Despite many people wanting to ban the app (or force its sale) in the U.S., TikTok continues to grow. Created in 2016, the app was introduced to the US in 2018.
and a lot of its earliest videos were typically short ones, usually set to music. But fast forward these 6 years, and TikTok, which now has over 2 billion downloads worldwide, is used for infotainment and, according to Pew Research Center late last year, roughly a third of US adults under age 30 (along with 15% of those aged 30 to 49, 7% of those 50 to 64 and 3% of those age 65+) regularly get their news from the app.
Not all good or helpful
Unfortunately, TikTok has its downside, as well. Thanks to “TikTok challenges,” more impressionable viewers have chewed Tide Pods, held their breath until they passed out (a handful of them died), or covered their faces with hot wax strips and yanked them off. Others have cooked chicken in Nyquil, ate enough Benadryl to make themselves hallucinate, or Superglued their hands to their hair. All because they saw it on TikTok.
Misinformation galore
TikTok is also a great way to make crap up and watch it go viral.
- The super comfortable position on a plane…that could get you killed
- “Airlines owe you money if you’re bumped.” Except when they don’t
- The “hack” for free airline tickets…that’s been a rule for decades
The newest myth & responses
A TikTokker who goes by the handle “airportlife_”posted a video on April 18th. It showed a bag handler loading suitcases into the cargo area of the plane, starting with all the red ones, and then followed by other colors…blue, white, black, etc. The video screen asks his followers if they knew “why red bags are loaded first.”
@airportlife_ Boeing 737 loading! 💪🏻✈️ #airport #aviation #aircraft #plane #flight
That causes thousands upon thousands of people to either reply with “Why are the red bags loaded first?” or people giving “reasons” why it was so:
- So that it’s easier to check if there is any bag left at end corner of loading area and prevent missing out black bags at dark corners, maybe — Emir
- I think it’s the crews bags — ☆ ☆ ☆
- I really thought that it was red first because red is first on the rainbow — emi
- Red bags tend to belong to passengers who don’t turn up to the flight so loading them first means they can be easily found to be offloaded — Will Nelson
There were plenty of people who fell for this, hook, line and sinker:
- Now I feel so bad. I needed my bag unloaded last month because I had a medical emergency right before we boarded. They had to go through all of the suitcases to get mine sorry guys ☹️ — Olivia
- This seems like really good organization that is not used everywhere 😬 — PatxiLopez
- I have a feeling it has somthing to do with the black box — .
- What colour is loaded last ?? As I’ll be buying that colour thanks — doella
A few people gave what surely had to be BS answers:
- Its to make sure that if an angry bull was to go up there it don’t get more angry — Big_Ai
- So they are closer to the front of the plane. It makes it go faster. — bilbo_baggins13
- red bags are loaded first in case of a crash the front end snaps off and the bags are exposed and it’s the most eye catching colour to make it easier to find them honestly I have no idea — Jamie
- If none of the passengers have a red bag, they cancel the flight — Andza
And then there were a few people who did try to set everyone straight:
- As a former ramp agent I can confirm that red bags aren’t loaded first. — Ramy
- people saying its to prevent the bags being left out.. but my first flight ever, i had a red luggage and it was left in a another country 😭😭😭😭 — biancakes
- coz colour red attracts lightning so u put them down to prevent lightning — nabakkavivian3
Myth busted: he’s full of crap
Meanwhile, with 71.2 MILLION views (as of this writing), plenty of “official” organizations are saying it’s all hogwash:
- A representative of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) told aviation website Simple Flying that the video was likely “made purposely to mislead or provide false information” as no airline has been known to do this.
According to their spokesperson, “The present baggage system and process do not accommodate any loading according to color; simply, there is no space or time to do such a sorting.” - Dutch airline KLM went as far as to release response video that debunked the guy’s video. It starts with similar footage of rolling bags and asks if viewers spent days “wondering why red bags are loaded first.”
“It doesn’t matter which color your luggage is!” a baggage handler wearing a KLM cap says after pushing a gray suitcase onto the loading carousel. “This is such a nonsense.”
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1 comment
It is one of those checked baggage myths, kind of like saying that if you gate check your bag, it will come up at the baggage carousel first because it is loaded last and unloaded first. When a bag is the first one off the plane after arriving, it is the first one loaded on the bag cart, meaning it is on the bottom of the pile. Also (I am a baggage handler for a major airline at a major U.S. airport), the most efficient way to unload the bags from the baggage carts is from the last cart forward (YMMV of course), so your gate checked bag will generally come up at the end.