How many times have you been traveling by plane and you are sitting next to your worse nightmare? We have James, the Born Again who feels his need to banish Satan from your soul by telling you of how God has changed his life. Then there's Chatty Cathy with her innate need to grind every nerve you may have in your body because she feels it's quite necessary to fill every crevice of silence with her non sensisical babble. Then there's Fat Frank who can barely squeeze his ass in one seat and has a tendency to overflow into yours causing your five hour flight to feel like ten. You know them...the heavy breathers, the gabbers, the moth ball smellers...the most annoying co-passengers ever to take to the air and they all sit next to you!

Well, not to fret folks, because Peter Shankman, founder of AirTroductions, is here to change all that. He's going to make your flight a more enjoyable if not downright sociably pleasant. With 7,514 participants, AirTroductions is proving that we human beings are in desperate need of some compatible social interaction....in the air. AirTroductions is a service which is very much like MySpace and Friendster except it's used on airplane flights. How does it work? You basically fill out a profile and the way it works is you put in your flight itinerary and with a click of a mouse you'll see those profiles matching your criteria on the same flight as you. There is a little more to the process but I'm not here to explain the procedure so if you are interested in the ins and outs feel free to visit the site and find out how to make your in-air connections.

I was watching Lisa Loeb's Number 1 Single on E! and forgive me everyone as I'm NOT a reality show junkie but I have a tendency to be curious every once in a while. So I watched this episode where she does the AirTroductions and that's what clued me into all this in the first place. You have to admit it's pretty interesting and I'm quite the curious cat. Mr. Shankman actually gave me some of his time and answered my questions about AirTroductions and it's future.

Full Name: Peter Shankman
Age: 33
Currently Residing: Hell's Kitchen, New York City
Currently Listening to: Where's Your Head At? by Basement Jaxx

How in the world did you come up with the concept for Airtroductions?
I was on a flight from Houston to NYC, and wound up sitting next to Ms. Texas. The flight took 14 seconds. When I tried to figure out why, I realized it was because we were having a really nice conversation. I asked myself why, if we have control of every aspect of the flight, do we not have control over who we get to sit next to? I decided to change that. The site (www.airtroductions.com) works with every airline, and every airport. You simply build a profile, (business, pleasure, or both) enter your itinerary, and the system shows you everyone who's entered their itinerary for the same flight. If you like them, you can contact them through the site. The site is entirely free, until it's time to contact someone - then it's a measly $5.00. Considering how much you're paying for the ticket, what's $5.00?

Do you feel with things like My Space and Friendster that this is the next step in our social interactions?
If that's what people feel like it is, cool. My goal was just to create something to make flying more enjoyable.

Honestly, what is the success rate of your clients?
We've currently had over 250 matches - i.e., people who've met through my site. If that's defined as success, cool. As the site grows and more people join, the match ability increases exponentially.

Any horror stories? what if someone really ends up not liking who they are sitting with? Are they allowed to change seats, etc.
You don't assign your seats on AirTroductions. You meet the person at the airport before the flight. You then determine, are they as cute as their photo? Do they bathe? You can then decide whether you want to sit together or not.

Have any of your clients gotten married or have made a huge business connection which changed their lives?
The site is four months old. No one's gotten married yet. :) (Hey in this day and age you never know)

Do you feel more people are in it for the dating aspect or just for the connections?
Again, I think it's for people to have a good time on their flight, and not hate having to take a plane - air travel isn't fun anymore. I'm trying to make it fun again.

Have you, yourself been a candidate for your own service?
I post every flight I take on AirTroductions. I've sat next to some very nice people because of it.

Is there any particular flights which people are more commonly a participant...for instance, do more clients come out of California rather than New York? What about countries? Do people commonly do this when they are going to Tokyo say or a longer flight?
Long hauls tend to be the most popular - NYC-->LAX, LAX-->SYD, NYC-->NRT - All the major routes. But as we continue to expand, the minor routes will come into play, too.

Who are some people that you've made connections with? Movie stars? Business Execs? etc....
I've done business with a bunch of people I've met on flights. I've also sat next to Russell Simmons, A few supermodels, etc.

If you were stranded on an island and could only have three things, what would they be?
A never-ending well of Diet Pepsi, my Skydiving rig, and a high-speed Internet connection.

Peter is a bit of an adventurist, as you can see he loves the air. I'm thinking the next time I take a flight I might actually try this. All you single boys and girls, when the sky discotheque takes off, this will be a lot of fun! Eh, if anything your flight will be a lot more interesting and it sure beats sitting next to Psycho Phyllis who just broke up with her boyfriend and she wants to tell you all about why she's going to Tokyo to find Mr. Right....yeah it's lookin' good right now, isn't it?