"But when I'm way up here, it's crystal clear
That now I'm in a whole new world with you."
That now I'm in a whole new world with you."
Want to woo your crush, but lack the moves to do a Dance of Romance? No problem, so long as you have wings, magic, superpowers, a pet dragon, or some other method of getting up in the atmosphere. Just whisk your love interest into your arms and take off. As you hold her close and float over gorgeous scenic vistas, the two of you will bond like never before. You may even get to share True Love's Kiss.
Sister trope to Romantic Ride Sharing. Not to be confused with Free-Fall Romance, where the flight part is dismissed entirely and the lovers succumb to gravity during their intimate moment.
Examples:
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Anime and Manga
- Dragon Ball: At the end of the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai, Goku and Chi-Chi ride off into the sky on Kinto'un, ready to get married.
- Izetta: The Last Witch: Near the end, has Izetta take Finé on a broomstick ride overloaded with romantic subtext.
- Jewelpet Twinkle☆: In episode 39, Akari takes her crush Yuuma flying through Jewel Land.
- Sailor Moon: Chibiusa goes flying in the dream world with Helios.
Arts
- Psyche and Cupid (Bouguereau): Is there anything more romantic than leaning on the shoulder of your beloved, as they carry you through the parting clouds? Psyche certainly seems to be taken by the experience in "The Rapture of Psyche".
Comic Books
- In ElfQuest Skywise is falling for Aroree anyway, but their romance is strengthened when Aroree takes him for a ride on her giant bird.
- Green Lantern has a flashback scene where Hal takes Carol up in an old trainer/stunt plane.
- X-Men took this trope to a extreme when Angel had sex with Husk in mid air in front of her mother, Nightcrawler, and several other people.
Fan Works
- Abraxas: Empty Fullness: In a non-canon Halloween Special, Monster X, after being shrunken down to a human size, takes Ling (who is ex-girlfriend to the Vivienne Graham half of Monster X) on a flight across Pensacola on Halloween night.
- Pick a couple, any couple, in the Harry Potter fandom and there will be at least 100 fics that feature a romantic broom ride.
- Kalos Quests:
- Near the end of "The Terrors," Jermaine and Serena ride on top of Alpha Ghost-type Pokémon (Gengar for him, Haunter for her) during a nighttime flight in the sky above Lumiose City.
- He briefly looks over at her and gasps because moonlight shines all over her, which emphasizes her big smile. He gazes dreamily at her for several seconds due to being so happy about seeing her having fun with Ghost types and no longer being afraid of them.
- After she catches him looking at her and asks if he's okay, he blushes and giggles before saying how much he's enjoying their flight. Her eyes pop open in surprise. She then blushes herself and smiles. They look at each other in a dreamy fashion for quite some time. Gwynn (who's riding an Alpha Gastly alongside them) flashes a knowing, mischievous grin.
- Near the end of "The Terrors," Jermaine and Serena ride on top of Alpha Ghost-type Pokémon (Gengar for him, Haunter for her) during a nighttime flight in the sky above Lumiose City.
- Spider on a Cold Shoulder features Peter Parker taking Emma Frost on the equivalent of this when he takes Emma web-swinging, Emma appreciating the chance to see New York from Peter's unique perspective (although she does joke that having her hold on to him during their swing session is basically just an excuse for Peter to have her tits pressing into his back).
- In Superwomen of Eva 2: Lone Heir of Krypton, Asuka Langley Sohryu and Shinji Ikari finally cement their decision to become boyfriend and girlfriend (as well as Asuka revealing to Shinji that she is Supergirl and she needs someone who she can confide to in order to not drive herself crazy with the mask of "perfect hero" she must show to the world) by kissing each other very high up above the rooftops of Tokyo-3.
Films — Animation
- Aladdin (1992, Disney): Pictured above, Aladdin and Jasmine's magic carpet ride during "A Whole New World."
