WN Passenger Forced To Leave After Tweet

jreuschl · Wed Jul 23, 2014 1:27 pm

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2014/0...ked-to-leave-sw-plane-after-tweet/

It sounds like the gate agent was on a power trip probably trying to protect her job after the tweet, but the passenger also sounds like he was on a power trip. He should know being an A-List member (supposedly) the policy of kids boarding.

Also I would assume that applies to other airlines whose customers have status.

ouboy79 · Wed Jul 23, 2014 1:43 pm

Gate agent should have let it go. Agree the pax was also on a power trip. The whole...

“In leaving I said, you know, ‘Real nice way to treat an A-list. I’ll be sure to tweet about it,’” he said.

Family boarding with kids - 4 and younger go after Group A. Otherwise you board with the passenger who has the highest boarding position. Just because you earn status with an airline doesn't give you the ability to circumvent the rules. Thankfully most A-Listers understand this and never cause an scene. This guy thought himself way more important than he really is and got $150 in vouchers out of it.

AeroWesty · Wed Jul 23, 2014 1:52 pm

Quoting ouboy79 (Reply 1):
Family boarding with kids - 4 and younger go after Group A. Otherwise you board with the passenger who has the highest boarding position.

That sounds contradictory. If the father is an A-list member, then shouldn't his whole party (his kids included) board with him in Group A? Or is there a special carve-out that if you have kids, no matter what your status, you always board after Group A?

s5daw · Wed Jul 23, 2014 1:55 pm

Wow... free speech the reason to be de-boarded!? In 'murica no less?

WNCrew · Wed Jul 23, 2014 1:55 pm

Obviously this is again one of those situations where we won't ever know the 3rd side of the story..how aggressive he truly was OR how rude the agent truly was. I will say, personally though, that once our names (as employees) are put out into the twitter-sphere for all to see, the company gets very protective. There's no need for that. If a customer wants to complain they can do it like an adult, not a child. Ask to speak to a supervisor or tweet about it and share the employees name and work location later in a private follow up msg.

I'm surprised he's not more well versed on the boarding process given he's an A-List passenger. We allow children 5 and younger to board with families (regardless of BP#) after the A group..his children are 9 and above. Children 5 to 11 fly as unaccompanied minors so it's not as if they're somehow incapable or unsafe without their parents. Plus...why couldn't he have saved them seats or asked the FAs for assistance, I do it ALL the time for families with children. Simply "wanting" to sit together isn't enough reason to circumnavigate the process. How is that fair to the adult couple with C25 & C26 who are traveling to a parent's funeral and are very distraught and now have sit apart?

WN has open seating. It is what it is. If you book last minute on many other carriers you'll end up apart as well...customers voted a few years ago and WN chose to keep open seating.

MaverickM11 · Wed Jul 23, 2014 1:58 pm

Quoting ouboy79 (Reply 1):
“In leaving I said, you know, ‘Real nice way to treat an A-list. I’ll be sure to tweet about it,’” he said.

Anybody that says that is dreadful.

"“I was left, you know, very upset, very embarrassed, very humiliated,” Watson said."

Wasn't that what he was trying to do to the agent?

Cubsrule · Wed Jul 23, 2014 1:59 pm

Quoting AeroWesty (Reply 2):
That sounds contradictory. If the father is an A-list member, then shouldn't his whole party (his kids included) board with him in Group A? Or is there a special carve-out that if you have kids, no matter what your status, you always board after Group A?

No, it's not contradictory.

The general rule is that groups boarding together but with boarding numbers that are not together must board with the highest (worst) boarding number. Status, someone having bought early bird or someone having bought business select don't matter unless everyone has whatever right to board early they've earned/bought.

The exception is that parties with children 5 and under with B and C boarding cards may board between A and B.

[Edited 2014-07-23 07:22:13]

AeroWesty · Wed Jul 23, 2014 2:08 pm

Quoting Cubsrule (Reply 6):
highest (worst)

Ah, gotcha. I took highest to mean best.

jayfred · Wed Jul 23, 2014 2:11 pm

Quoting Cubsrule (Reply 6):
highest (worst) boarding number

I think the confusion came from the use of the word "highest." That sometimes implies "best," like a "high score," even though in, say, golf, a "high score" definitely isn't a good one. Thank you for clarifying, though, because I was initially of the former interpretation.

Cubsrule · Wed Jul 23, 2014 2:23 pm

Quoting AeroWesty (Reply 7):
Ah, gotcha. I took highest to mean best.

Flying WN and playing golf don't have very many things in common, but low numbers are good in both.

ouboy79 · Wed Jul 23, 2014 2:31 pm

Quoting Cubsrule (Reply 6):
No, it's not contradictory.

The general rule is that groups boarding together but with boarding numbers that are not together must board with the highest (worst) boarding number. Status, someone having bought early bird or someone having bought business select don't matter unless everyone has whatever right to board early they've earned/bought.

The exception is that parties with children 5 and under with B and C boarding cards may board between A and B.

Thanks for making it clearer for others to understand. It's early still for me. LOL

Quoting s5daw (Reply 3):
Wow... free speech the reason to be de-boarded!? In 'murica no less?

Troll or not a troll...meh, I'll bite. Free speech doesn't mean you are exempt from consequences.

Quoting MaverickM11 (Reply 5):
Anybody that says that is dreadful.

"“I was left, you know, very upset, very embarrassed, very humiliated,” Watson said."

Wasn't that what he was trying to do to the agent?

I've had a few like that over my years when I worked for the company, but anyone with customer facing positions has had to deal with people like this. He is thinking of himself on another plane of existence and much more important. Didn't matter if he was bringing someone down, as long as he still looked superior. These personalities though always make me laugh on the inside at just how shallow a person can be. Eventually reality will catch up to them.

