Matchmaking Flight send-off party at LAX, with Bachelor, sizzles. Eat, Play, Love, New Zealand

Molly Malaney feeds her Bachelor-boy Jason Mesnick a truffle. Below, party food.

Be sure not to miss the great party video (see below) featuring Jason ‘The Bachelor’ Mesnick and Molly Malaney talking food. There’s also a fun party slideshow.

It was a idea Cupid might have dreamed up himself. To join ABC’s Jason “The Bachelor” Mesnick and his girlfriend, Molly Malaney, on a Matchmaking Flight to New Zealand.

To fly with other singles.

To go look on the other side of the world for love.

Or to find it in the air.

Or to find it via the internet. Many of the singles had already connected, via a Matchmaking Flight website. Dates had already been organized in New Zealand. (Yes, New Zealand singles had joined the website, and many had booked for the Matchmaking Ball, set up for two days after touch-down in Adelaide.)

One US group of singles who connected on the site had already met each other, in LA, for cocktails. Others, from Canada and throughout North America, were meeting for the first time at the airport.

Party Time at LAX

So what do you do before you steer 100 singles onto a plane for flight to the other side of the world?

You give them a send-off party.

This party was held in a large area inside the security check-in area at LAX. It had been sectioned off and made private with curtains. It had moody disco lighting and throbbing DJ music.

In attendance was a make-up team for those who wanted a bit of an instant-make-over. There was Cheryl Pasko (pictured right with Steve Purnick), an Air New Zealand employee (it was an Air New Zealand flight and the Matchmaking Flight was an Air New Zealand concept), dressed as a “love goddess,” sprinkling love dust and introducing people.

Wine and Cocktails

There were New Zealand wines and cocktails made with 42 Below, a New Zealand vodka (this one flavored with passion fruit). (To make a Red Delicious, shake up a large slug of 42 Below with cranberry juice, pineapple juice and a touch of peach  licquer.)

Party MC, Steve Purnick from Comedy Sportz LA, broke the ice with a series of “love is in the air” party games, including a speed-dating exercise.

An unexpected highlight was when the total Air New Zealand flight crew, including the pilots, took to the stage and did a cabaret number. Turned out they’d been rehearsing for three months.

I told Air New Zealand marketing director Kathryn Gregory that everyone I’d mentioned the flight to had asked me if I was going to join the Mile High Club. (If you don’t know what it is, don’t ask!) She said airline staff would reign in the unruly and had strict guidelines on security.

See a background story on the Matchmaking Flight here.

Photos by Wanda Hennig