A United Airlines flight attendant who believed she was submitting an audition tape for a routine safety video found herself instead in one of the biggest films of the year, sharing a scene with Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada 2.
Tanya Hutchison, a Los Angeles-based flight attendant with United Airlines, learned of her unexpected casting on her birthday, when the airline called to tell her she had been selected not for the safety video she had applied for, but for a role in the Disney sequel. “I submitted a tape, and then when I got the callback on my birthday from United, they were like, ‘Congratulations!'” Hutchison told People magazine. “I’m thinking I got the part in the safety video. I was thrilled. And they said, ‘You’re going to be in a Disney movie.'”
In the film, Hutchison plays a flight attendant tasked with informing Streep’s character, the formidable Runway editor Miranda Priestly, that champagne is not served in economy class. It is a brief but memorable scene, and one that Hutchison says reflects her daily working life. She told People that passengers make exactly those kinds of demands in real life “all the time.”
A career interrupted, then renewed
Hutchison’s path to the role was far from straightforward. She had worked as a flight attendant earlier in her life before leaving the profession to raise her family. After putting five children through college, she returned to aviation with United a decade ago, initially uncertain whether she would be considered at her age.
“I put all my kids through college, and then I thought, ‘What do I do with this life?'” she told People. “I thought I might be too old. But because United is so diverse, and they really look beyond the surface of things and go to the heart of the matter, I think that’s why I’m here. They felt my authenticity.”
Hutchison signed a non-disclosure agreement before filming and was prohibited from taking photographs on set, which she described as giving her a rare opportunity to be fully present in the moment. The scene was filmed alongside Streep, who reprises her role as Miranda Priestly in the sequel, directed by David Frankel and written by Aline Brosh McKenna, both of whom returned from the 2006 original.
United Airlines as a partner in the production
Hutchison’s appearance is part of a broader partnership between United Airlines and the film. According to an internal memo reviewed by aviation publication Live and Let’s Fly, the airline launched a co-branded advertising campaign tied to the release and secured a presence within the film itself, including a placement within the in-flight entertainment system. Additional United flight attendants also appear in the movie alongside Hutchison.
The partnership is a calculated move by United to align itself with a premium audience. The Devil Wears Prada franchise is built around fashion, luxury, travel and ambition, demographics that overlap closely with the airline’s target market for its Polaris business class and premium cabin products.
The sequel, set 20 years after the original, follows Anne Hathaway’s character Andy Sachs as she returns to Runway magazine to help Miranda Priestly navigate the collapse of print media and the rise of digital publishing. The film also stars Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci, with new additions including Kenneth Branagh and Lucy Liu. It has taken more than 300 million dollars at the global box office since opening, delivering one of the strongest international performances of Streep’s career.
Travel at the heart of the story
The film’s travel sequences are central to its plot, with the Runway team journeying to Milan for fashion week and Miranda Priestly finding herself, for the first time, navigating the indignities of economy class. The airplane scene featuring Hutchison captures a moment of comic humiliation for the usually imperious editor and has drawn particular attention from audiences and critics.
For United Airlines, the appearance comes at a moment of significant activity. The carrier recently reached a tentative agreement with its flight attendant union on a new contract that would raise starting pay substantially, with senior crew members expected to reach 100 dollars per hour by 2030. The agreement covers retroactive pay valued at approximately 740 million dollars across the workforce.
For Hutchison, the experience remains something she describes in terms of simple gratitude rather than Hollywood ambition. What began as a hoped-for credit in an airline training video became a scene opposite one of the most acclaimed actors in cinema history.
Photo credit: 20th Century Studios
