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American Airlines Expands Its Crackdown On Line Cutters; Ground Beef Recalled Nationwide Due To E. Coli Fears; U.S. Officials: Giraffes Are The Next Endangered Species. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired November 21, 2024 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:30:00]
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Thanks for joining us.
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: Still to come, another, another E. coli outbreak, this time in ground beef. We'll break down what you need to know.
Plus, it's something you learn in kindergarten. Do not cut in line. And now just ahead of the busy holiday travel season, American Airlines is cracking down on passengers who are boarding planes before their assigned groups are called. How they're pointing them out and shaming them publicly, when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:35:11]
SANCHEZ: Just as Thanksgiving travel is set to get underway, American Airlines is expanding its new technology intended to stop passengers from cutting in line. Essentially, anyone who tries to board the plane before it's their turn gets beeped.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Yes, that's the technology. And, people, you do not want to get beeped.
Let's hear this thing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(BEEPING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: I mean, I like that sound. Is that going to dissuade people?
SANCHEZ: It feels like my space bar is, like, stuck.
KEILAR: I feel --
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Like, we need something a bit with a bit more oomph.
KEILAR: That's the one where, I'm like, it's not aggressive enough to wake me up as an alarm.
(LAUGHTER)
KEILAR: No, I'll have to go to something a little more hardcore.
MUNTEAN: Like the awooga --
KEILAR: Yes.
MUNTEAN: -- like car horn thing.
I would be a viable candidate. I don't know why America didn't consult us on this.
(LAUGHTER)
KEILAR: You know, we're the focus group they needed.
MUNTEAN: We're not going to hear it because we're rule followers here. But like I think -- oh.
You know, I think was -- I was at a press conference earlier and I was talking to a reporter friend of mine, and he says, I always cut in line. You know, if you wear a suit, you can just like power through.
And I couldn't believe that he was admitting this. Like Secretary Buttigieg was right there.
But this is kind of the most necessary at American Airline, the largest airline in the U.S., has nine, count them, nine boarding groups. Really 10 when you consider pre-boarding.
Group one, of course, boards first. If you're not familiar with this, that's pretty much those with first-class tickets. Group nine is the last. Those are the folks with the cheapest basic economy tickets, the dreaded basic economy.
There are few ways to get status in between. Group five, you have an American credit card. Group six, you have a frequent flier account. You can kind of see why people might get confused by this, or simply just try to cut the boarding sequence.
And there is a name that those who this, for those who do this, put out by a lot of the Travel AvGeek bloggers. They're called Gate Lice. And so now when the gate agent scans their boarding pass, you can hear this audible alert. Here it is again.
(BEEPING)
(LAUGHTER)
MUNTEAN: All right, dinosaur to the tar pits.
That one --
(LAUGHTER) MUNTEAN: When the passenger hears that, they really get sent back to the penalty box in a way. Has to rejoin the line when they're proper group is called.
This is a pretty simple piece of tech. This is on a gate agent's Smart Phone. And American has been testing this at some smaller airports like Albuquerque and Tucson.
A bigger hub, Reagan National Airport, has been one of the test beds just outside of D.C. here.
But American says this will also be in place at Austin Bergstrom and Atlanta, Hartsfield-Jackson, in time for the holidays. Atlanta is the busiest airport in the U.S. Then about 100 additional airports beyond that.
This is significant because American is expecting about 8.3 million passengers over the Thanksgiving rush, a total of about 77,000 flights.
You may ask, what is I'm flying with somebody in an earlier group?
KEILAR: That's the question you asked us in the break.
MUNTEAN: Boris, American has thought of that. The gate agent has a way to press a button and override and accept that person's boarding pass so they're not bumped to the back of the line.
KEILAR: But you might hear that gentle sound first.
SANCHEZ: Gentle dulcet.
MUNTEAN: Crank it up to 11.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: What would you prefer to hear, Pete? I mean, it seems --
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: It seems like you don't want --
(CROSSTALK)
KEILAR: The womp, womp is good.
MUNTEAN: Somebody invokes their narcissistic rage. Possibly see violence.
