California doctor says she saved someone’s life on a plane. But American Airlines thanked her boyfriend as “Dr.” and her as “Ms.”

A California doctor has shared that American Airlines sent her and her boyfriend separate thank-you letters after they both helped during an in-flight medical emergency, but only addressed her male partner as “Dr.” while referring to her as “Ms.” The doctor, who posted about the incident on Reddit’s r/mildlyinfuriating community, said both she and her boyfriend are practicing physicians and were equally involved in the emergency response.

According to her post, the two were on a flight when a serious medical emergency broke out. She said both physicians stepped in, spent the flight conferring about whether to divert the plane, helped manage the patient medically, and were met by paramedics upon landing. The flight attendant, she said, collected both of their information, including their titles and medical specialties.

Despite that, the follow-up message from the airline reportedly addressed her boyfriend as “Dr.” and her as “Ms.” She added that neither of their AAdvantage frequent flyer profiles listed “Dr.” as a title, which she suggested may have played a role in how the airline generated the messages. “More annoying I did more than him and I’m the Ms.,” she wrote in the comments.

The incident drew widespread attention online, with many sharing similar experiences of being addressed by the wrong title

The post drew a lot of attention on Reddit, accumulating over 18,000 upvotes. Some users questioned whether the error came from the airline’s automated systems rather than any deliberate decision, saying that passenger profiles do not always carry accurate title information. One commenter said they had selected “Dr.” when signing up for a frequent flyer program as a child and the airline still addresses them by that title decades later.

Others said the experience mirrored what they had seen in professional settings. One commenter who identified as a female physician wrote: “I asked my male attending if he has ever been called nurse and he said maybe once. For me it’s easily once a shift.” Women in professional settings have also spoken out in other contexts, such as one woman who quit her job after overhearing colleagues’ comments before she even started.

Some users also shared experiences from the opposite direction. One man who identified as a nurse said patients regularly assumed he was the doctor, with one elderly patient insisting he must be a horse vet. A male nursing student wrote: “Get mistaken for the doctor during clinicals all the time. It’s like, ‘Sir, I am not even authorized to give you a Tylenol unsupervised.'”

A university professor who identified as a woman said she once served on a panel where all three male participants were referred to as “Dr.” throughout a two-hour event, while she and two other women were addressed only by their first names. The broader question of whether gender plays a role in professional outcomes has surfaced in political discussions as well, with some figures suggesting it remains a factor in how far women can advance.

One commenter drew a comparison to a separate incident in which Olympic gymnast Simone Biles was reportedly referred to in a news article as an “NFL wife” rather than by her own name or accomplishments. Another user said that most mail sent to her household is still addressed to “Dr. and Mrs.” even though her husband does not hold a doctorate, adding that even organizations she described as progressive had not corrected it after repeated attempts.

The doctor said the situation was frustrating but familiar, describing it as something that “happens all the time”, including in hospital settings. The original poster clarified she did not raise the issue over frequent flyer points. “Nope don’t care about the points,” she wrote, when a commenter asked whether the complaint was about miles. Her concern, she said, was the inconsistency in how two physicians who responded to the same emergency were addressed.