seat-to-seat ordering system with the option of discreetly sending a drink, snack or meal to a fellow passenger on board your flight – never really took off. Meet & Seat was launched by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines back in 2011, an integrated system in which you can choose your own neighbor with whom you can sit aboard the airplane – but it failed and never expanded. Delta and Coca-Cola has gone as far as apologizing for in-flight napkins that suggested passengers hand out their information and a compliment to their “plane crush.”
Delta and Coke had to apologize for their 'creepy' napkins (Photo: Twitter)
Intentions aside, flirting out of turn can not only be embarrassing, but genuinely disturbing to others. Aeromexico’s new chatting feature between seats through the plane’s seat screen is a nice concept, dating aside. But despite being able to even decline a message request, this sort of alert on a screen from a mystery seat is more likely to come off as encroaching than romantic. Indeed, 5 seconds of showing the words “9E has sent you a chat invitation” on a seatback screen was enough to make this TikTok go viral, captioned “it was so awkward…”
So how open the door to getting to know someone without being too upfront, intrusive, or abrasive?
Post about it. It's simple and safe, and you won't make anyone uncomfortable. Your post can be private, available only if your counterpart posted about you as well and you both agree to match based off of limited information, or – if you’re feeling bold – make your post public, and your crush can message you directly if they see it while scrolling through the app.
By not only emphasizing, but fully depending on mutual interest for any contact to be made, Goneby becomes a safe space for both parties to engage in an interaction they both seek out. With the choice to be as private as possible, with or without photos and personal information, you become encouraged to reach out and take your shot, without fear of being invasive.
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