When a female passenger was offended by an American Airlines pilot’s luggage sticker, she reported the “cowardly” message to the authorities. Following the complaint, the pilot was placed under investigation as the airline decided his fate.
Dana Finley Morrison was boarding an American Airlines flight from St. Lucia to Miami when she spotted something that she didn’t like. The Missouri-based fraternity and sorority worker was stepping onto the plane when she noticed that one of the pilots had a political sticker on his bag, Daily Mail reports.
The sticker, which was displayed on the pilot’s luggage tag, reads, “Let’s Go Brandon — FJB,” which has become a popular slogan among both Republicans and some Democrats that stands for “F*** Joe Biden.” Immediately furious over the message, Morrison was determined to make the pilot pay.
“Hey @AmericanAir — y’all cool with your pilots displaying this kind of cowardly rhetoric on their crew luggage when they’re in uniform, about to fly a plane? We are not the only passengers who noticed and were disgusted. Today in UVF about to board Miami,” Morrison tweeted to the airline, along with several pictures of the pilot and his sticker.
The airline quickly responded to Morrison, promising to get to the bottom of the offense. Within hours, the company informed her that the message had been relayed to the “proper authorities” and that the pilot had been placed under investigation. “Thank you for bringing this to our attention and we want to get this to the right team. Please DM any additional details,” the airline replied to Morrison. “We hold our team members to the highest standards and expectations.”
American Airlines has a policy that staffers may only wear preapproved badges or pins. However, it’s unclear if this applies to its employees’ luggage. In the past, the company has allowed military pins, gay pride badges, and Christian pins.
Most notably, American Airlines previously came under fire after it created an official “Black Lives Matter” pin for staff members. The symbol was called the “Stand for Change” badge, and it allowed employees to express their support for the movement. “American Airlines believes in equity and inclusion for all,” a rep for the company wrote in a statement at the time. “In light of the appropriate attention to lives of Black Americans, we will allow team members who wish to wear a Black Lives Matter pin to do so if they choose.”
Believing the company to be hypocritical in its approval of political displays, internet users took to Twitter to call out American Airlines for its blatant bias.
“Will never fly American again if you discipline an employee for having a political opinion,” one woman vowed.
“The World is watching, If crew can openly wear BLM merch, hard to justify censoring this,” a man remarked.
“If he’s not pushing the agenda on the passengers and not spewing stuff over the intercom she can mind her own business!” another woman said. “This young man has done nothing wrong.”
Many promised to boycott American Airlines if they choose to discipline the pilot. Others had already sworn off flying with the company.
Americans have been disillusioned by the blatant political bias that has infected businesses across the nation. Even companies that have nothing to do with politics and claim to be apolitical have adopted certain social movements that lean to the left.
However, many of these companies are quickly learning that half of the country doesn’t agree with the loud voices in the social justice movement. Of course, when their profits take a dive and their stocks begin to dip, they might think twice before choosing a side instead of remaining politically neutral.
