1 in 50 people finds love on an airplane, study claims

There can be few more irritating people than your fellow airplane passengers – but apparently there’s still a chance you’ll fall in love with them.

A new study from British bank HSBC suggests that 1 in 50 airplane passengers meet the love of their life on board an aircraft. The other 49, presumably, just annoy the heck out of each other as they travel.

The results came from interviews with 2,150 people from 141 countries in which participants were asked about the likelihood of meeting “the one” while cooped up in a metal tube 30,000 feet in the sky. Some 6,000 people from Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, the United States and the United Kingdom were additionally also quizzed on their flying habits.

Opportunities for romance

Centenary celebrations: 2019 will mark 100 years of international air services operated by British Airways and its predecessor airlines -- including Aircraft Transport and Travel, pictured left, which operated what's considered the world's first daily international passenger, mail and parcel service -- between London and Paris in 1919. Pictured here: Aircraft Transport and Travel poster by MB, 1919, and Imperial Airways by an unknown illustrator circa 1926.

Changing trends: 70-year-old Paul Jarvis, former Assistant Company Secretary at British Airways and now Curator of the BA Heritage Collection, has compiled a book of eye-catching posters from the past 100 years -- charting changing trends in aviation in advertizing. Pictured here: Imperial Airways poster by Steph Cavallero 1935 and Imperial Airways poster by Shurich, 1935.

Public appetite: "The posters have always been a particular interest of mine," Jarvis tells CNN Travel. "We have about 1,200 poster artworks in the collection, and a few other quite important artworks as well." Jarvis felt there was a public appetite for these posters and decided to put them together in a book. Pictured here: Imperial Airways poster by James Gardner, 1938, and Imperial Airways poster by Stanley Herbert, 1935.

Evocative images: Jarvis is the author of the new book: "British Airways: 100 Years of Aviation Posters," published by Amberley Publishing in association with British Airways. "There are so many evocative, gorgeous posters," says Jarvis. Pictured here: British Airways poster by unknown, 1936, and British Airways poster by Marshall Thompson circa 1936.

Stunning showcase: In the book, Jarvis showcases the posters and provides context about the story behind them. "The very early days it was very much just about persuading people to fly at all," he reflects. "There were quite a lot of people who thought flying [...] was just a passing fad." Pictured here: British Airways poster by unknown artist 1936, and BOAC and Qantas poster by Stanley Herbert, circa 1947-50.

Personal favorites: Jarvis says he can't choose a favorite poster in the book: "The front cover one I particularly like as an artwork in itself, by a very well known French artist Albert Brenet," he says. "But how do you choose, because there are many others like that as well." Pictured here: British South American Airways poster by Gwynn, 1946, and BEA poster by unknown circa 1949.

Stunning designs: In a book full of stunning posters, there are some designs that stand out including the image on the right. The British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), one of BA's predecessors, used Walter Herz's original Olympic artwork to promote traveling to London for the games. Pictured here: BOAC poster by Abram Games, 1948, and BOAC poster by Frank Wootton circa 1952.

Explorations: Era-wise, Jarvis says the 1960s speaks to him from a personal level (that's the decade he started working at BA). "But from a purely [...] archival perspective it has to be the 1930s," he adds. "Because all the explanatory work that was [being done], new aircraft coming in." Pictured here: BEA poster by unknown, 1953, and BOAC poster by unknown, 1953.

Global world: In the mid-late twentieth century, international aviation became more and more common. "An explosion of air services from 1946 when we started operating to New York because aircraft now had the range to reach it," says Jarvis. Trips to South Africa and Australia also became possible. Pictured here: BOAC poster by Bernard Sargent, circa 1953, and BOAC poster by Laban circa 1953.

Cross-continental: These BOAC posters concentrate more on the destination than the aviation experience and were part of a series of posters released in the 1950s charting BOAC's cross-continental travel. Pictured here: BOAC poster by unknown, circa 1952, and BOAC poster by Eric Pulford, circa 1959.

Romance and escapism: By the 1960s, posters were becoming more photo-led to match the growing popularity of TV advertising. These BOAC posters promote the romance and escapism of traveling abroad. Pictured here: BOAC posters by unknown, circa 1960s.

Changing times: Jarvis says advertising has changed a lot since the golden age of travel: "It's so expensive to get print media out there, now, in any meaningful quantitative way, that reaches a wide audience," he says. "I suspect their heyday from the '30s,'40s, '50s, even the '60s, are probably long past and never will be repeated." Pictured here: BOAC posters by unknown, circa 1968.

New beginnings: In the early 1970s, BOAC and BEA merged to become British Airways, the airline we know today. Pictured here: British Airways poster by Foot, Cone & Belding, now Draftfcb London Ltd, 1974.

Concorde and club world: The early years of the newly re-branded British Airways celebrated the Concorde and the first fully flat bed for its Club World business class passengers. Pictured here: British Airways poster by unknown, circa 1976, and British Airways poster by M&C Saatchi, 2000.

Continued innovation: Jarvis says advertising may have changed, but remains innovative. Take the London Olympics posters, for example: "No one can say they're not creative -- they're very simple, digitized images of athletes and aircraft. I think they're beautifully done," he says. Pictured here: British Airways poster by Bartle Bogle Hegarty, 2012.

Vintage British Airways posters celebrate 100 years of aviation

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In the advent of the Jet Age, when air travel went global, airline posters played up the glamor – and romantic frisson – of aviation.

The idea of air travel as a romantic affair was propagated in the alluring travel posters of the 1960s, like one raunchy BOAC ad that shows a couple sharing a cherry on board.

Apparently 1 in 50 airplane passengers might fall in love in the skies.

Today, as more and more of us regularly travel by airplane, often opting for budget carriers where we feel overdressed in sweatpants and lunch-stained T-shirts, air travel has become increasingly less glamorous.

Fancy cabins offering the privacy and luxury of a hotel room are available, harking back to a bygone era, but most of us don’t get on airplane looking for love.

The romance of air travel

Passengers apparently also make business connections and new friends on board.

However HSBC’s study reveals that over half of airplane passengers have struck up a conversation with a stranger on a plane.

It’s not just romantic relationships that are born in the skies. The findings suggest that one in seven fliers makes a lasting friendship while flying while 16% add a new business connection to their network.

Now that many airlines are testing out inflight Wi-Fi, the opportunities for making connections aren’t limited to shooting the breeze with your immediate neighbors.

Airplane app Inflighto has a chat function allowing communication between pilot and passenger, but it also promotes conversations between travelers on board.

“The whole ethos of the app, the whole philosophy behind it is to help passengers re-engage with flying,” co-creator Christopher Smyth told CNN Travel earlier in the year.

Not always plane sailing

Passenger interaction isn't always positive.

Naturally airborne romance isn’t always plane sailing. About 48% of surveyed passengers were freaked out if fellow passengers removed their shoes, 65% would be put off if another traveler was rude to a flight attendant and, of course, drinking too much is another no-no, with 46% listing it as a complaint.

If you want to impress your seat buddy, respecting their personal space is – of course – integral.

Some 37% of people hate it when passengers take up too much space in the overhead locker, 32% get mad if someone uses the arm rest. Falling asleep on someone’s shoulder (30%) and snoring (26%) are also buzz kills.

So, as long as you’re considerate and respectful, perhaps your soul mate is out there waiting on a plane for you.

It’s just a matter of figuring out which of the 107,000 daily scheduled flights they’re actually on.