‘Maybe Don’t Tell People This At All’: California Flight Attendant Sees Passengers Scuffling Aboard Flight. Then She Uses The Secret Code

When trouble is brewing on a plane, a flight attendant is usually the first line of defense. But one thing you might not know is that some have their own secret code-words.

In a viral TikTok, California-based flight attendant Yasmeen Golden (@yazgoldenn) revealed this secret to 188,900 viewers.

She explains, “No because if you ever are on a plane and you see somebody on the plane getting into it with, like, some flight attendants, and you all of a sudden hear the flight attendants say: ‘Grab my IMD,’ or ‘Check the FAM,’ that—I don’t wanna tell you what that means because that’s just none of your business.”

However, she explains that it’s “the equivalent of the flight attendant being like, ‘Backpack, backpack!’ ‘Oh toodle?’ Like we’re trying to, we’re calling in for some resources to see what can be done about this [points to the camera] about you [points again] Yeah.”

BroBible reached out to Golden via email.

What Did Commenters Think?

Some commenters were unsure whether Golden should have revealed the tricks of the trade. “Maybe don’t tell ppl this at all,” one suggested. “And you can get fired for saying that,” a second claimed.

Others could deeply relate. “Not me getting you on my FYP while scrolling though my FAM,” a third wrote. “Heavy heavy HEAVY with check the FAM!!” a fourth revealed.

Commenters also revealed what the IMD and the FAM mean. They mean “in-flight mobile device” and “flight attendant manual” respectively.

What Other Flight Attendant Code Words Are There?

Evidently, certain customer behaviors raise red flags for flight attendants, but flight attendant language goes beyond this. In fact, there are several code words you may well hear on a flight. An expert from vacation home company Wander broke down some of the most common ones in an article cited by LADBible.

For starters, “Angel’ or “Code 300” indicates that a passenger has died on board. “Squawk 7500” or “Hotel” means a larger threat on the airline, with the expert explaining. “If you ever hear this code mentioned by the flight crew or air traffic control, it signals a potential security threat on the flight. The aircraft’s transponder will send a signal with this code to alert authorities that the plane is in danger.”

Meanwhile, “Pan-Pan” is a kind of middle ground. “While not as critical as a ‘MAYDAY’, a ‘Pan-Pan’ call indicates that something is wrong on board, whether it’s mechanical trouble or a medical emergency, but the flight is not in imminent danger,” the expert said.

“Code Adam” is another cause for concern, as it means that a child has gone missing on the flight. “Code Yellow” refers to a passenger feeling unwell on board, though this isn’t a medical emergency.

Other code words are a bit more lighthearted, similar to the one Golden explained. The expert tells LADBible that “Mermaid” refers to passengers who “deliberately sprawl out across empty seats to deter others from sitting in their row.”

As for the final code word, “VIP” is different from what you think. This simply means the customer is being a “very irritating person.”

Given that flight attendant training involves self-defense classes, this secret dictionary shouldn’t come as a shock. There’s a lot more to the job than meets the eye.