- In How to Train Your Dragon, Astrid's first ride on Toothless turns into this for her and Hiccup after Toothless decides to play nice. Appropriately, the music during this scene is titled 'Romantic Flight' on the soundtrack.
- Happens in Howl's Moving Castle when Howl first rescues Sophie from the guards and proceeds to waltz with her right above the heads of people at a festival.
- Justice League: Gods and Monsters: Orion woos Bekka with a flight on his flying vehicle, giving her a tour of Apokolips.
- The Last: Naruto the Movie : At the end, Naruto and Hinata do this when they share The Big Damn Kiss.
- Megamind: Subverted by Hal/Titan. They think saving Roxanne will be cool and make her instantly smitten, so they throw her out the window themself and dive to rescue her... then continue to fling her around as they fly through the city, too self-absorbed to notice she is not enjoying the experience.
- Dusty and Ishani in Planes. Given that both air aircraft, both are flying under their own power.
- The Rescuers: Flying on the back of an albatross brings Bernard and Bianca closer together, but it takes until the sequel for Bernard to confess his feelings — on the back of an eagle.
- Blu and Jewel at the end of Rio.
- Spirited Away: Another Miyazaki example is the scene when Chihiro flies on Haku's back.
- Strange Magic: The Bog King and Marianne while they sing their Final Love Duet, Strange Magic by the Electric Light Orchestra.
- In Disney's Tarzan film, Tarzan and Jane take a romantic ride swinging high on vines during "Strangers Like Me".
- Thumbelina (1994) does this with Thumbelina and Cornelius flying around the valley — first on his bumble Buzzbee before he flies her in his arms for a romantic dance — all while set to the duet "Let Me Be Your Wings".
- WALL•E has a romantic flight sequence in space with Eve and WALL•E.
- White Snake (2019): Xuan and Blanca fly together across the cliffs after she enchants his umbrella to be capable of Flight. They even have an Accidental Hand-Hold while clutching the umbrella.
Film — Live Action
- 1941 (1979): Played for raunchy humor and schaedenfreude: one of the film's many subplots involves a member of the USAAF (who ironically failed his piloting tests) getting his hands on a plane to fly The General's Daughter (who has a Mile-High Club fetish). The "having sex" part succeeds, but unfortunately the plane is mistaken for a Japanese attack and almost shot down from the sky.
- Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away ends with the two protagonists finally reuniting and having a romantic flight via aerial straps.
- In Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, Kazuma Aoki takes Azusa Gojo on a date on a flying bike-like device.
- Pearl Harbor Has this in a fighter plane flying over the beautiful Island of Oahu, with a sunset taking place in it all.
- Two Jay Baruchel movies, namely The Sorcerer's Apprentice and She's Out of My League, end with him taking a girl flying. The former occurs aboard a flying statue of a falcon, whereas the latter occurs in a small aircraft.
- Superman does this with Lois Lane in every single movie (except the third one, in which she became Demoted to Extra).
- Played fairly straight but also for laughs both in Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines and 1941 (1979).
- Even Underdog has this. Somehow, Polly was able to hold on just by putting her paw on Underdog's arm.
Literature
- Enchanted Forest Chronicles: In book 2 (Searching For Dragons), Cimorene and her Love Interest (and future husband) Mendebar set off for their first adventure together — on a flying carpet.
- Arthur and Fenchurch in So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish takes this up to eleven, with them not just falling in love, but also, um, really getting to know each other.
- In The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine, the sorcerer Rhys creates a magical scene showing him doing this with Princess Addie, and then they do it for real.
Live Action Television
- House of the Dragon:
- In the first episode, Daemon Targaryen takes his paramour Mysaria on a flight on the back of his dragon, Caraxes.
- Also from the first episode, Rhaenyra Targaryen tells Alicent Hightower that she'd rather take the latter to fly with her on the back of her dragon, Syrax, than worry about the looming Succession Crisis, with the tone suggesting that the two had done it before. According to the actors who played them, it's one of the things hinting that Rhaenyra and Alicent might have harbored feelings for each other before the succession rigmarole.
