Does a video clip posted on social media prove that an airline pilot made an in-flight announcement referring to the "Gulf of America"? No, that's not true: The video provides no proof that what appears to be an airplane cabin is in an aircraft flown by an airline, or that the voice heard belongs to the pilot. There is no visible airline logo or identifiable uniformed airline staff seen inside the aircraft in the video.
The claim appeared in a post and video (archived here) made on X on January 27, 2025. The caption said:
And just like that airlines are already catching on 🤣🔥 'Ladies and Gentlemen if you look out the right side of the aircraft, you will see the GULF OF AMERICA' Incredible.
This is what the post looked like at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Mon Jan 27 17:28:55 2025 UTC)
The video provides no proof that the airplane actually belongs to an airline or has an airline designation. There is no visible airline logo or identifiable uniformed airline staff seen inside the aircraft in the video. There is also no mention of the supposed airline the pilot works for.
The oldest version of the video (archived here) was posted on TikTok on January 26, 2025. That was found by reverse image search using Google. This is what that reverse image search's results looked like:
(Source: Google screenshot taken on Mon Jan 27 2025 20:19:39 UTC)
The supposed airline is neither identified by the oldest video's poster nor the post on X that shared it.
In the video, an open flight deck connected to the passenger cabin can be observed, whereas a commercial airplane would have a door between the pilots' cabin and passenger cabin. Private jets are not typically operated by airlines.
Gulf's name
The post and video appeared in the days after President Donald Trump moved to change the name of what is commonly known as the Gulf of Mexico.
Following his inauguration on January 20, 2025, Trump signed an executive order that renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, according to the White House. This name change has yet to be recognized by international entities, according to Reuters.
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Additional Lead Stories fact checks on claims concerning airplanes can be found here.
