Southwest Flight #186 from Chicago to Flint will forever be my favorite travel memory. As we got to our gate, my boyfriend (who is a frequent flier) was overly concerned with when we were boarding. I said to him, "Babe, you fly all the time! This is totally normal!" He kept asking, "When are we boarding? What time are we boarding? When do I get to line up?" I also should have been suspicious that Humberto took TWO bites of a salad before we got on the plane, as he can typically eat anything at any time! After two bites and 20 remarks about the time, we boarded and were ready to take off for a long weekend of fun at my family's lake house.
As we were settling into the flight and getting ready to depart, I was shocked and slightly confused when I heard our song come over the plane's speakers. The Flight Attendant, who couldn't have had a more perfect personality to help with this task, called my boyfriend up to the front of the plane. Humberto then got down on one knee and asked on the speaker if I would be his "companion for life."
Backstory: We've been so fortunate this year to have a Southwest Companion Pass (which allows me to fly with Humberto for basically free, only paying taxes and fees), so this was a perfect, fitting, and clever way of asking me to be his for the rest of our lives. Of course, I am a stickler for safety, so I had buckled my seatbelt despite the fact that we hadn't even moved from the gate yet. As poor Humberto was on one knee in front of our fellow flight companions, I was fumbling to get out of my seat! After making him wait a little too long, I made it to the front of the plane and said “YES!” and was hugging my new fiancee in front of 100+ applauding travelers. I would be remiss if I didn't give a shout out to our fellow travelers who provided us with the memories that will last a lifetime. They snapped pictures and videos (one even posted to Facebook with a picture of our engagement and beat me by an entire four days!), and were so nice to text and email them to us.
I want to thank not only them, but also the Southwest Team that was instrumental in making this the best day of our lives - from the Southwest Employee my boyfriend emailed to set up the surprise to the flight Crew that helped him pull it off. The biggest thanks to the Southwest Team behind the scenes, as well as the Crew of Flight 186 for sharing this journey with us.
We had nine destination weddings this year, all flown on Southwest, of course! Up next in 2017 will be our most important flight: home to Detroit to say "I Do." So glad that Southwest will get us there and has been a part of our love story this entire time.
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