UNITED STATES – One would-be passenger pretended to pack his carry-on bag with tools, in case he needed to make an in-flight repair. Another compared the mere act of boarding a commercial flight to the hare-brained, death-defying stunts featured on American reality-comedy series Jackass (2000 to 2001).
“Pray for me, I will have my seatbelt on the entire time,” reads the caption of one TikTok video recorded by an airline passenger as she awaited take-off. The reason for her concern: Her seat was in the exit row of a Boeing 737 Max.
On TikTok and X (formerly Twitter), users have been sharing videos and memes poking fun at Boeing, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of commercial jetliners – several of which have figured in headline-making incidents in recent weeks.
Last week, the company announced that its chief executive Dave Calhoun would be stepping down at the end of 2024, capping off a tumultuous tenure that has included groundings, Covid-19-related disruptions and a dramatic door-panel blowout.
Although no injuries have been reported as a result of the recent issues, irreverence is the lingua franca of social media, and a rash of alarming headlines has proved more than enough to get some to set their sights on what has been jokingly called Boeing’s “flop era”.
Ms Skylie Shore was recently travelling with a friend from Boston to St Lucia with a layover in Miami. She posts as skylietravels on TikTok, where she documents her jet-setting exploits, including trips to Iceland, Mexico and China.
Seeing an opportunity to wring a bit of content from the flight, the 21-year-old posted a seven-second video: “Flying on the Boeing 737 Max 8… wish us luck.”
Ms Shore, a corporate event planner who travels a lot for work and in her free time, has never had any anxiety about flying until now. “Originally, I looked to switch my flight to avoid going on the Boeing 737. But it just wasn’t an option because it didn’t fit my travel plan.”
Ms Raimee Iacofano, a founder of a media company that produces podcasts and Web series, has also taken to TikTok to describe her anxiety about flying certain Boeing models. In a video in March, she shared how she was able to avoid flying on a 737 Max 9 plane after a last-minute plane switch.
Despite running a travel-tips TikTok account, Ms Iacofano, 29, has a fear of flying that has only grown with every new headline. Still, she said, she finds some comfort in the memes and dark humour that have emerged from these situations.
“I love how, collectively, the Internet – especially TikTok – will just make insane situations funny,” she said. “It kind of does comfort me that we’re all almost dealing with this traumatic news.”
Though she does not watch any of the videos herself, Ms Helen Lee Bouygues, president of the Reboot Foundation, a Paris-based organisation dedicated to building critical thinking and media literacy, understands how the situation could be used as fodder for jokes.
“For a content creator, it’s funny,” she said. “It helps him or her get hits on these videos and these memes.”
But according to her, the more frequently users are exposed to content that might have initially seemed ridiculous or obviously false, the more it starts to feel true and feasible.
“It may seem quite wholesome and self-congratulatory to say that these are means to send alerts to companies,” she said, referring to posts that draw attention to real safety concerns, including through comedy or hyperbole. “But, in reality, what they are doing is creating viral misinformation in the community.”
Mr Connor Greenwood, a spokesperson for Boeing, declined to comment for this article except to send links to several social media posts making the case that there has not been an uptick in mechanical issues, only in reporting about the issues.
“We’re able to keep laughing because no one’s died yet,” said Ms Zarinah Williams, 38, a writer of a weekly newsletter about pop culture, politics, beauty and travel. “I just want people to realise and take advantage of the attention and of being able to learn in a soft and funny way.” NYTIMES
