A new survey of international travellers by Skyscanner has found that 39% of travellers have developed friendships with someone they met on a flight, with 6% even admitting to a romantic liaison with a new acquaintance on-board.
The poll of over 700 flyers found while the majority of these connections were short lived, 5% spent time on holiday together as a direct result of meeting on their flight. Taking their friendship even further, 7% said they continued to stay in touch after their holiday.
Social media also appears to be prolonging these longer-term relationships, with 3% staying in touch on the social network with someone they met on a flight. It is perhaps this point that Dutch national carrier KLM are looking to exploit with their new Facebook app which allows passengers to enter their details and choose who they sit next to on their flight.
Although 57% of people thought the service was ‘weird’ and would not be using it, one in five said they would use the app and an inquisitive 23% also said they would consider using the service.
However, despite the app being dubbed the ‘Mile High app’, the results of the Skyscanner survey actually show that the likelihood of friendship is far greater than that of romance with only 6% admitting to a fling at 30,000 feet and only 2% having a lasting relationship.
Sam Baldwin, Skyscanner’s Travel Editor said: “It’s clear that many travellers want to make more of their travel experience than simply getting from A to B, and our findings show that on-board friendships and romances are now quite common. Part of the fun of travelling is meeting people, and of course this can start on the flight itself!”