(LAUGHTER)
KEILAR: Yes. These Gate Lice are not the kind of people you want to toy with.
You know what I think, though?
MUNTEAN: Yes. The lice are really bad.
(CROSSTALK)
KEILAR: Nickelodeon full slime.
MUNTEAN: I'm right there with you. I never -- I never cut in line. I'm a rule follower.
KEILAR: I like to bring someone along.
SANCHEZ: That sound is our producers telling us to stop.
MUNTEAN: Yes, that's the wrap.
(LAUGHTER)
KEILAR: Yes. And you know what? It doesn't work.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: Sadly, there's no gate agent here to stop us.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: Pete Muntean, unleashed right here, thanks so much.
MUNTEAN: Anytime.
SANCHEZ: Appreciate you.
[14:39:10]
Just ahead, first it was onions at McDonalds, then bags of organic carrots, and now we're going to tell you about another E. coli outbreak that's impacting restaurants nationwide. What is going on with E. coli?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: Another E. Coli scare. This time, it's ground beef. More than 160,000 pounds of it being recalled after it was shipped to restaurants all over the country. So far, more than a dozen people have been reported sick here officially.
Here's the thing though. This comes just days after that E. coli outbreak that was linked to carrots and weeks after onions on McDonalds Quarter Pounders sickened more than 100 people.
We have CNN health reporter, Jacqueline Howard, joining us now.
Jacqueline, this latest scare here, it involves the Detroit-based Wolverine Packing Company. Tell us about it.
JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: That's right. This latest recall is specifically for ground beef that has been shipped to restaurants. These restaurants are located across the United States. And as you mentioned, Brianna, we do know that there have been at
least 15 people who've been reported as getting sick as part of this outbreak.
But this latest E. coli outbreak really does raise the question, what is going on here? It seems like we are seeing more of these kinds of outbreaks.
[14:45:01]
And when you look at CDC numbers, it does seem to be the case. The CDC data shows that there's been about a 25 percent increase in certain types of E. coli infections that were diagnosed through testing last year compared with the years 2016 through 2018.
And I will say, just in general, we know that every year about one in six people are diagnosed with a foodborne illness. So this is something that we know has been an ongoing public health concern.
Sometimes foodborne illnesses can lead to hospitalizations, can lead to deaths. So this is something that's been on public health official's radar.
And again, we just seem to be seeing more and more diagnoses of certain E. coli infections -- Brianna?
KEILAR: Is there a reason for that?
HOWARD: It really is a complex situation. But some researchers point to climate change. We know, with warmer temperatures, that can accelerate the growth of bacteria on produce. Extreme weather events can lead to crop contamination.
And we also know that, just in general, at the CDC, the FDA, these federal government agencies are getting better at detecting outbreaks, at diagnosing E. coli infections and other kinds of foodborne illnesses, and really testing for this. So we do have better surveillance.
And of course, with Thanksgiving coming up, Brianna, there are ways we can all reduce our risk of foodborne illnesses like you see here. Wash your hands. Make sure raw food does not contaminate cooked food. Refrigerate food properly.
So of course, there are steps we can all take just on our own to reduce our risk.
KEILAR: Yes, wash your hands, so important.
Jacqueline Howard, thank you so much.
And up next, the world's tallest animal is in trouble. Why wildlife officials are issuing a dire warning about giraffes.
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[14:51:17]
SANCHEZ: We're learning today that the world's tallest animal, sadly, is at risk. Giraffe populations have been declining at an alarming rate as humans build homes and cities on their habitats, poachers kill members of their herds and droughts make it harder for them to survive.
Now, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service believes it's time to list several species of giraffe as either endangered or threatened.
KEILAR: Three of these subspecies of northern giraffes have seen their populations crash by 77 percent since 1985.
Joining us now is Ron Magill, the communications director for Zoo Miami.
And, Ron, we mentioned some of the things that are contributing to this decline. But of course, another factor is actually the black market, a black market for giraffe parts, which is something that will surprise a lot of people. But tell us about that and how much of a threat this is.
