This was published 9 years ago
Irish man launches social media campaign to track down Canadian woman he met on Ryanair flight
Jamie Kelly (L) and Katie Moreau (R) met on a Ryanair flight from Barcelona to Dublin. Photos: Twitter/theoriginalgoup & Facebook/katie.moreau.52
A romantic Irishman who launched a social media campaign to track down a mystery woman he met on a flight will soon be reunited with her.
Jamie Kelly, 24, was on the Ryanair flight from Barcelona to Dublin last week when he noticed an attractive woman sitting behind him and offered her the free seats in his row.
The pair quickly hit it off and chatted throughout the flight.
But when they went through customs they were separated.
Kelly told Irish national radio: "See, I was so engrossed during the flight and being the gentleman that I am I didn't want to go to the toilet in front of this beautiful girl so I used the time I had at the passport control to nip to the loo."
After searching unsuccessfully for the woman on Facebook, the industrious Irishman launched the #loveatfirstflight campaign, appealing to social media users to help him find the woman.
All he knew was that her name was Katie and she was from Canada, travelling around Ireland for the week.
The campaign eventually reached Canada, where a relative of "mystery woman" Katie Moreau, 27, saw the story and notified her immediately.
In an email to CBC News, Moreau said she was "surprised and flattered" to learn of the campaign.
"I never thought I would ever see him again so what a surprise after a couple of pints to log onto Facebook to see all these messages," she said.
"I find it very humorous because all my friends back home are losing their heads over it."
She described Kelly as "handsome" with "lovely eyes".
"When I was on the plane I talked to him incessantly because I had just been travelling for two months in Italy and Spain and it was just so nice to be around English-speaking people, plus I'm a talker.
"We had lots in common plus he was very easy on the eyes."
She said they had been chatting online since the media frenzy and had made plans to meet again in person.
stuff.co.nz
Sign up for the Traveller Deals newsletter
Get exclusive travel deals delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up now.