A couple took off on a once-in-a-lifetime flight from Austin, Texas, on Monday to witness a total solar eclipse from 30,000 feet in the air – and landed in Detroit happily engaged with a story like no other. 

Neil Albstein and his girlfriend, Michele Rosenblatt, both of New York, were on one of Delta's two "path-of-totality flights," an experience the airline had never before offered: To fly along the path where the moon would completely cover the sun. The airline offered two simultaneous flights to Detroit at the same time, one departing from Austin and another from Dallas. 

"This year's eclipse will travel across the U.S. at 1,600 miles per hour, while the aircraft will be moving at about 480 miles per hour," Delta says on its website. "The path of totality and the flights' paths will come together about halfway the planned flight time."

Albstein told Reuters that the flight was such a special event that he didn't believe he would be able to top it for asking Rosenblatt to be his bride. Both Austin and Dallas were parts of the path of totality, which spanned 15 states before dipping into Canada. 

"It seemed like I could never come up with anything else so special to propose to her," he told Reuters, "and I wanted it to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, so it just seemed perfect to combine it."

And he did – right after witnessing totality from 30,000 feet in the air, spawning elated tears from his new bride-to-be and cheers from fellow passengers. 

"Once the eclipse happened – because I knew I wasn't going to propose before the eclipse – once it happened, then my attention shifted and I started getting nervous," he told Reuters. 

Video and photos of the moment show him pulling out a shiny silver ring that he had kept in a little blue box. He told The Detroit Free Press he had been planning the proposal for two months. 

In:
• Eclipse
• Texas
• Delta Air Lines
• New York

Li Cohen

Li Cohen is a social media producer and trending content writer for CBS News.