CNN Whitehouse photojournalist Mark Walz flew Southwest Airlines out of West Palm Beach, Florida on Monday night and checked some camera equipment.
Here’s how it came out to him at baggage claim.
He wrote, “I knew that [Southwest Airlines] flight crew are often entertaining but had no idea that their baggage handlers were comedians as well. But to be fair, maybe it was the TSA…..”
Walz reports that Southwest Airlines reached out to him on Tuesday.
I just got a call this evening from Southwest Airlines HQ and got an apology and assurances that they would look into this and while they cannot confirm it was their employees, they said they take this kind of stuff seriously. Thank you, Southwest!
If you’ve got a sense of humor about it, this is awesome. But it could just as easily be taken as a huge insult to a customer.
Southwest baggage handlers: basket of deplorables?
(HT: Ken A.)
The labels are not an insult, they simply reflect the TRUTH.
Geez, Southwest, way to turn bags fly free into a negative
This should not have been done but speaking the truth
It’s about whether what they posted is true or fake – it’s thoroughly unprofessional behavior to do something like this. another reason why i avoid checking bags like the plague – i simply can’t trust those folks not to steal/ruin it.
^BreitBart or things coming out of Trump’s twitter account is the only real news *rolls eyes*
Meh. I don’t know if I even believe this was done to them and not a self plant-or a leftist pretending to be a Trump supporter. Leftists lately have been caught vandalizing etc and pretending they are Trump supporters.
I love reading daily fake news about all the deplorables who are about to lose their heavily subsidized health insurance and will never get their grossly overpaid menial blue collar job back.
I am sure this seriously traumatizes the liberal victims, they have to be protected as always.
So more possibly fake news, just because you know it will get extra clicks.
Sure, this could have been done by Trump supporters, but like the Black member of a church who put “Vote Trump” graffiti on his own church, and then burned it down, and is now in jail, charged with arson, it could well have been liberals doing a “false flag” operation in their continuing campaign to delegitimize the POTUS.
Anyway, this is my last post here. From now on I’m sticking to One Mile At A Time, MommyPoints, and FlyerTalk, which combined cover virtually anything I would learn here, and a whole lot more. There is so much Trump Derangement Syndrome stuff all over the media, I don’t need to come here and wade thru more of it. Besides my leaving will make the leftist trolls like Keith so happy, as they can now pretend that “everyone” thinks just as they do in their little leftist bubble. 😉
Thanks for everything I learned from you in the early days, when this was the first travel blog I found out about. No way to tell you how valuable all of that has been for us.
https://www.facebook.com/shadchan/videos/vb.653776388/10153939667771389/?type=2&theater
I’m surprised CNN has enough money to put its camera folk up in a JW Marriott.
How do we know it wasn’t CNN putting the stickers on just to bad mouth Southwest?
JW Marriott. Must be nice on business.
Gary Left: Overweight airline cholesterol ridden slob of puke.
Uh, that doesn’t look “vandalized” to me – it looks like a couple of sticky notes that poke some good-natured fun at the owner. Yeah, it could probably be called “unprofessional”, but something tells me that if FOX News was the target, you’d find it hilarious and not “vandalism”.
Let’s be clear though the primary goal of most all news organizations (apart from NPR & PBS- which is publicly funded) and our Twitter President is for RATINGS, first and foremost. the Pot is calling the kettle black. They are guilty of separate things and people are complicit.
The President is guilty of making false claims to drive ratings
The media/news (apart from NPR/PBS, etc) is guilty of parsing things into tiny pieces without analyzing the entire whole issue/context to drive ratings too. Furthemore they have gone one step further into creating a worldview/framework for their audience.
Americans are guilty of not seeing past both of their Bullsh*t. If we cannot see the forest from the trees, we as a nation are doomed.
So before one calls names such as “Libtard: or a “Trumpie”, remember that if you think that, then one is probably part of the problem and not the solution. If you read this blog, I have a lot of confidence that you are smarter than the media and smarter than the President to do a proper analysis and commentary than resort to childish name calling.
So…either WN employees or TSA employees could have been the ones to do it (or a CNN hoax – physically possible but not likely, I’d think)…yet the headline is “Southwest Baggage Handlers…”? Alrighty then. VFTW becomes less and less a serious blog and more a place for click-bait and crazy rants all the time.
NPR and PBS are as left leaning and biased as CNN and MSNBC. Why carve out an exception for them? The fact that they get public funds to broadcast opinion pieces just adds insult to injury.
