American Airlines passenger in viral videos of her screaming and having a breakdown said it's wrecked her life

11.08.2023 - 10:51 / insider.com / Tiffany Gomas / Airlines

An American Airlines passenger who went viral because of videos of her appearing to accuse a fellow flier of being "not real" said that the experience wrecked her life.

Tiffany Gomas spoke to DailyMail.com about the aftermath of the video, telling the outlet that her life has been "blown up" by the attention.

A now-deleted TikTok video showed a visibly emotional Gomas getting off flight AA 1009 from Dallas to Orlando on July 2 before it took off.

Several different versions of the clip spread on social media, showing Gomas screaming at fellow passengers as she left.

"I'm getting the fuck off, and there's a reason why I'm getting the fuck off," she said before pointing to the back of the plane and adding: "But I am telling you right now, that motherfucker back there is not real."

"And you can sit on this plane and you can fucking die with them or not. I'm not going to," she said in the video.

Gomas' identity was not public when the video started to go viral. But earlier this week The New York Post identified Gomas, a 38-year-old marketing executive who lives in Dallas Texas.

She said the report had an immediate effect. "My life has been blown up. It's frightening. Things go viral and everything changes," Gomas told DailyMail.com. 

'They're staking out my house. They're staking out my neighbors. They're going through my mail," she said. She didn't specify who exactly she meant.

The New York Post reported cited police documents saying that Gomas' apparent breakdown was preceded by her falling out with the relatives she was traveling with, accusing them of stealing her AirPods.

"The female started claiming the aircraft was not safe and did not want the aircraft to leave due to her believing it would not make it to its destination," the police document said. She was eventually removed by airport staff.

Gomas' outburst led to hours of delays for other passengers because the flight crew had passengers re-screen their bags as a safety precaution.

Gomas was given criminal trespass notice for disrupting the flight, but she was not taken into police custody [source?]

In her interview with DailyMail.com Gomas did not give further detail on what happened that day, but asked people to reserve judgment.

"No one knows anyone else's story, and no one should judge. No one knows what it's like."

She did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.