Tiffany Gomas, the viral American Airlines passenger and Texas marketing executive who publicly melted down on the runway last month, has embraced her viral meme moniker — “TMFINR,” for “that motherf—– is not real” — in a new Instagram post urging followers to “stay tuned.”
The acronym sums up the viral line that punctuated her profanity-laced meltdown at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport in July, where she warned flight attendants the plane would crash on its way to Florida and declared that an unidentified person in the back of the cabin wasn’t real. She’s also referred to herself as the “crazy plane lady” and asked for forgiveness as she attempts to bounce back from the experience.
After a few weeks of quiet reflection, Gomas flipped the embarrassing viral moment into a campaign for “promoting positive mental health and standing up against cyberbulling,” as she put it on her social media accounts, which have amassed tens of thousands of followers.
Her latest post shows her sitting, smiling and at ease in her $1.6 million Dallas kitchen, flashing jewelry and a big smile in cuffed jeans and a white T-shirt.
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Tiffany Gomas posted an apology video on Aug. 13, saying her profanity-laced rant aboard an American Airlines flight was “uncalled for” and seeking to raise awareness for mental health and cyberbulling. (Tiffany Gomas/Twitter)
“One moment doesn’t define you,” the caption reads. “But it can define your purpose.”
But the attempt at a positive post also attracted an avalanche of negative comments.
“Tiffany Gomas’s purpose: Disrupt the travel plans and work day of hundreds of people,” one user on X, formerly known as Twitter, replied.
“That kitchen is not real,” wrote another, amid dozens of posts questioning whether the entire scene was generated by artificial intelligence.
What the post doesn’t include is an explanation for the meltdown — which was also missing from her apology video posted earlier this month, according to Lauren Cobello, a crisis marketing expert and the founder and CEO of Leverage with Media PR.
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“She’s avoiding all questions about what actually happened in the plane, and again just continues to be more and more disingenuous, unattached to what actually happened, and is trying to get her 15 minutes of fame by now developing a brand,” she told Fox News Digital. “But we don’t necessarily know what the brand is about, other than the fact that she has said the anti-online bullying thing — it’s very confusing.”
The selection of the kitchen floor as the backdrop was another odd choice, she added.
An artist’s rendering of Tiffany Gomas’ American Airlines meltdown shows a cast of imaginary characters, including a unicorn, an alien and a “jackelope.” (Travis Chapman)
“If she would sit at a counter with a cup of coffee, that would seem more relatable, reading a book or walking around outside her house,” Cobello said. “The kitchen floor, it’s a very strange picture.”
Gomas, who has not responded to requests for comment, is a 38-year-old marketing executive from Dallas who kicked off her rebranding effort about a month after going viral for a profanity-laced rant before takeoff on July 2.
In a video last week, she apologized for cursing in front of children, delaying travel plans for dozens of other passengers and told followers, “We all have our bad moments, some far worse than others, and mine happened to be caught on camera.”
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The apology came after she’d become a meme — and a character on T-shirts, stickers and other artwork.
Dallas marketing executive Tiffany Gomas is shown on an American Airlines plane during a meltdown caught on video by fellow passengers on July 2. (@knuckelslawncare/TikTok)
One image by painter Travis Chapman shows an illustrated Gomas gesturing to a cabin packed with made-up characters, including Bigfoot, a unicorn and a big-eyed alien.
According to the police report, Gomas initially got into an argument with a family member over her Apple AirPods before she told flight attendants she did not think the plane was safe or could reach its destination in one piece.
Commenters on her social media posts still want to know why — and they’ve taken it a step further, speculating that her posts and photos are being produced by artificial intelligence or that she is trying to monetize the incident.
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“From a public relations perspective, I want to shake her and be like, ‘This is not the way you do it,’” Cobello said. “Who is the real Tiffany? Is she the one on the plane? Is she the one issuing the apology? Is she the one Photoshopped sitting on her kitchen floor?”
The public wants to know, she said, and they’ll continue watching for answers, at least for now. But that may not be a good thing unless Gomas comes up with a “cohesive statement” explaining what happened and what her goals are moving forward.
“Very similar to how you saw in the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard documentary that came out on Netflix… everybody was kind of sitting and watching the court case because they just want to watch Amber crumble and burn, and they tuned in to watch that happen,” she said. “It’s almost like everybody is tuned in to Tiffany now, they’re watching her to see what she is gonna do next — but not in a good way.”
