American tourists heading 'to Nice' accidentally land in 'Tunis' — Internet can’t stop laughing

What was supposed to be a glamorous getaway to Nice, France turned into an unexpected detour to Tunis, Tunisia — and the internet can’t stop laughing! (Representative Image)

Travel mistakes happen all the time—missed connections, lost luggage, wrong terminals. But two American tourists took it to another level when they accidentally boarded a plane to Tunis, Tunisia, instead of Nice, France, after a simple miscommunication at Rome’s airport.

TikTok user Brittney Dzialo documented the entire mix-up in a now-viral video, racking up over 18 million views. The clip shows her and her friend giggling nervously as they realised, mid-flight, that they were nowhere near the glamorous French Riviera but were instead headed 500 miles away to North Africa.

The confusion began after the pair missed their original flight to Nice. Hoping to quickly rebook and asked for tickets “to Nice.” The request, however, was misheard as “Tunis”, and before they knew it, they were strapped into seats on a Tunisair flight bound for Tunisia.

The Moment of Realisation

The TikTok video captures the exact moment of dawning horror. “The moment we realised we were on the wrong flight and on our way to TUNIS, AFRICA and not NICE, FRANCE,” Dzialo captioned the clip.

Onboard, they asked fellow passengers, “Is this going to Nice?” One traveller gently corrected them: “Tunis, yeah.” Another woman added, “I thought you said ‘To-Nice,’ which is in France,” prompting nervous laughter from the Americans.

Even after checking with a flight attendant, who calmly pointed out their tickets clearly read “Tunis,” the women had little choice but to stay on board. As Dzialo admitted in her overlay text: “The whole plane witnessed our meltdown, and people either found it entertaining or hated us.”

Wrong flight
byu/Sylas1987 inTikTokCringe

Social Media Reacts

The video sparked a wave of reactions ranging from empathy to disbelief.

One user joked: “Imagine being this oblivious, then imagine your friend is equally as oblivious. What are the odds?”

Another sympathised: “I think it’s only a 90-minute flight from Tunis to Nice, so it’s not the end of the world to have made this mistake. I actually found their response kinda funny and endearing. It’s nice (see what I did there?) to not have them yelling and freaking out and making it everyone else’s problem.”

Skeptics, however, questioned how such a mistake was possible. “But how would you go to the wrong gate? If you booked Tunis by mistake, you’d still look for Nice on the screen to get your gate number.”

Others were more amused than critical. “Yo, I’m literally crying with laughter after realising that maybe they just did a speech-to-text booking like this.” Another quipped: “This is actually so hilarious, and I’m so glad y’all were such good sports about it, like all you can do is laugh.”

Some viewers couldn’t resist poking fun at their nationality. “Tell me you’re American without telling me you’re American,” wrote one.

How Could This Happen?

While it seems almost impossible in the age of digital boarding passes and multiple ID checks, airline experts note that such slip-ups, though rare, can occur. Factors include distraction at the gate, phonetic mix-ups with city names, and simple human error.

As one Instagram user remarked skeptically: “Can’t happen ever. They check boarding passes at least 5 times, and verify flight numbers again before boarding.”

Yet, in this case, the similarity between “Nice” and “Tunis” set the stage for the perfect storm of travel chaos.

A Detour Through North Africa

Once they landed in Tunis, the confusion continued with airline staff before the pair finally secured a connection to Nice. What was meant to be a direct hop to the French Riviera turned into an unplanned detour through North Africa—complete with a viral story to tell.

And, as one commenter cheekily pointed out, perhaps it wasn’t such a bad mistake after all: “The beaches in Tunisia destroy anything France has to offer.”