Most people wouldn’t appreciate having their luggage defaced with labels, regardless of their organization’s point of view. Whether the labels are “true” or “false” is beside the point. How would the first few commenters on this thread feel if the same exact labels were placed on the luggage of their favored media outlet? And if they feel these labels are OK because they’re true, why isn’t it OK to spray paint the luggage?
Anyone that calls CNN and other reputable news agencies “fake news” is a complete idiot and symptomatic of the overall dumbing-down of America. Whatever your political leanings are, we should all agree that news agencies that fact-check and cite sources are by definition not “fake.” The same people that call CNN “fake” will then go and watch Alex Jones and Tomi Lahren spit lies and hatred, and not see the hypocrisy. SAD!
Genuinely surprised by how someone would interpret this as an anti-Trump post, but whatever.
cnn is a propaganda filth of the political establishment in our country. no wonder cnn is bashing our President non stop 7/24.
it really offends me that this fecal waste called cnn is allowed to be heard in public spaces like airports.
@ Gary “Genuinely surprised by how someone would interpret this as an anti-Trump post, but whatever.” – Really? You don’t see how the line “Southwest baggage handlers: basket of deplorables?” may be considered anti-Trump? ROFL. IMO whatever employee did this should lose their job.
@Gary You may want to write on this if you haven’t already. I think some of your readers would be surprised just how absurd they can be in UAE. I always thought what you did in the privacy of your own home there was left alone, but apparently not.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/couple-detained-uae-sex-outside-of-marriage-south-africa-ukraine-abu-dhabi-a7619201.html
@Bill if anything that statement is anti-Hillary, it may have cost her the election
CNN is on par with TMZ. Their ethical standard is long gone.
ROFL @ all the conservative snowflakes on here. They’ve been triggered!
More Leff Wing news. If these are removable stickers, as they look to be, there was no damage done and we have a tempest in a teapot.. After having read about one of the regular Huffington Post bloggers getting caught cheating for a second place finish in a recent Fort Lauderdale half marathon, I have to admit some of the press folk play games with the truth. That our own extremely liberal New Times outed this particular liberal female liar proves there may yet be hope for the press to redeem itself.
CNN is the poster child for fake news.
That said, I fly SWA every week and am disappointed by these actions.
SWA has the best corporate culture and some of the finest employees I see during my travels. I’d like to think this is the exception and not the rule.
To be fair CNN is fake news tho
Seriously??If this is news we’ve really lost it.
Something to think about. When you check your luggage several other groups have access to your bag. The largest group besides the ramp workers is the TSA. Just like Southwest rampers they aren’t normally in the business of putting stickers and stuff on peoples bags BUT in the last few days Trump has suggested slashing the TSA budget by a significant margin to help increase defense spending. So perhaps its possible that a disgruntled TSA agent did it. Another thing to think about is why did the ramper have white stickers just laying around? Seems like something that might exist at a TSA desk and not in some rampers pocket. Food for thought.
Whatever. Accurately calling out CNN for what it is. Doesn’t bother me.
“Vandalize.”! Ha ha ha. Right.
Greater than 50% chance this is like one of those fake “Nazi hate crimes” perpetrated by the “victim.”
Fight Club guys did it…but we’re not going to talk about that.
@Robert Hanson. Don’t let the door hit you when you leave. Maybe Ben will dismiss you also.
Obviously done by TSA, not Southwest. Think about it. They’re bullies just like Trump is.
Vandalize: deliberately destroy or damage (public or private property).
“stations have been wrecked and vandalized beyond recognition”
NICE TRY CNN.
Now you look even less credible.
If they find out it’s a SWA employee that did this, that employee should be terminated immediately. Right or Left, I’m not interested in an airline employee’s political views. If that changes, I’ll ask them personally.
Talk about Fake News! Those bags were not vandalized……..look up the word in the dictionary.
Fake means not accurate or not factual.
noun: vandalism
“action involving deliberate destruction of or damage to public or private property.”
Please point to me on the luggage where it was damaged or destroyed by the easily removable stickers. A microaggression? Maybe. Vandalism? Hard no. This is literally fake news.
@Gary, I really hate click bait. But if it gets rid of @Robert Hanson then you’ve done everyone that reads your comment sections the best favor. This click bait is forgiven!
I second that.
To quote the great Foghorn Leghorn “It’s a joke son…”. And from Stripes, “Lighten up Francis”. We apparently have lost all semblance of a sense of humor. Once again, I recommend Brim….
The problem with people who latch on to their politics as a means of concealing their unprincipled stupidity is that they impute it to those who point out their unprincipled stupidity.