When she first met her now-husband, Andy, Fallon Winslow had a strict “no pilots” rule in dating. But, she laughed, “I’m a sucker for a man in uniform and when I met Andy my rule very quickly became modified.” The two, now both first officers with Alaska, have been married six years and have a one-year-old child together.

Suffice to say, it was not love at first sight for Karen Lacy and Jay Cowieson, both now first officers at Delta. Well, not for Karen at least. The two met while doing ALPA volunteer work, and Jay admits he was too shy to even talk to Karen—leading to a bad first impression. Their committee was meeting for lunch and Jay says, “I was late to arrive so they were already there eating. The only empty seat was right next to Karen. I still couldn’t overcome my shyness and completely ignored her for the entire meal.” However, as they conversed by email and then in person, they discovered they had a lot in common and perspectives quickly changed.

Like many couples, Pete and Cheryl Pitzer (both captains at FedEx Express) met on the job. “We met on long BQN layovers,” explained Cheryl. “We flew two months together then I moved to another aircraft type. From the start it was a long-distance relationship that was helped by the ease of travel, she said. “Pete lived in Memphis, I lived in Dallas; we would visit each other.”

A pair of “beautiful eyes” and an “innocent smile” during a flight engineering class for the 727 kicked off a near-three-decade long relationship for Walid and Cammie Nakib. Walid, a captain with Endeavor, says he was “very much taken” at their first meeting. The couple would go on to date for seven-and-a-half years, says Cammie (a first officer with Delta) before tying the knot. “We thought as pilots we would rarely be together at the same time and how could we raise a family,” explains Cammie. “But love won out and we decided we would make it work somehow.”

Ryan and Kat Pullis, both captains at Virgin America, met in Hawaii 17 years ago when Kat showed up to flight training with Ryan as the instructor. Three months into their budding relationship came the first airline-related roadblock: Ryan got his first airline job, entering the duo into a long-distance relationship. “Some initial challenges were learning the life of an airline pilot and the crazy schedules that come with that,” Ryan admits. “Also, learning how to cope with the trust issues that come with the career and distance.”