Fact Check: Real Photo of Flight Attendant Handing Out Cigarettes on Plane?

Claim:

A photo shared online in late July 2024 authentically showed a flight attendant handing out cigarettes on an airplane.

Rating:

Fake ( About this rating? )

On July 22, 2024, an X user posted a photograph on X ( archived ) purportedly showing a flight attendant handing out cigarettes on an airplane.

"This is what they took away from us," the X user captioned the image, which had amassed more than 6.8 million views as of this writing.

However, one user replied : "Isn't that a good thing?"

Another X user said: "So true. I remember when you could go to the back of a plane to smoke," while an Instagram user wrote : "This was what flying in the 80s was like." The photo also circulated on Threads , Reddit , Facebook and iFunny .

However, the picture was generated using artificial-intelligence software, therefore we rated it "Fake."

The photo displayed numerous clear signs of being AI-generated. For instance, both the baby's and mother's hands were deformed, along with some people's faces, the basket appeared to be dissolving into the background, and there were no clear aisles in the cabin:

(X user @tunguz)

Even the baby appeared to have a cigarette in its mouth.

Furthermore, AI detection tools, such as Hive , Is It AI? and AI or Not , strongly indicated the image was AI-generated.

(Hive)

Snopes recently looked at other AI-generated images . For instance, in June 2024, we investigated a photo allegedly depicting a pink dolphin seen off the coast of North Carolina. We also looked into whether a picture shared in early May 2024 was captured in 1930 and showed "Hoggie," a legendary loch monster in Scotland.

Sources:

AI or Not | AI Detector to Check for AI in Images & Audio. https://www.aiornot.com/ . Accessed 24 July 2024.

Hive Moderation. https://hivemoderation.com/ai-generated-content-detection . Accessed 24 July 2024.

"Home." Is It AI?, https://isitai.com/ . Accessed 24 July 2024.

PerryCook, Taija. "Real Pics of Pink Dolphin Seen Off North Carolina Coast?" Snopes, 20 June 2024, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/real-pics-of-pink-dolphin/ .

Wrona, Aleksandra. "Real 1930 Pic of 'Hoggie,' Legendary Hogganfield Loch Monster?" Snopes, 6 May 2024, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/legendary-hogganfield-loch-monster/ .