In-flight weddings: you cannot be serious

By Charles Starmer-Smith

Walking down the aisle might soon take on a new meaning after easyJet went down the shameless publicity-seeking route of its rival, Ryanair, by announcing that it may begin offering in-flight marriages. Yes, I know it is a credit crunch and yes, it could double up as a honeymoon trip, but this takes tacky weddings to a whole new level.

You can imagine the scene: it’s the biggest day of your life and the guests are arriving right on time – cue a mad scramble for seats (or perhaps the groom has stumped up for priority boarding?). Some 180 disgruntled holidaymakers squeeze into the cramped seats in the subtly-lit orange surroundings, ready for the service to begin.
A few pre-wedding nerves sees the groom queue for the lavatory, before the bride begins her nervous walk down the aisle, bashing elbows and dodging trolleys along the way. A nasal-sounding pilot then begins the vows, before the bride and groom return to their seats for a couple of in-flight announcements, before the long-awaited wedding breakfast: two limp ham sandwiches, two mini boxes of Pringles, a couple of quarter bottles of red, some fizzy water and coffees to finish. All for just under £24. A bargain.
Jeffery Husson, who is a captain at easyJet, thinks it is a great idea: “To officiate a wedding would be a special honour for me. It would be exciting if I could marry couples above the clouds,” he said this week. A few passengers might prefer him to focus on flying the plane.
However, the main obstacle to the future of in-flight weddings is whether Luton council will grant the airline a marriage license. Please do the decent thing.
The move marks a departure for the airline which has commendably refrained from the publicity stunts of airlines such as Ryanair and Virgin. Might this new tactic have something to do with the fact that the airline has posted an alarming £117 million loss in the last quarter, as Britons turn away from trips to Continental Europe due to the weakness of the pound?
But we should not be too harsh – easyJet is far from alone in desperately seeking publicity. Airline stunts range from the publicity-shy Sir Richard Branson claiming that couples flying on some Virgin flights would soon be legally allowed to join the “Mile High Club” in new padded and sound-proofed lavatories, to China Eastern Airlines announcing that it was going to limit passengers to just one lavatory visit per flight to save fuel.
And clearly the tactic is working: we have put together a round-up showing the lengths airlines will go to to make the headlines.