Asking the love-of-your-life to marry you is nerve-wracking enough. Add an audience of over 100 people you don’t know, a loudspeaker and an altitude of 30,000 feet and its right up there on the stress meter. But Alaska passenger Brian Connell overcame his fears last month and asked his girlfriend Cassandra to marry him—with a bit of help from some great match-making Alaska Airlines employees.

Flight attendants helped Connell carry out his plan, bringing him forward to address the cabin on the PA.

Connell’s speech, which he had carefully prepared in advance, began with, “Ahem is this thing on?” He then proceeded to tell passengers of flight 879 his story.

He was born and raised in Renton, Washington and flew Alaska often between his home and Los Angeles where he lived for school and work. His girlfriend Cassandra had grown up in Houston and had moved to New York. The two met on the dance floor in New York and it was love at first sight. Yet, they were from opposite coasts and it would be several years before they would see each other again. A career opportunity finally brought them together in the same state of Texas. The couple dated on weekends, commuting between his home in Austin and hers in Houston.

The trip to Hawaii for a friend’s wedding provided the perfect opportunity for Connell to seal the deal with his love. With both their parents onboard (he had privately asked her dad in advance) it was perfect. He just had to work up the guts.

Ending his speech, Connell invited Cassandra to come forward to the first class cabin and, kneeling on one knee, he asked for her hand in marriage to applause from passengers.

Once the happy couple embraced, the crew popped open bottles of champagne for the couple to share with their parents.

Connell said he always had loyalties to Alaska Airlines given his Northwest roots, but this experience topped them all.  “Thank you guys so much for helping make this happen. The last year and a half with Cas has been a dream come true and whenever we fly anywhere in the future I guarantee you this experience will be on our minds.”

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