First mile-high gay wedding

AAP

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SCANDINAVIAN airline SAS said on Wednesday it plans to host the first-ever in-flight gay wedding in December, and is searching for a suitable couple to walk down the airplane aisle.

"It will be a very traditional wedding," SAS spokesman Anders Lindstroem told AFP. "There will be wedding cake and dancing in the aisles."

SAS is accepting entries from gay couples who wanted to celebrate their nuptials mid-flight from Stockholm to New York on December 6, with the winning entry will be chosen by an online vote.

The airline said it would pay for the winners' tickets, hotels and honeymoon in Los Angeles, and cater the on-board banquet, albeit with a special wedding menu instead of normal passenger fare.

Linstroem said SAS was playing catch-up to US airlines, who have spent years courting gay, lesbian and bisexuals in the United States with targeted marketing and sponsorship campaigns.

The ceremony itself would need to take place in Swedish airspace, where gay marriage is legal, he added.

The wedding couple and their guests would have the entire business class section closed off, in part to avoid offending any other customers who might not approve of the mile-high matrimony.

"We don't want to offend anyone. We hope we won't offend anyone. It is the year 2010 after all," Lindstroem said.