After meeting on an American Airlines flight last year, newlyweds Dana and Jim Rea are a match made in Heaven, or maybe at least 35,000 feet.
On June 11, 2008, on a flight from Dallas-Fort Worth to Jacksonville, Dana was happily sitting in an exit row seat with an empty seat next to her. As the cabin door began to close, Dana was elated at the prospect of sitting alone and hoped to get some work done on the flight.
Enter fate in the form of Cupid.
"I was walking down the aisle and scoping out who I was going to be sitting by on the flight and I saw this beautiful blonde and I was totally happy," said Jim.
Dana, initially, wasn't as thrilled as she was looking forward to having an empty seat beside her.
But when and where Cupid shoots an arrow, we choose not.
"As I looked up from my work, a handsome man smiled at me," Dana said. "I was like, 'Oh, please not today. I have a lot to do.' [He] put his things in the overhead bin, and shook my hand and introduced himself. I thought, 'Who shakes your hand sitting down next to you in today’s world?'" said Dana.
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Cupid shoots ...
"He had this big, bright smile on his face, which was nice. When he shook my hand, that was like, 'wow!'" Dana said.
and he scores!
By the end of the flight, Dana had given Jim her number. He called the very next day because he said he "couldn't wait to give her a call and see her again."
Only a few days later, they reconnected for a date. Jim later confessed that he knew then that he was destined to marry the girl from seat 21A.
And marry her he did. After a six-month courtship, Jim proposed. The couple were married on Aug. 29, 2009, just over a year after they met in seats 21 A&B, at St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans.
They even had their seat numbers engraved on their wedding bands and flew American Airlines for their honeymoon in Maui.
The Rea's, unafraid of pairing any aeronautical and love cliche, said they clicked at about Cloud 9 and never dreamed that the skies could end up this friendly.
"As we say, love is in the air," Dana said.