RON MAGILL, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, ZOO MIAMI: Well, anybody who's traveled to Africa -- I mean, I've been there dozens of times. One of the things that has sold a lot of times in the markets are giraffe hair bracelets. They use the pelts for a lot of things.
I've seen giraffe bones carved into different types of things that they sell to tourists. That, plus the meat, you know, you're getting in areas now where there's famine, where there's drought, and people are getting desperate and a giraffe is an easy target.
The other sad thing about that is actual trophy hunting. And I -- you know, I don't want to put too much of my personal opinion on this, but I don't see how you can put sport into hunting a giraffe.
Again, having been out there many, many times to Africa, you know, hunting giraffe is like hunting trees.
SANCHEZ: Ron, what would be the best way to stop or limit that kind of poaching and the use of giraffe products and the sale of giraffe products? Is there an effective way?
MAGILL: Well, again, it's education, making people realize. I think people go out, they don't realize that this is happening to giraffe and they buy these things. And of course, it's supply and demand.
But if this Endangered Species Act, if they get listed as endangered or threatened and protected animals, then people won't be able to bring those things into the country.
It would become much like an ivory situation where that builds awareness and, hopefully, reduces the demand, and this, you know, this purge on giraffes starts to slow down.
Because, listen, all the species of giraffe -- there's about nine different species of giraffe. And 40 percent of the giraffe population have gone down. We've lost 40 percent of the population in the last 30 years.
KEILAR: It's -- the numbers are staggering when you look at that last 40 years.
So you detailed that -- that you want people not buying these trinkets when they go overseas and bringing them back. Obviously, that takes some awareness so they know, you know, not to do that. They're not going to be able to bring it back.
Can you talk -- I mean, is there anything besides that that happens when you're talking about finalizing this proposal and putting several of these species on the classification as endangered or threatened?
MAGILL: Well, it's just -- again, it's just bringing it across the fact that you're talking about it right now on CNN is a huge thing. I'm sure people are watching this, and going, I had no idea that giraffe we're being threatened like this.
There's an old saying that says, in the end, we protect what we love, we love what we understand, and we understand what we're taught.
And it's our job to teach people about this, because I believe people are basically good. They don't want to hurt animals.
If they knew that this was happening with this population crash happening out there, I think there would be much less of a demand.
And, you know, if you've ever looked at giraffe, you know, you can come to the zoo here in Miami and feed a giraffe eye to eye. Look at those eyelashes.
Look, this is one of the most non-aggressive beautiful animals you could ever imagine. The thought of people going out there trophy hunting these animals, to me, is absolutely disgusting.
SANCHEZ: Ron, I do wonder when you say that these animals are not aggressive, I've seen footage of giraffes fighting and it is intense. Tell us a little bit about that.
MAGILL: Sure, Boris. These are giraffe fighting amongst each other. The males.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
[14:55:02]
MAGILL: You know, what happens is, the females get in heat and, as often happens, females tend to make males a little stupid. And they get very aggressive with each other. They swing their necks at each other like bats.
Basically, they don't kick at each other. They swing their necks and their heads, and that's basically to get dominance so that the stronger giraffe is the one that's passing on the genes to the next generation. He's the one that gets to dominate the herd.
Giraffe, generally speaking, are not aggressive towards people. They can be very defensive. I've seen -- I've seen a giraffe actually kill a lioness trying to kill her calf with one kick, broke the lioness' back in Africa.
So they can be very dangerous that way. But as far as humans go, I've never heard of a giraffe attacking a human. They were one of the most- gentle animals, non-aggressive animals on the face of the planet.
They will defend themselves and they will fight amongst each other to pass on the strongest gene.
KEILAR: But it's a dude problem, to be clear, Boris.
(LAUGHTER)
KEILAR: They are beautiful, Ron.
And we -- we thank you so much for making people aware of this and talking to us about it. Thank you.
SANCHEZ: Thanks so much, Ron.
MAGILL: Thanks.
KEILAR: Just ahead, the president-elect's controversial pick for attorney general withdraws from consideration as he faces scrutiny over sexual misconduct allegations.
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