Romantic moment in the air results in bride-to-be getting her wings clipped.

Back in May, a China East Airlines flight departed from Xi’an, bound for the city of Yinchuan. Roughly 30 minutes after takeoff something very special happened, and no, we’re not talking about the commencement of in-flight drink service.

A male passenger, who was actually the boyfriend of one of the flight’s cabin attendants, stood up from his seat, only to drop down to one knee in the aisle in front of her. Taking out a ring, he asked her to marry him, and the woman, through tears of joy, said yes, as shown in this video of the romantic gesture.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Nav9tBWPv4

Several other passengers applauded, and the flight attendant then went on the P.A. system to thank everyone for their warm congratulations and for bearing witness to the couple’s happy moment.

Choosing to marry someone is one of the most significant decisions you can make, and this should have been the beginning of a new and happy chapter in the cabin attendant’s life. Unfortunately, it’s also turned out to be an unemployed chapter in her life.

Multiple Chinese media outlets are now reporting that the woman has been fired from her job. China East Airlines human resources has decreed that the in-flight proposal constituted “neglectful conduct towards passenger safety,” adding that “Private romantic actions invites disruption among the passengers, and considering the responsibility towards their personal safety, [the proposal] was extremely irresponsible.”

Online reactions from Chinese-language Internet commenters have been mixed, with some saying the company is being heartlessly strict, and others supporting the cabin attendant’s dismissal for what they see as dereliction of the position’s solemn duties.

It’s true that air travel can go from safe to dangerous in an instant, and that the flight crew needs to be able to respond to unexpected problems at a moment’s notice, which in turn requires them to be free of distractions, and the plane’s walkways to be free of congestion. At the same time, the dismissed cabin attendant said, at the time of the proposal, that she had no idea her boyfriend was going to propose to her onboard the plane, though perhaps her former bosses felt she should have ordered the groom-to-be back into his seat instead of letting the moment he was trying to create play out.

There’s no word as to whether or not the woman has found new a new job, either in the industry or not, or whether the couple has had their wedding ceremony or not. One thing seems certain, though: once they are married, should they be flying to their honeymoon destination, they probably won’t be booking tickets with China East Airlines.

Sources: Record China via Kinisoku, Asia One, YouTube/中天新聞CH52, YouTube/微博视频精选
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Follow Casey on Twitter, where he can’t help thinking how awkward things would have been for the passengers had the woman said “No.”