The Airport Crush Theory is a viral social media phenomenon that describes the intense, temporary infatuation travelers feel for strangers they spot in airport terminals. It suggests that the environment of transit—marked by anonymity, liminal space, and the excitement of travel—makes certain individuals appear like the one, even if you never exchange a single word. Popularized on platforms like TikTok and X, the meme usually involves filming a distant stranger or joking about the emotional stakes of a five-minute wait at a boarding gate. It taps into the universal human experience of brief, missed connections and the romanticization of the mundane aspects of modern travel.