Man pulled off plane for tweet...

[sunshinehighway]

In other words, you read more about his account of the incident. Southwest is not releasing details.

Are you seriously saying he's lying about being met by the gate agent when he was taken off the plane and not security?

Here's a link to the Southwest CEO addressing the incident. It shows the actual tweet. It's nothing, doesn't even have the gate agent's name or gate number. After seeing the actual tweet I wonder if any of you still think the tweet was a threat .

http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000295556&play=1

 

[NHdisneylover]

I've read a little more on it and it appears it was all the gate agent. She knew about the tweet because he told her he was going to treat about her being rude. Hewas confronted by her when he got off the plane, not security.

Have you seen an article which has any source other than the disgruntled passenger? I would be more willing to give him the benefit of the doubt if there was independent verification of this stuff.

 

[sunshinehighway]

Have you seen an article which has any source other than the disgruntled passenger? I would be more willing to give him the benefit of the doubt if there was independent verification of this stuff.

I just posted a link above with a video and it has the actual tweet.

 

[luvsJack]

"She" more than likely was too busy doing her job to read tweets. Someone else must have gotten involved. Also, if he was seen as being uncooperative, they are well within their rights to remove him from the aircraft.

None of us really know as he deleted his tweet, and we only have his word on what he had said. If what he says he posted was true, then no, I don't think he should have been pulled off. But we only have his word on that, and I'm betting if he said something truly horrible, he wouldn't admit it.

He has the freedom to tweet, FB or say his opinion. His opinion is that she was rude.

How was he being "uncooperative" before he was asked to leave the plane?

Do you follow SW on twitter?

I do.

I am always seeing a tweet or two from a dissatisfied passenger. SW doesn't censor their passengers at all. In fact, the people monitoring the twitter feed usually respond pretty quickly on how to resolve the problem or that they sent someone to resolve the problem.

We haven't seen the tweet, so we have no idea how threatening to the gate agent it was. But just the way he posted it, posting her name and her gate location for that day, it already WAS threatening to the gate agent. So, rest assured, the tweet was way more threatening than Mr. A-List is saying he posted for SW to pull him off and make him delete the tweet, based on all the tweets they do allow on the feed.

Personally, I am glad to see a company risk losing a customer to protect the safety of their employee.

If he was actually threatening her, do you really believe that they would have allowed HER to handle it? Really?

I just don't see that as protecting their employee. Its not like there aren't plenty of others that could not have handled it.

I don't think he was ever considered a danger in and of himself, but his tweet put the gate agent at risk. That is why they let him back on after he deleted it. Would you want someone to notify millions of people at once that you treated them rudely and then pinpoint your name and exact location? It would make you an easy target. His tweet did just that.

Like someone else noted, I respect a company that sets their employeees' safety as a priority.

A target to what exactly? Same as I said above, if they really thought she was in danger from this tweet, why didn't someone besides her handle it? Why did they not do more?

You do realize that if the guy really wanted to be a jerk he could have just re posted the tweet.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Are you seriously saying he's lying about being met by the gate agent when he was taken off the plane and not security?

Here's a link to the Southwest CEO addressing the incident. It shows the actual tweet. It's nothing, doesn't even have the gate agent's name or gate number. After seeing the actual tweet I wonder if any of you still think the tweet was a threat .

http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000295556&play=1

Thanks. It is the first I have seen with more information. That tweet is not a big deal and not threatening at all. It does sound like the agent totally overreacted.

It also sounds like that airline is responding well once they have had a bit to look into the issue. and see exactly what the tweet was.

Sounds like a rude customer who set off an agent and she went WAY too far ad retaliated totally and completely inappropriately.

. He went to the media to complain when he did not immediately get good compensation for the issue instead of writing a letter or email with full documentation and giving it a few days to be looked into.

(though exactly what all he deserves, given that he was on the flight and was not delayed in any way, just annoyed, is unclear to me--I think a voucher for a discount and an apology is fine in that case)

 

[gwynne]

I just posted a link above with a video and it has the actual tweet.

It has a tweet. You have no way of knowing how many tweets he sent out. Mr. A-lister himself admits to tweeting more, per the article referenced in post 1. He says he tweeting out her name and gate #, as well as additional comments and complaints.

Your video link is really not a definitive source.

