Skip to main content

Southwest Airlines Community

Southwest Airlines Brings Hearts Together at 35,000 Feet

dsanders1
Employee
Employee

For most people, a 5:00 a.m. flight across the country may not seem like the most romantic place to meet someone, but that is not the case for two starry-eyed Southwest Customers. This is a story about how fate interceded to turn an early flight and exit row into the catalyst of an incredible love story.

 

Cathlyn and Michael.jpgMeet the lovebirds: Cathlyn and Michael. They both were on the same 5:00 a.m. flight in November of 2018. Cathlyn was returning to Dallas from a girls’ weekend in New York City, New York when she spotted a handsome guy (hint, hint...it was Michael!) sitting in the window seat of the exit row. Naturally, she selected the aisle seat next to him but assumed their conversation would be minimal at such an early hour.  

 

However, Bonny Andrews had another plan in mind.  

 

Bonny, a pastor from India who was visiting the city to start a new ministry, sat between Cathlyn and Michael and immediately started a conversation with the two strangers. The three ended up talking the entire flight about their faiths, families, childhood, and current life experiences. About two hours into the conversation, Michael and Cathlyn realized that Michael’s aunt and uncle live next door to her family in Austin. If that’s not fate...I don’t know what is.  

 

Proposal_First_Southwest_Airlines_Cabin.jpgAfter the three parted ways, Cathlyn texted her mother to tell her she had just met her future husband. And as luck would have it, at that same moment, Michael texted his sister saying he just met his future wife.

 

A week after the flight, Michael ended up driving 6 hours from Lubbock, Texas, to take Cathlyn on their first date outside a plane cabin; and the rest, as they say, is history. They dated for a year (taking many Southwest trips throughout, of course) and then were ready to take things to the next level.  

 

Couple_Love_Southwest_Airlines_Flight.jpgRecreating the moment they had first met, Michael proposed inside the cabin of the first Southwest plane at the Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas, Texas, in November 2019. Cathlyn said “yes” and the two celebrated with friends and family.

 

 

  

Southwest even sent a congratulatory champagne bottle labeled with their original flight number to mark the momentous occasion.  

 

Engagement_Champagne.jpg

 

A year later, the two were married in a picture-perfect ceremony in Austin, Texas. And to tie the perfect bow on this story, Bonny Andrews, the pastor who sat between them on that fateful Southwest flight, joined them on their special day to officiate their wedding. I can tell you from personal experience as a witness to these nuptials, there was not a single dry eye in the house! 

 

Southwest_Airlines_Wedding.jpg

 

At the reception, guests enjoyed a custom Southwest-themed photo booth, where they Wedding_Props.jpgcould sit in a row of plane seats and take their own Southwest love story pictures. There were plane motifs throughout the entire night, including plane snacks and marshalling wands, to enjoy as guests celebrated this special couple.  

 

Cathlyn and Michael—we wish you a lifetime of happiness and a lifetime of love at 35,000 feet! As to everyone else, you never know who you will meet on you next flight.

 

 

 

 

2 Comments