Airport Crush / Airport Crush Theory

An Airport Crushis aslangterm for a stranger that you see at the airport who you develop a crush for, knowing that you will likely never see them again. Airport crushes are closely related to the Airport Crush Theory, which is the theory that people appear more attractive at the airport than they do in everyday life. The terms became increasingly popularized online throughout the 2020s, inspiring videos about airport crushes on Tik Tokas early as 2021. The terms continued to spread over the following years, seeing a spike in virality in August 2025 as a video of Korean model Eunchae Jang sitting in the airport, captioned, "airport crush theory is real," went viral.