 

[sunshinehighway]

It has a tweet. You have no way of knowing how many tweets he sent out. Mr. A-lister himself admits to tweeting more, per the article referenced in post 1. He admits to tweeting out her name and gate #.

Your video link is really not a definitive source.

I really don't understand why tweeting her name and hate number would be a big deal if all he said was she was rude. He has tweeted positive things about gate agents with their names and gate numbers in the part and received positives responses from Southwest about it. .. responses like they'd let the GA's supervisor know about the positive feedback. Why is that OK but saying negative feedback is a threat?

 

[JanaDee]

It was a threat to the gate agent.

He tweeted her name and location to 1.69 Million people, any of whom might have been in the Denver airport that day and could have gone over to the gate to cause trouble or harm her in some way.

By removing the tweet, he removed the risk to the gate agent because her name and location was no longer available to 1,690,000+ people.

And given the attitude of the passenger, one can assume rather well that the tweet was not as innocuous as Susie Q at Gate 39 in Denver was rude to me.

I understand Southwest's position completely.

Everyone knows about Kimberly S at Gate C39 at Denver now (a lot more than just 1.6 million people). Southwest is the one that comes out of this situation looking stupid (and I'm a frequent SW flyer).

 

[JanaDee]

Do you follow SW on twitter?

I do.

I am always seeing a tweet or two from a dissatisfied passenger. SW doesn't censor their passengers at all. In fact, the people monitoring the twitter feed usually respond pretty quickly on how to resolve the problem or that they sent someone to resolve the problem.

We haven't seen the tweet, so we have no idea how threatening to the gate agent it was. But just the way he posted it, posting her name and her gate location for that day, it already WAS threatening to the gate agent. So, rest assured, the tweet was way more threatening than Mr. A-List is saying he posted for SW to pull him off and make him delete the tweet, based on all the tweets they do allow on the feed.

Personally, I am glad to see a company risk losing a customer to protect the safety of their employee.

I'm sure they'll lose more than one customer from this PR disaster.

 

[skylizard]

Here's a link to the Southwest CEO addressing the incident. It shows the actual tweet. It's nothing, doesn't even have the gate agent's name or gate number. After seeing the actual tweet I wonder if any of you still think the tweet was a threat .

http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000295556&play=1

"Mistakes were made" when a man was kicked off a Southwest flight for tweeting a complaint about the airline, says CEO Gary Kelly.

 

[msjprincess]

I just posted a link above with a video and it has the actual tweet.

Did he change it? Even he says he tweeted her name and location
http://abcnews.go.com/US/family-booted-off-southwest-airlines-dad-tweeted-rude/story?id=24685645

‘Wow, rudest agent in Denver. Kimberly S, gate C39, not happy @SWA,’”

 

[LilyWDW]

I'm sure they'll lose more than one customer from this PR disaster.

Yea. I actually doubt totally that enough people will stop flying SW because of this. They have yet to stop shopping at Walmart or stop buying specific products because of what they do to an amount to make a difference. And what these companies do are a lot worse then this story could ever be made out to be.

In fact, it's no where enough for me to stop using the airline. Do I think SW went further then was needed? Yep. But they rectified it, allowed him back on the flight, and compensated him. Now the guy is acting like it is the end of the world. I also still think the guy was a total jerk with his additude.

 

[JanaDee]

Yea. I actually doubt totally that enough people will stop flying SW because of this. They have yet to stop shopping at Walmart or stop buying specific products because of what they do to an amount to make a difference. And what these companies do are a lot worse then this story could ever be made out to be.

In fact, it's no where enough for me to stop using the airline. Do I think SW went further then was needed? Yep. But they rectified it, allowed him back on the flight, and compensated him. Now the guy is acting like it is the end of the world. I also still think the guy was a total jerk with his additude.

Who said anything about "enough"? I said more than one. If I was that guy, it would be a cold day in hell before I flew SW again, regardless of my status on that airline.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Who said anything about "enough"? I said more than one. If I was that guy, it would be a cold day in hell before I flew SW again, regardless of my status on that airline.

Whereas I will not let 100s of good experience with a huge corporation be overshadowed by one bad one that seems limited to one employee.

A pattern of poor or rude service, or a very small company with only a handful of employees so that i am likely to keep running into the same one over and over again would be a different story.

