Summary
- Two passengers on a TUI Airways flight met during a delay and experienced love at first sight, leading to their upcoming wedding next month.
- The delay in the airport allowed the couple to meet and their spark continued throughout their trip and even during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- TUI Airways congratulated the couple and gifted them a plane-themed cake, emphasizing that the flight delay was meant to happen for their love story to unfold.
Two passengers on separate vacations flying on TUI Airways are engaged after meeting during a delay in England nearly four years ago. The couple, who says the moment they met was "love at first sight," are reportedly planning to get married next month.
Once on the flight, after the delay, the two admitted they could not stop looking at each other. Their spark lasted through their trip and thereafter, through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meeting in the airport
According to The Press, Lisa Skellon and Jamie Hobbs traveled to Tenerife from Bournemouth on separate trips with their friends in November 2019. The strangers, who were on the same TUI Airways flight, did not meet until a problem with the flight prompted the passengers to deplane and return to the terminal.
Skellon and Hobbs, with their friends, proceeded to find drinks in the airport to bypass the time, and that is when the pair first met. Skellon recalled the moment they met, saying they did not stop looking at each other while they sat and had drinks.
Skellon also said if the delay did not occur, they might not have met, according to The Press.
“We are very grateful for the delay, for once in our lives, because we probably would not have met if it wasn’t for that. It was like being kids again. It was love at first sight for us both.”
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Discovering the spark
The two flirted with each other in the terminal, and their friend groups mingled. When it was time to reboard the aircraft, Skellon and Hobbs, both aged 56, had already discovered a spark, according to the BBC. The groups were reportedly two rows from each other on the flight, and the couple remembers trying to catch another glimpse of each other throughout the journey to Tenerife.
"I repeatedly made excuses to pretend to get things out of my over-head luggage in order to keep looking back at Jamie," Skellon recalled.
Hobbs said he tried to find excuses to continue interacting with Skellon.
"I waited for the queue to the toilet to be in line with their seats so I could speak to Lisa," he said. "Later I plucked up the courage to give Lisa my business card but her friend shouted, 'She's written her number on a Tui sick bag'."
Hobbs also mentioned that he still has a photo of Skellon's number on the bag.
Their spark continued on their vacation in Tenerife, where they were inseparable, meeting each other every night. The two also shared their first kiss on the Canary Islands. When they returned home to England, their relationship blossomed, and they shared lockdown during the pandemic in Ferndown, Dorset, with Skellon's daughter, according to The Press.
"A lifetime of happiness together"
The couple is preparing to tie the knot in Paphos, Cyprus, next month. Recently, they had a pre-wedding party in their garden with 80 friends and family. TUI reportedly gifted the couple with a two-tier plane-themed cake.
Liz Edwards, the Communications Director at TUI UK, congratulated the couple, The Press reported.
“No one likes a flight delay but this one was clearly meant to happen. We loved Lisa and Jamie’s story and we’re pleased we could be another little part of their journey when they celebrated with friends and family at the weekend. We wish them a lifetime of happiness together.”
Skellon and Hobbs' "love in the air" story coincidentally comes just weeks before the American romance film, Love at First Sight, is released on Netflix. The film tells the story of two strangers who meet and fall in love on a flight from New York to London.
Source: The Press