- Smallville:
Music Videos
- The late Guru Josh flew a PPG trike with his love interest in "Ray of Sunshine."
Theater
- A more grounded version happens in The Hunchback of Notre Dame during the song "On Top of the World", when Quasimodo brings Esmeralda to the highest point in the bell tower. Despite Esmeralda's fear of heights, the two of them end up straddling the balustrade and pretending to soar over Paris. It's a moment of loving friendship from Esmeralda, but it also cements Quasimodo's (doomed) romantic feelings for her.
- Viciously mocked (like everything else) in Twisted with [["Take Off Your Clothes," where Aladdin tries to convince the Princess to sleep with him, cataloguing every Urban Legend about sexual innuendo in Disney films.
Aladdin: Look, that priest has a boner!
Jasmine: No, I think that's just his knees.
Video Games
- In Haven (2020), the Hover Skates-equipped protagonist couple hold hands while gliding in a straight line. Doing this long enough unlocks the "Love Birds" achievement. The Attract Mode cinematic also depicts Yu and Kay performing various acrobatic maneuvers that aren't actually possible in-game.
- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword: Link and Zelda fly on their Loftwings together in the beginning of the game, with Zelda about to say something important before she gets hurtled to the surface world by a tornado.
- Shantae: Half-Genie Hero: In Friends To The End mode, as part of a Shout-Out to Aladdin involving Magic Carpet of flight, Ammo Baron flirts while talking about flying together:
Ammo Baron: We're gonna soar over and under clouds, fly low and drag our fingers in a lake, all that garbage.
- Stardew Valley: During Harvey's ten-heart event, he takes you on a hot air balloon ride, overcoming his fear of heights in the process.
- Super Mario Galaxy: Mario and Peach have such a moment after he delivers an epic beatdown to Bowser at the end. He catches her as she falls from Bowser Jr.'s airship and whisks her away with the final Grand Star.
- Possible in the ending of Chrono Trigger. If you fly the Epoch into Lavos' shell, the ending plays out as normal until the party members all depart, whereupon the Gate closes for good. As Crono and Marle attend the installation of Nadia's Bell, the balloons she's holding suddenly carry her up into the air; they're even enough to hold Crono when he leaps to catch her. Their ascent over the land plays over the credits, Crono supporting Marle in one arm as he clutches the balloon strings in the other.
Webcomics
- In the beginning of Dangerously Chloe, while Teddy and Chloe are on the run and confused, she embraces him and takes a jump-start. The guy who didn't yet have a good look of his gorgeous "girlfriend" immediately loses it. Even more than before, that is.
Teddy: Ah! Aha! Ahaha! We-we're flying! You're flying! How are we flying?!
Chloe: I have wings, dummy!
Teddy: That's... Th-that's amazing! You're amazing! - Kevin & Kell has a Funny Animal variation: Fenton the bat wins over Lindesfarne by "dancing" with her in the air.
Western Animation
- Avatar: The Last Airbender: Sokka takes Yue out for a ride on Appa, resulting in an Almost Kiss.
- Danny Phantom: Foreshadowing the finale.
Sam: It's — nice. Flying is nice
- The Dragon Prince: In the season 3 finale, Rayla and Callum exchange a love confession and kiss - while he grows wings and flies her back to the top of the Storm Spire, accompanied by romantic music.
- Gargoyles: Strictly speaking, it's gliding, but Goliath and Elisa make a cute airborne couple. The strongest example would be the time in "The Mirror" when Elisa was transformed into a gargoyle as well.
Goliath: "I never realized just how beautiful you are."
Elisa: "*chuckle* Are you saying you thought I was ugly?"
Goliath: "Uh, well, that—Careful, updraft!" - Static Shock: Static woos Frieda this way in the first episode. He later does the same thing with his later love interest, Daisy.
