Customer kicked off Southwest flight for Twitter complaint
A passenger claims he was booted off a Southwest Airlines flight after sending a tweet complaining about an airline employee who refused his priority boarding request.
Duff Watson was traveling with his two young daughters from Denver to Minneapolis when he approached a gate agent asking to board his flight early.
"I have been traveling with Southwest for a few years now and I’m an A-list member," Watson said, adding that one of the perks of the program is priority boarding.
His request was rebuffed as the gate agent wouldn’t allow his 6-year-old and 9-year-old daughters to board with him early.
Miffed at the gate agent’s attitude, which Watson described as the "rudest agent in Denver," he immediately sent out a tweet in complaint to Southwest, mentioning the gate agent by name.
Once on board the plane, Watson claimed he was asked to leave his seat in the presence of the gate agent, who said "You can’t board the plane again unless you delete that tweet."
"There was no use of profanity, there were no threats made and was just a terse exchange between a customer service agent and a customer," he said, referring to the content of the tweet.
Southwest confirmed in a statement that a passenger was removed temporarily from the plane and the circumstances are being investigated.
The airline did not disclose if any disciplinary action was handed out.
Southwest apologized to Watson by email and awarded $150 in airline vouchers, but Watson says he will not fly with Southwest again.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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