All aboard, in-flight flirts: Air New Zealand’s singles trip

If love is in the air, how will you fare at 30,000-plus feet? Starry-eyed and soon couple-ified, Air New Zealand hopes, if you join the airline for a singles-only flight this fall.

The “matchmaking flight” departs Los Angeles (LAX) for Auckland, New Zealand, on Oct. 13. Festivities will begin with a pre-flight gate party at the airport, and the flight cabin itself should be abuzz with food, beverages and games. Once you’re in Auckland, you’re invited to attend a Matchmaking Ball at Auckland’s SkyTower.

And you don’t have to get on board with this experience completely blind: Air New Zealand’s dedicated social-media website for the flight allows ticketholders to upload a personal profile and start getting to know fellow passengers online.

Cost: Round-trip tickets start at $780 per person (pretax); this includes admittance to the aforementioned singles-only party. Packages starting at $1,109 per person (pretax) include the airfare, the party and a two-night stay at SkyCity Grand Hotel in Auckland.

Tested: You can adjust your return date as you wish. I tested out a return to Los Angeles on Oct. 25, and the total fare came to $822, including taxes.

Note: If you’re going to book the flight (and seats are limited, of course), you’d better feel pretty confident that you’ll be available, so to speak, come October. The fare for this trip is nonrefundable (the change fee is $150).

- Susan Derby, Special to the Los Angeles Times

[Image: TheMatchmakingFlight.com]

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This entry was posted on Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 6:31 am by Susan Derby and is filed under Airline travel, Deals, Honeymoon, Spa & Romance, Los Angeles, News, Tips & Advice, Pacific & Australia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.