Deadline extended for Michigan teen to get tickets to see N.L. girlfriend

CORNER BROOK, N.L. — A lovestruck Michigan teen’s daunting Twitter bid to snag free airline tickets to see his Newfoundland girlfriend has been given new life.

C.J. Poirier’s bid for 530,000 retweets remained stuck at about 30,000 with just hours to go Wednesday, so Air Canada stepped in to extend the deadline — and added creative ways to help him to his goal. On May 1, Poirier had convinced Air Canada to give him tickets to visit his Newfoundland girlfriend if he could manage to get a retweet for every resident of Newfoundland and Labrador.

With the goal still far away, Air Canada — undoubtedly aware of the potential PR consequences of a Poirier failure — extended the deadline for “a few days,” and dramatically widened the goalposts.

“We’re helping (at)TheCJPoirier by donating ALL the retweets Air Canada’s has ever received! That’s 162,000 more retweets,” the airline said on Twitter.

“Donate your own retweets: just tweet (at)aircanada a screenshot of your most retweeted tweets and we’ll count them towards (hashtag)530KforBecca. Go!”

In response, Poirier offered a crying emoji and this: “THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.”

Poirier, a 19-year-old barista from Clarkston, Mich., met Becca Warren of Corner Brook, N.L., online last year and they decided they wanted to meet in person after six months of texting. “Of all the girls I’ve had the chance to meet, I’m glad it was her,” Poirier said Wednesday. So Poirier took to Twitter, asking Air Canada how many retweets it would take for free round-trip tickets.

Air Canada replied by asking what the population of Newfoundland was — and said it would take that many. Poirier said Warren, who shares his same interests in cartoons, video games and music, was surprised when Air Canada responded to his tweet.

As a backup plan, Poirier launched a GoFundMe page.