Wingman App Will Allow Passengers To Get More Friendlier Mid-Flight
A new app is in development that would let users meet each other in the air.
Wingman started as a joke. App creator Gabe Whaley was getting off a plane when he thought, what if there were an app like Tinder, but for people in flight?
I’m pretty sure that at some point, anyone who’s flown has had a thought, like, ‘I wonder what it would be like to talk to that person. Too bad it’s never going to happen, because the seating arrangement didn’t provide for that,’” Whaley told ANIMAL. “And of course, most people have at least some sort of exposure to what the mile high club is.”
So, the 24-year-old copywriter from New York set about making the “Tinder for airplanes.” Users will be able to create profiles with some basic information: picture, first name, age, occupation and flight information. They’re also asked whether they’re traveling for business or pleasure. Then the app shows a list of people on the same flight, and users can opt to start conversations from there.
I think it will make people curious, and you never know: someone might use it, and it might start a conversation that they might not have otherwise had,” Whaley said. “It could turn out to be really good, or really bad. Either way, I think it’s really funny.”
Whaley said it’s “incredibly unrealistic” to think Wingman will lead to actual in-flight hookups. Still, it could make for a fun experiment. “Whether they go through with it or not has nothing to do with the app. It has everything to do with them.”
The app has been in production since December. Whaley hopes to have a beta version available by April and a full release in summer. Anyone interested can sign up for updates via the app’s website.