Mom Goes Sparks Backlash After Airport Pizza Hack

An Oregon mother of four has ignited a social media firestorm after revealing how she sidestepped what she calls “insanely expensive” airport food — by ordering pizza to the terminal during a flight delay and carrying it onboard.

The clip has racked up more than 13 million views and counting.

Now, the internet is split.

Ali Van De Graaff, a family travel blogger who runs the Instagram account Twin Passport Tales, was flying from Rogue Valley International–Medford Airport to Mexico with her husband and their four children — two sets of twins — when they learned their flight would be delayed.

For a family of six, that meant one thing: a long wait and a potentially brutal food bill.

“Airport food is just so insanely expensive,” she said in an interview. “I knew I wasn’t going to drop that kind of money for one meal.”

Her husband came up with the workaround.

“We’ve got time — let’s get some Domino’s,” he told her.

Using the Domino’s app, they placed an order for two large pizzas and tracked the delivery to the airport’s arrivals area. Van De Graaff grabbed two of the kids, left the carry-ons with her husband, and stepped outside security to meet the driver curbside.

Then came the bold move.

They went back through security — pizza boxes in hand.

“We have TSA PreCheck, so we knew it would be quick,” she said. “The TSA guy looked at us and said, ‘I’m so jealous. That’s so smart.’”

Security let the boxes pass without issue.

Soon after, the family boarded — pizza and all.

“The kids had never eaten pizza on an airplane before,” she said. “They thought it was the coolest thing ever.”

According to Van De Graaff, even a flight attendant chimed in.

“She said, ‘I’ve never seen that before. That is genius.’”

But once the video hit social media, the praise was matched by backlash.

Critics argued that hot pizza in a confined cabin crosses a line.

“Bringing food on the plane like this is rude,” one commenter wrote.

“I would cry if someone ordered a pizza and I had to sit next to them and smell it the whole time,” another added.

Some airline workers weighed in, too.

One self-identified flight attendant wrote that while bringing food isn’t prohibited, full-size pizza boxes can be difficult to stow and dispose of mid-flight.

“It’s going to smell up the plane,” she warned. “And those boxes take up a lot of space.”

Etiquette expert Jacqueline Whitmore, a former flight attendant based in Florida, said travelers should think beyond just price savings.

“A full-size pizza box can become cumbersome and create unnecessary inconvenience for the crew,” she explained. “If you do bring food, choose items that are compact, minimally messy, and easy to dispose of.”

Still, Whitmore acknowledged that modern air travel has changed.

“Many airlines no longer offer substantial meals,” she said. “During delays or extended tarmac waits, having something to eat can make a stressful situation far more manageable.”

For Van De Graaff, the math was simple.

She estimates she paid about a quarter of what the same amount of food would have cost inside the airport.

And she was reminded of that reality on the return trip, when six slices of airport pizza reportedly cost around $80.

“If I can avoid that, I do,” she said.

As for the complaints about smell?

“I’ve seen people bring hard-boiled eggs or cans of tuna,” she said. “It could be worse.”

Her final word was blunt.

“I’m feeding my kids. I’m doing what I’ve got to do.”

Even Domino’s appeared to enjoy the moment, responding online with a cheeky nod: “Just plane delicious.”

The viral debate taps into a larger frustration many American families feel as airport prices soar and travel costs climb. For some, Van De Graaff is a savvy mom beating the system. For others, she’s proof that personal convenience shouldn’t override shared space etiquette.

One thing is clear: in the age of viral travel hacks, even a simple pizza order can divide the cabin.