Female pilot reveals airport employee mistook her for flight attendant: ‘I’m offended for you’
A pilot opened up about an experience where an airport employee mistook her for a flight attendant.
In a video shared to her TikTok last week, Sabrina, @sabrinaleej, could be seen wearing her uniform and sitting in the cockpit of a plane. She proceeded to face the camera, with a confused look on her face, as she explained the mistake that the airport worker made.
“Gate agent looked me in the eye today, asked if I was the flight attendant,” Sabrina wrote in the text over the video. “(Common occurrence).”
She further explained her thoughts about the incident in the caption of the post, writing: “It’s jarring to me because they work at an airport. You know what the pilot uniforms are.”
As of 2 November, the video has more than 1.5m views, with TikTok users in the comments poking fun at how Sabrina should have responded to the gate agent’s remark.
“Ask them if they are new and tell them you will explain how to differentiate the uniforms so they don’t embarrass themselves again,” one wrote.
“That’s when you say: ‘Yeah I am but I thought I’d try flying the plane today too,’” another viewer wrote.
A third person added: “You should reply by saying ‘aww it’s your first day.’”
Other TikTok users sympathised with Sabrina and expressed how they could relate to her experience.
@sabrinaleej Its jarring to me because they work at an airport. You know what the pilot uniforms are 😭 #pilotsoftiktok #airlines #fyp #bruh
♬ Miss You (Sped Up Version) - _
“When people walk into MY law firm they ask me if I’m the receptionist,” one wrote.
“As a flight attendant, I’m offended for you,” another said. “Unacceptable. They KNOW our uniforms.”
“I’m the boss of a million dollar company, and one of my clients (!) said, ‘I shouldn’t be so arrogant because I was just an assistant,’” a third wrote.
In a follow-up video, Sabrina said that while she loves flight attendants, she’s not the only pilot who’s been mistaken for one. She also clarified that simply being labelled as a flight attendant wasn’t the issue that she wanted to address.
@sabrinaleej I love FA’s! Its just not me tho #pilotsoftiktok #flightattendants #airlinepilot #fyp
♬ originalljud - v£loxotic
“Being called a flight attendant is not an insult,” she wrote in the text over her video. “It’s an insult when it’s used to try to put me down after all my hard work. When you do that, you are insulting both me and flight attendants.”
The Independent has contacted Sabrina for comment.
