Why Were Angelina Jolie and Salma Hayek Flying Commercial Like Us?

It’s not often that the plane ride is the highlight of your vacation, but for vacationers in Mexico this past weekend, that just might be the case, as a few dozen lucky travelers ran into Angelina Jolie and Salma Hayek traveling commercial.

Though the two actors are both ultrawealthy (Hayek happens to be married to a billionaire businessman) and typically fly private, they were spotted hopping aboard a passenger jet from Mexico City to Veracruz over the weekend, reports Page Six. Coming not so long after the bonanza that was the Bezos wedding, this flying behavior is shockingly (and ironically) grounded.

We’re at an interesting crossroads, culturally, when it comes to expectations for celebrity comportment in things like private jet usage. On the one hand, we’re more aware than ever of the environmental cost, so even if someone isn’t so out of touch as to flaunt their immense privilege, it can read a bit “let them eat cake” to pollute the earth while the rest of us wait in line at TSA.

On the other hand, as we saw with Chappell Roan and others, fan behavior can get out of control and take a real mental toll on celebrities. Remember when a fans shut down a whole road in New Jersey just because Taylor Swift went to a wedding? And you want this girl at the airport? Flying private is luxurious, but for stars of a certain fame level it’s often less about privilege and more a necessity for security reasons.

So, what to make of Angelina Jolie and Salma Hayek in Mexico, at an airport where presumably they’d be less likely to encounter paparazzi but probably just as likely to encounter fans, at least of Hayek (Jolie is internationally famous, sure, but Hayek, who is Mexican, I would imagine is the bigger star there)? Honestly, it’s hard to parse the calculus they might have done to come to the conclusion that they wanted to get on this flight, but it’s cool that they did it and seemed to have an okay time.

According to the article, they politely declined to take fan pictures while on the plane, and we can only hope that their boundary was respected. The other passengers did get a great story out of it, and that’s one fewer private jet’s exhaust we have to breathe this week.

The other, and most fun, part of the story is the absolute yap sesh they appear to be having.

Its hard not to be invested in this friendship, and by that we mean very, very, a lot, and so much invested in this friendship, which began on the set of Eternals but really broke through when Hayek convinced Jolie to push Hayek’s face into her birthday cake (it’s a tradition). Jolie has since written and directed a film, Without Blood, in which Hayek starred, and the pair seem to have found a deeply meaningful connection.