On person, one time, out of the tons of flights needed to become an A lister who can flaunt his status? Not a chance it would be the end of my using the airline for that.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

Whereas I will not let 100s of good experience with a huge corporation be overshadowed by one bad one that seems limited to one employee. A pattern of poor or rude service, or a very small company with only a handful of employees so that i am likely to keep running into the same one over and over again would be a different story. On person, one time, out of the tons of flights needed to become an A lister who can flaunt his status? Not a chance it would be the end of my using the airline for that.

I totally agree. We've all had a bad experience somewhere - restaurant, airline, hotel, even DLR/WDW. Unless it's outrageous, very few of us actually give up going to those places based on experience. They have acknowledged they overstepped, issued an apology and compensation. What more are they supposed to do to make the situation right? They can't go back and make it not happen. And while I agree the gate agent took it too far, I also still believe the guy was rude and took it too far. Yes, he can post/tweet whatever he wants, but the situation was not that big of a deal and he helped in escalating it. He was trying to get them to bend a rule (and it doesn't really matter if it's been bent in the past) and they said no. Should have been end of story.

 

[Deb in IA]

Here are my random thoughts:

1. I would never have assumed or tried to get my non-A-list kids to board with me. I would have boarded with the kids' boarding group.

2. If, for some reason, I had violated #1 and gotten into this situation, I would not have tweeted about the rude gate attendant. I may have written an old-fashioned paper letter of complaint/clarification after I had gotten home.

3. If I were the gate attendant, I would not have hauled the guy off the flight. I don't understand the allegation about "security risk". I think airlines are using the broad "security" excuse for a lot of questionable behaviors and actions. The guy did not include any information in the tweet that was not already publically available, including the gate number, agent's name, and airline.

Bottom line, there were a lot of oppotunities for both sides to just "let it go", but for whatever reason, they did not and it escalated and no one wants to back down.

 

[Jeff in BigD]

SW really needs to work out how they handle customer issues. Would have thought that lesson was learned with the Kevin Smith debacle.

 

[LBIJim]

I think he was a jerk.

I think this was a few p****d off employees getting back at an obnoxious customer.

Yep, pretty much my take. Guy was a jerk, gate agent decided to get back at him. Yes, it appears the GA went too far, but it's delicious seeing a jackhole DYKWIA passenger get his comeuppance.

And sometimes you have a highly entitled person who's more concerned about receiving A-lister perks than being a dad. He could have just boarded with his kids. He chose to demand special treatment.

I'm sure they'll lose more than one customer from this PR disaster.

Oh please. Nobody will remember this incident in a few days. When someone is going to book a flight, they'll go by price and schedule. Nobody will give a rat's butt about this poor "victim" who brought it all upon himself.

Look at the Transportation board. If the general population is anything like those who post there, Southwest can do no wrong. Or they're easily forgiven if they do mess up.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Again, that has nothing to do with why he was pulled off the plane. Regardless of how you believe he acted, he was pulled off the plane because of a tweet. He was told he was a security that because of a tweet and allowed to re board when the tweet was deleted. It's wrong. Airport security is very serious ( as it should be) and to have anyone use it to force someone to comply with them is totally wrong and an abuse of power. If he was a threat then he became that as soon as he sent the tweet. Deleting it would do nothing to change that.

Airline employee safety and security is very important to the airlibes (extrapolate to virtually any employer). The tweet he claims he sent "something like" identified the employee and her exact location. Deleting the tweet removed this personal, potentially risky, information.

Expect according to him it was the gate agent. She's the one that told him she felt threatened by the tweet and he couldn't reboard unless he deleted it. She then watched him delete it. She sounds very childish.

She sounds concerned for her own safety.

I've read a little more on it and it appears it was all the gate agent. She knew about the tweet because he told her he was going to treat about her being rude. Hewas confronted by her when he got off the plane, not security.

Did he say he was going to tweet as soon as he got on the plane? Unlikely. The gate agent certainly wasn't monitoring Twitter. She was working. Clearly whoever monitors Twitter for Southwest felt what Duff sent could put her at risk.

 

[ICF]

IMO -- the guy shouldnt have been kicked off for the tweet. If he had sent a tweet saying he was going to harm her, that would be different.

That said, they guy seems like a few words that I cant say on this site....Mr A - list should have known his kids werent allowed to board with him since they weren't as special as he was. He could have just waited and boarded with him....but decided to be difficult.