Woman plays accidental matchmaker after trading airline seat
Passenger on Alaska Airlines flight shares social media updates after trading seats and witnessing possible love connection unfold.
The Texas couple who shared live updates of two strangers appearing to spark a relationship on their flight are now being criticized on social media for interfering with the passengers' lives.
The online community quickly turned on the Texas residents, with some accusing them of seeking a "ticket to fame" and others slamming them for encouraging others to uncover one of the passenger's identities.
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Rosey Blair, the woman who originally shared the story, was flying from New York City to Dallas last week when she asked a woman to trade seats, so she could sit near her boyfriend Houston Hardaway. Blair then joked to her boyfriend that she hoped the woman’s new seat partner might be the love of her life.
Blair and Hardaway witnessed the passengers — Euan Holden and an unidentified woman — getting along during the course of the flight, and decided to live-tweet the story. Blair sent a number of updates on the newfound "romance" between the two strangers, and the posts went viral immediately.
However, a number of social media users are criticizing Blair and Hardaway for invading the strangers’ privacy.
Holden has since appeared on a number of morning shows, including “Good Morning America,” to talk about the viral story. He also shared a video on Twitter asking social media users to respect the unnamed woman’s privacy, but he also named the woman in the video, which led to social media users tracking her down.
Blair and Hardaway had previously said they did not have the woman’s permission to share her identity or story.
"We don't have the gal's permish yet," Blair said in a video with Hardaway. "But I'm sure you guys are sneaky."
Shortly afterward, the woman reportedly deleted all of her social media accounts after being harassed, BuzzFeed reported.
A number of people also began criticizing Blair and Hardaway for encouraging others to find the woman, and detailing the private encounter.
“Hey [Rosey Blair] the plane girl deleted her social after being harassed as a result of your lack of boundaries. Winking at your audience and calling them ‘sneaky’ enough to find her? Sis. This isn’t cute[,] it’s invasive and irresponsible. She doesn’t want to be famous. Seriously. Stop,” one social media user tweeted.
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“So that plane bae that went viral a few days ago? The guy was lauded and asked to go on interviews. The girl was harassed and had to leave social media. She was attacked for doing the same things the guy is praised for. Still think people treat men and women equally?” another social media user wrote.
Other social media users accused Blair of using the story to get her “15 minutes of fame.”
"Godd--- the girl behind the plane bae is still waiting for her golden ticket to fame.” A social media user wrote.
“She’s built a career for herself, but she’ll now forever be known on the internet as the girl who might have hooked up with some random dude on a plane thanks to this woman’s tweets,” another added.
Monica Lewinsky, who at first was enthralled by the story, appeared to be apologetic a few days later.
“I agree, I’m out of the country and learned last night about how this devolved. I feel terrible about plane girl being doxxxed and am sorry. Thinking about why my reaction to it was like a rom-com and felt OK because their faces were blurred…when it shouldn’t have been,” Lewinsky tweeted.
Blair addressed the criticism in an Instagram post, stating that she was simply excited to see the two people get along on the plane at first.
"I saw a story unfolding in front of my eyes recently and it filled me with the hope of possibility," she wrote.
"I hope that many of you are inspired by the story I shared. Sharing this story has also made me reconsider some of the thoughts of negativity I too have been guilty of putting out into the world,” she continued.
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Fox News' Michelle Gant contributed to this report.
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