I've been out of the game for a while, but the old habit of thinking of good pickup lines for women never really goes away. Planes are tough. People generally don't want to be bothered, and it's a closed in space where at least 10 other people can hear what you are saying. That said, you do have anywhere from an hour to several hours to establish rapport with the woman next to you if you can make a good first impression.

I should mention that this is for open seating planes like Southwest or some of those bargain Euro airlines.

I'm like any other guy on a plane. I like to have my space. When it's open seating, and I hear that the plane will not be full, I try as best I can to take steps not to have someone sitting next to me on the flight. Move towards the back, try to spread myself out to make it obvious that it would be unpleasant to sit next to me anyway. On a recent flight, an attractive woman took the aisle seat in the same row as my middle seat. Immediately, I thought, "oh shit, there is no way this middle seat is going empty. Some horny dude is going to want to rub up against her and try to flirt with her for an hour." And sure enough, with plenty of empty seats in front of and behind me, a beefy guy takes the seat right next to me.

But this dark cloud has a silver lining. I came up with an idea for a loose routine that I will now pass on to you, Sedditors.

Let's say that you are on a plane and an attractive woman sits down somewhere near you. Make good pleasant eye contact. If she returns it, smile gently. After she takes her seat, say in a relaxed, clear and well-enunciated manner "I feel bad for you." She will inevitably ask "why?" (A key element of all of my routines is to encourage early participation in the conversation). You say, "You probably never get an empty seat next to you on a plane." From here, she will either say, "not really, sometimes I get to sit alone" or "yeah, that's true." In the former situation, say "that surprises me. I think most guys on planes are usually looking to sit next to an attractive woman like you." In the latter case you would say, "I'm willing to bet you almost always have a guy take the seat next to you." She says, "yeah, I guess so." You say, "Yeah, well attractive women have it tough. That's life."

So you've engaged her and you've worked in a subtle compliment that won't make her particularly self-conscious in the face of the dozen or so people who probably heard. If anything, it will come off as flattering.

From this point, if she isn't interested, it will be obvious. Just let it go and do your own thing. You have made your intentions known and put yourself out there. That's all you can do.

But, if she starts playing with her hair, blushing or getting bedroom eyes, roll with it. You've got quite a bit of time to make small talk. Don't escalate on the plane though, wait until you get into the terminal and have some privacy, then set up a date if you can.

Good luck!

Crush Hazard