Trendwatching firm iconoculture.com points me in the direction of a startup networking company called AirTroductions. The premise of this firm is that since ‘we’re’ in the air travelling between jobs and vacations so much, we ought to leverage that time flying to find interesting people to talk to, to handpick our travelling partners. There’s nothing worse than overzealous conversationalists when you’re flying but the flipside is that when you’re bored it can be great to talk to someone fascinating. I’ve met plenty of interesting people on flights and enough dull ones to see the value of planning who one might sit next to.
First you input your details and photo into a database of members, listing interests and things you’re most comfortable with: Vodka Martini, Paris at night, Sneakers, The W Hotel and so forth. When you’re taking a flight you tell the site which flight you’re taking and it will show you the details of any other users who’re taking the same flight and for $5 would offer to put you in touch.

So whether you’re looking for a date in Los Angeles, a business networking partner in Tokyo, or just someone to share a cab from Kennedy to Midtown, look no further. You’ve found AirTroductions. If you’ve got any ideas on how to make AirTroductions even better, then we want to hear from you!

-Peter Shankman,

Founder AirTroductions

The simple advantage of this is in using the downtime that flights create to either network or make friends or develop romances. The system can clearly be used as whatever the user wants it to be, which is the strength of other networking sites such as LinkedIn and Ecademy, but with the advantage of the fact that you don’t have to actively go to AirTroductions events because you’re already there and simply making your flying time more efficient and enjoyable.

Iconoculture: AirTroductions online match service helps jetsetters find flight partners
AirTroductions

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