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The Heart Beat The Heart Beat blog

New trend for singles: Airport dating

Courtship in the cabin?

By Kristin Wong Nov 29, 2012 4:38PM
If you're looking for love and happen to have a layover, you might want to pay attention.

A new trend mixes two of life's most adventurous endeavors—traveling and dating. Singles are taking advantage of their travel time by looking for potential partners among their fellow passengers. And a new site is making airport dating easier than ever.

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Photo: ADEO/Getty ImagesDating site Meetattheairport.com allows single travelers to mingle at the gate. It was founded by Steve Pasternack, who got the idea after his flight was delayed.

"I was tired of reading a magazine or book, and there's just so many times you can watch planes take off and land," Pasternack told MSN's The Heart Beat. "I noticed how other people were gravitating toward the bars and thought it would be great to meet someone new to talk to and pass the time.  That's when I came up with the idea for a website that connects people while they're waiting for their flight."

After launching the site, Pasternack now has 20,000 members worldwide. Visitors simply answer a few questions about their personal interests and preferences. When they're ready to travel (and find romance), members input their flight information and departure airport.  From there, the site tries to connect them with a suitable match.

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"It's also exciting to meet someone new from another city or even country," Pasternack told us.

He adds that airport dating is a safe option, too—a significant concern amid an age of Internet dating fraud. Pasternack contends: "Where else can you meet someone that was required to show several forms of identification and then go through a full body search?"

If only we could X-ray scan all of our dates.

Earlier this year, CNN wrote about in-transit romance, presenting several stories of couples who met at the airport. There was the flight attendant who received a Facebook request from a chatty passenger, for example. Long story short, she told CNN:

"When we met, although we knew we were falling hard and fast for one another, we continued to say, 'I'm not looking for anyone right now, but we can be friends and see where it goes!'"

Several months later, the couple tied the knot.

Tell us what you think of airport dating. Would you engage in an en route romance?

Photo: ADEO/Getty Images

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54Comments
Dec 6, 2012 5:04AM
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I met my love at (would you believe) Khomeini Airport in Tehran at 3:30 am. I was going to Rome via Istanbul and she was also connecting thru Istanbul. Though I live in US and she in Europe, we have seen each other 6 times in 18 months and are crazy about each other. We are making future plans.
Dec 6, 2012 12:23AM
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Most appear too busy laughing hysterically at whatever inane activity their thumb prowess has drawn up on their cellphones.
Dec 5, 2012 9:41PM
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I met my boyfriend of 3 years at the airport, when a blizzard caused his flight to be cancelled. We are still dating and think that this was not a coincidence that we met.

Dec 2, 2012 12:45PM
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I think stay local use  craigslist   MUHAHAHAHAHA
Dec 2, 2012 2:13AM
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20k people worldwide

19.999k are men

Dec 2, 2012 1:59AM
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Back when I was a young, crazy workaholic I was constantly traveling, and actually arranged airport parking lot hookups for layovers of more than two hours. 'Course ya need a lot of "friends" to do that, but it sure made the layovers a lot more fun.
Dec 2, 2012 1:47AM
Dec 2, 2012 1:38AM
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Long time ago, we used to talk to strangers, the people who sat next to us on an airplane for hours.  We got acquainted and became friends sometimes.

Somehow, time has changed.  We talk to no one.  Our eyes are glued to TV or computers, or smart phones.  So, we have to go through the internet trying to find someone to meet.
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