Some marriage proposals really take off

Did you hear about the security agent at the Prince George Airport in British Columbia who brought a young man to his knees? Apparently the agent found something hard stuffed in the toe of a stocking in Aaron Tkachuk's bag. Not one to leave any stone unturned, the agent insisted on unwrapping it.

It turned out it was a stone -- a diamond to be exact. It was a dead ringer for -- a ring. Seems Aaron was traveling to the Caribbean with his girlfriend and planned to propose on a cruise. As soon as the agent uncovered the goods, Aaron found himself between a rock and a hard place. He seized the moment. He dropped down to one knee and proposed with the agents and the security line as his witnesses.

This isn't the only engaging story to come out of air travel. Last year, when my daughter was flying to Boston, Mass., she was seated next to a couple who planned to run in the Boston Marathon. While his girlfriend was sleeping, the young man went to the back of the plane and asked the flight attendant to use the intercom to ask her to come to the back of the aircraft. When she did, he popped the question while a flight attendant popped the cork on a bottle of champagne.

Several years ago, on a flight to Paris, a passenger seated in first class ordered a glass of champagne and slipped an engagement ring into the goblet. Just before she served the champagne, the flight attendant accidentally slipped something into the glass as well. Seems she was wearing fake fingernails. One of them fell off and landed in his glass. Just as he was dropping to his knee, she dropped a fresh glass of bubbly and picked up the old one. He crawled after her. The poor guy didn't exactly nail the proposal, but indirectly, the flight attendant did.

Occasionally, there are passengers who prefer not having their feet on the ground when they tie the knot. Several years ago, on a flight to Rome, we had a couple say their vows at 35,000 feet. They had met on a bike tour in Tuscany and planned to repeat the tour on their honeymoon. They brought their own minister onboard and said their vows over the Atlantic Ocean. The flight service manager acted as best man, a flight attendant acted as the maid of honor and 180 passengers played the parts of guests.

A few years ago, a couple in Clinton, Iowa, rented an old Douglas DC-3 from the Prairie Aviation Museum in Bloomington, Ill. They gathered their guests on the grounds of the Clinton Municipal Airport. When the wedding began to take off, so did the bride and groom. Their vows were up in the air and the couple literally flew through the service.

Last October, Virgin America Airlines took weddings to new heights. On its maiden voyage from San Francisco to Las Vegas, Richard Branson, the colorful CEO of the Virgin fleet, became ordained for the day online through the Universal Life Church so that he could perform the wedding ceremony. While "Love is in the Air" played over the PA system, Branson, dressed in priestly garb, told Coco Jones and Dimitrios Papadogonas to "soar on the wings of love," as he joined them in holy matrimony just before the flight landed in Las Vegas.

So if you are nervous about popping the question or getting hitched, you might want to consider doing it at 35,000 feet. I promise, you'll by walking on air.

Gail Todd, a free-lance writer,worked as a flight attendant for more than 30years. She can be reached via e-mail at gailtodd@aol.com.