Anyone who's been following social media over the last decade knows just how fast bad in-person behavior can be filmed and make one famous in all the wrong ways online.
One July video of a plane meltdown was viewed nearly 18 million times, turned into endless memes and earned the passenger who was booted off an American Airlines (AAL) -) flight the viral moniker "crazy plane lady."
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The original video, which was originally posted by @knuckelslawncare on TikTok, shows the woman later identified as 38-year-old Tiffany Gomas pointing at another passenger on the plane and screaming that she's "telling you right now, that motherf----r back there is not real."
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'My very worst moment was captured on video,' says woman behind viral plane rant
"And you can sit on this plane, and you can f--ing die with them or not," Gomas is filmed saying before she is escorted off the AA flight from Dallas to Orlando. As the plane had not yet taken off, it went on to its destination without the disruptive passenger.
The video has since spread far and wide from its original location on the internet. Some internet users remixed the rant with musical layovers while others have turned it into memes to illustrate the rise in bad passenger behavior in the era of post-pandemic travel.
Going public for the first time since the video went live (she deleted all her social media accounts after going viral), Gomas has apologized for her behavior but also said that "the flip-side has been cruel."
"I apologize and take accountability for my actions, they were uncalled for," Gomas said in a video she posted on Twitter on August 13. "My very worst moment was captured on video."
She followed by saying that "although the memes have been amusing, the flip-side has been cruel."
"This experience has been life-altering and I hope to do good from it and promote positive mental health," Gomas, who lives in Dallas and works as a marketing executive, continued.
'I can't imagine going through that and trying to explain to your kid what just happened'
At the time of the flight, Gomas was reportedly given a verbal trespass warning (a warning that one is not welcome to be on the airline) from American Airlines but not formally charged with any criminal behavior.
In a separate video she gave to celebrity news site TMZ, Gomas calls her behavior "completely unacceptable" and says that she wants to take "take full accountability for [her] actions."
"I want to apologize to everyone on that plane, especially those who had children aboard," Gomas said. "I can't imagine going through that and trying to explain to your kid what in the world just happened."
Some have commented that Gomas going public for the first time since the July 2 incident appears as the type of "rebranding" attempt common in the marketing industry she works in.
On the same day as she released the apology, Gomas launched a website with her name (that currently only has the apology video) and said she wants those moved by her apology to join her "on a journey of promoting positive mental health and standing up against cyberbullying."
