It started with a spark somewhere above the clouds. Tara (@unblockyourbs) met a man on a flight to Orange County, and for three hours, it felt like the start to a really good rom-com. A meet-cute at 30,000 feet, it was a love story that wrote itself until it hit turbulence.
Since posting the video on Oct. 5, it has racked up more than 720,000 views, with the internet debating whether this was a story red with passion or nothing but red flags.
An In-Flight Romance at 30,000 Feet
On a flight from Austin to Orange County, Tara found herself in the aisle seat, a young passenger named Justin at the window, and one empty seat between them. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a man loading his bag into the overhead bin. When he asked if he could sit between them, Tara agreed and instantly knew she might be in trouble.
“This man was fine. So fine,” she said. “Shaved head, beard, tattoos, just my type. Maybe my toxic type, but my type all around.”
From there, their three-hour flight played out like the start of a rom-com. The man introduced himself as Jay and flirted easily.
“He looked at me before we even took off and said, ‘Got a ring on?’ I said no. Then he asked, ‘Are you looking for one?’” she shared.
The two talked nonstop, barely touching their phones except to take a picture together. As the flight went on, they held hands, shared jokes, and eventually kissed.
“By the end of the flight, I was laying on his shoulder,” Tara said. “We were acting like a couple. The flight attendant even asked if my boyfriend wanted another drink.”
They exchanged numbers and promised to meet the next night. The moment felt straight out of a movie, complete with flirty one-liners and mile-high inside jokes. Giddy, Tara wondered if anything real would come from it, but the encounter left her feeling hopeful and open to meeting new people “in the wild.”
The video cuts there, before jumping straight into an update from Tara.
A Hard Landing Back to Reality
The next clip opens abruptly. Tara is back on screen, no longer flushed from midair flirtation.
“And ghosted,” she says flatly. “Never heard from him again.”
The two had exchanged a few messages that night after the flight, but by the next day, silence. Reflecting with a more grounded perspective, Tara began to see that Jay might not have been the mysterious, movie-ready stranger she imagined.
“What I didn’t realize was how drunk he was on the plane,” she said, explaining that he had “four shots” during the flight and was already intoxicated when he boarded. “By the end, he was getting sloppy with his words, getting loud. I was starting to have to manage him.”
She recalled his conversation with another passenger growing “domineering and pretty racist at times,” but she brushed it off. “I liked the attention,” she admitted. “I hadn’t been that version of myself in a while, and it felt good.”
In the end, Tara turned her heartbreak into a hard truth. “If anything, there were a lot of behaviors that were toxic on his end, and I participated in it,” she said. “I’d probably do everything the same, except have a few more boundaries around the kissing and touching.”
Her final message was aimed directly at Jay. She told him to grow up and seek help with his “nervous system regulation,” something she works on with men professionally. Then she closed the story with one last line: “Have the day you deserve.”
@unblockyourbs Did I just fall in love on a flight?!? #datingadvice #singleparent #romance #datingstorytime #datingcoach ♬ original sound – UnblockYourBS
Commenters Weigh In on the Sky-High Romance
The comments section was split between hopeless romantics and seasoned cynics, each offering their take on why her airplane paramour ended up ghosting her. Those rooting for her celebrated the whirlwind romance for what it was.
“Congratulations! You had fun AND you dont have to fix anyone!!” one commenter cheered. “Enjoy it for what it was. I’m happy for you!! P.S. You could use that to write a fictional book!!”
“Don’t you just hate one flight stands!” another joked.
“That was a soulmate and a past life that you passed path with,” someone else mused.
However, the less romantic crowd had their own theories too.
“Dude’s wife is totally going to see this,” one commenter said.
“I watch too many Datelines. You were a target,” another warned.
“Even though he ghosted you, at least you didn’t end up on the evening news,” someone wrote. “This could’ve [gone] sideways in a hurry.”
Tara did not immediately respond to our request for comment.
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