Redeem now - In early July, a woman on an American Airlines flight was filmed telling another passenger they are "not real."
- Footage of the moment went viral and became a popular meme.
- The woman, who has been identified as Tiffany Gomas, has not publicly commented on the incident.
The passenger who generated dozens of memes for accusing another passenger of being "not real" on an American Airlines flight is a marketing executive who was on her way home to Dallas, the New York Post reported.
The passenger has been identified as a marketing executive named Tiffany Gomas, the Post reported, citing police documents.
Gomas, who was shown arguing with another passenger in the now-deleted viral video posted on TikTok, was eventually removed from the flight. The flight was scheduled to fly from Orlando to Dallas-Fort Worth on July 2.
Gomas is a marketing executive and business owner with 15 years of professional experience, according to her social media profiles, some of which are now set to private or have been deleted. She was named on Promotional Products Association International, or PPAI, Media's "20 Most Watchable Young Leaders" in 2017. The annual list highlights up-and-coming talents in the promotional products industry. In a now-deleted LinkedIn profile, she is listed as the owner of Uppercut Marketing, LLC, an advertising firm.
@the5thelement I got sucked into this rabbit hole.. you can go with me.. invested 😂🙈 #paranormal #paranormaltiktok #whatdidshesee #fyp #ladyonplane ♬ original sound - @the5thelementThe cause of the outburst was her AirPods — Gomas had accused relatives of stealing them, the Post reported, citing police records. Gomas was handed a criminal trespass notice for disrupting the flight, but she was not taken into police custody.
Summer this year has been filled with travel chaos, from canceled flights to airline passengers berating staff and fellow passengers alike. Some of the biggest US airlines, including United and American, have been at the center of this chaos. In April, a family had to drive from New Jersey to Orlando after their flight with United Airlines was canceled. In July, American offloaded a business-class passenger after he insulted a flight attendant. And in August, a woman argued with cabin crew on a United Airlines flight and refused to remain in her seat.
Luana Marques, an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, told Insider in 2021 that unruly behavior on flights could be chalked up to fear and anxiety. Marques explained that while the world has gradually returned to normal since the pandemic, the amygdala — the fight-or-flight part of the brain — is still being activated, making people more violent and aggressive on flights. The stress and anxiety result in people "riding really high cortisol" and causes them to reach a boiling point faster, she said at the time.
American Airlines and Gomas did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment sent outside regular office hours.
August 10, 2023: This story has been updated to remove certain personal details about Gomas that were not directly relevant to the airplane incident.
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