magine boarding a long-distance flight surrounded by strangers, each immersed in their own world, whether watching a movie, reading a book, or sleeping. Now, imagine turning that solitary experience into a vibrant opportunity to meet people, establish professional connections, and even form friendships. This bold vision is what inspired Íñigo Merino and Pol Quintana to create Wingle, a revolutionary application designed to connect airplane passengers during flights.
Íñigo and Pol, one a Madrid adoptee and the other Catalan, met in Dubai in 2019 while working in different areas: Pol in technological architecture and Íñigo as a strategic consultant. Although their paths diverged when Íñigo returned to Spain, they stayed in touch and years later, they found the right moment to materialize an idea they had been brewing: Wingle.
By the end of 2020, while Íñigo was returning to Spain, he began to reflect on a missed opportunity: the idle time during flights. "I realized that there was a lot of wasted time on flights, time that could be used to meet other passengers," explains Merino. "I wanted to find a way to make use of that time," he adds.
Later, when they met again, they agreed that it was the right time to embark on the adventure with the Wingle project, but this time something clicked, and they started to talk more seriously, so in October 2023 they considered leaving their jobs and fully focusing on the application project.
"Our profiles are absolutely complementary. While I come from the business world, Pol has expertise in the technological aspect. That has been key to the development of the application," explains Íñigo. According to the creators, Wingle's mission is to transform the flying experience, making it more enjoyable: "We are in a context where the flight has become the worst part of the travel experience. Narrow seats, little space between rows, everything paid onboard, delays... But it shouldn't be like that. Flights are where everything begins, the moment you set off towards your destination and the start of the adventure," they explain to GRAN MADRID. "They are an ideal moment to create human connections," say the two partners and friends.
The magic of how this application works is that users can connect and chat without being linked to a network: "Wingle operates without the internet, so we can function on any plane and airline."
This innovative application was launched on July 1 and thefeedbackfrom users since then has been more than positive as Merino and Quintero explain: "People are seeing the potential it has on flights to meet people to discover a new destination, to bring groups together, to flirt, but also for groups of people traveling together but sitting in different rows to keep talking throughout the flight."
One of the pillars of Wingle is to ensure the privacy and security of users: "In the application, you will never see the photo of the other person you are talking to from the start. To see the profile picture, you will have to give permission, and they will have to authorize it," explained Pol. "In addition, chats are automatically deleted once the plane lands, without saving the conversations," he adds.
Wingle has been a journey of many learnings for them: "The moment on July 1, when we activated the app and saw the download counter start to grow, was a total adrenaline rush," recalled the two friends. Now, with the application already in the market, Íñigo and Pol are focused on continuing to improve the user experience and expanding the reach of Wingle in the world of travel to completely transform it.