D L X · Wed Jul 23, 2014 2:39 pm

Man, I so wanted to hate on the passenger when I read this headline, but nope, I just can't see ANY situation where a passenger that had already been allowed to board would be removed from a plane based on THAT tweet.

sandyb123 · Wed Jul 23, 2014 2:46 pm

Quoting d l x (Reply 11):
Man, I so wanted to hate on the passenger when I read this headline, but nope, I just can't see ANY situation where a passenger that had already been allowed to board would be removed from a plane based on THAT tweet.

I can see both sides of this. Sounds like he was being a bit temperamental but the agent was also being a jobsworth. It might have been uncalled for to threaten the tweet but he's entitled to his opinion!

Quoting article:

She said ‘I’m going to call the cops.... You can’t board the plane unless you delete that tweet

Total gross over reaction to the situation.

Sandyb123

s5daw · Wed Jul 23, 2014 2:46 pm

Quoting ouboy79 (Reply 10):
Troll or not a troll...meh, I'll bite. Free speech doesn't mean you are exempt from consequences.

What law did he break or what what exactly has he done wrong, exactly? He didn't even publish agent's full name.

He has 18 followers... no one, NO ONE would have noticed. It's like stepping into the cabin and saying loudly "man the agent today was rude". Is that a reason to de-board someone? Please...

enilria · Wed Jul 23, 2014 2:48 pm

Quoting s5daw (Reply 3):
Wow... free speech the reason to be de-boarded!? In 'murica no less?

Quoting ouboy79 (Reply 10):
Troll or not a troll...meh, I'll bite. Free speech doesn't mean you are exempt from consequences.

So Southwest's policy is that if you criticize the airline or its employees then you will be removed from the airplane? The airline is not owned by that employee. This is not a threat. Individual employees should not have the power to prevent you from traveling because they don't like you. If they had called the airport police and the passenger was calm I think the agent would not have succeeded in arresting the man, but they probably would have insured their own unemployment.

This may be the airline's boarding policy, but the customer is free to not like the policy and tell people they don't like it. If WN wants to ban passengers who criticize them then they can adopt that policy and see how that goes for them. Then they can succeed in moving below UA on customer service.

D L X · Wed Jul 23, 2014 2:53 pm

Quoting sandyb123 (Reply 12):
It might have been uncalled for to threaten the tweet but he's entitled to his opinion!

I dunno. I just can't see any situation where it is improper to publicly complain about service received. Even if he's a total jerk, he has a right to complain. I thought I was going to read that the tweet was an actual threat.

Quoting s5daw (Reply 13):
He has 18 followers... no one, NO ONE would have noticed.

I'm not a twitter expert, but wouldn't other @SWA followers see the tweet?

BC77008 · Wed Jul 23, 2014 2:54 pm

I don't believe this man's recollection of events. He sounds like a real douche. I've seen plenty of people post photos they've taken of gate agents and post them on social media so maybe that's what happened here and the reason why he was made to remove the tweet or else be removed from the aircraft. Seriously this dude is an ass!

jreuschl · Wed Jul 23, 2014 2:56 pm

Comment on the original article website is a good point:

"To him: She had a bad day, okay? You've had 'em too, and I bet no one tweeted about them. Hope you're as fast to tweet when you receive great service!

To her: Chill. No one gives a rip what this guy tweets."

s5daw · Wed Jul 23, 2014 3:00 pm

Quoting d l x (Reply 15):
I'm not a twitter expert, but wouldn't other @SWA followers see the tweet?

By following @somebody you see everything they post, not all mentions - that would be an even bigger mess than it already is

Of course you can search for @SWA and you can find that tweet. At least they created a PR horror from a non-issue for themselves. I doubt many people would decide not to fly with an airline for this reason... investors however, could be more cautious.

jreuschl · Wed Jul 23, 2014 3:07 pm

https://twitter.com/DuffWatson

Apparently the guy doesn't like Verizon or DL either, but loves Sun Country.

He didn't like WN's initial response:

"@SouthwestAir WOW. Just wow with the response I just received from SW. "we apologize that you were asked to deplane after boarding." Really?"

Going on a power trip can set the other person in an overly defensive mood. The agent should know how to deal with jerks better as I'm sure this isn't the only one she's encountered.

But seriously Duff, chill out!

[Edited 2014-07-23 08:11:08]

jfidler · Wed Jul 23, 2014 3:07 pm

He didn't post her full name. Just her first name, last initial, and airport/gate #. If he wrote a complaint to SWA via email, I'm sure they'd want the same information, so why is it not OK to post the same information on Twitter?

I realize anyone can read a Twitter feed, but he didn't post the agent's full name so I don't see the issue here.

northwestair · Wed Jul 23, 2014 3:11 pm

I have a problem with the passenger using the Agents name on a public forum. There are some crazy people out there that might want to harm that agent. Plus he has A list privileges not his family. He could of purchased the EB $12.50 for the kids or just board with them.

wanderlustlax · Wed Jul 23, 2014 3:16 pm

She "feared for [her] safety"?? Talk about melodramatic.

If she's on the ground and he's on the plane, how's that work?

More like, she feared for her job -- and abused her (limited) power in retaliation.

He surely sounds like he could be a douchenozzle/DYKWIA, but she sounds like the kind of airline employee that makes flying go from fun to terrible in an instant -- and we all know those people exist in abundance.

UALWN · Wed Jul 23, 2014 3:34 pm

To me it is clear that WN is in the wrong here. What if the passenger had sent the tweet after landing at MSP? It's a tweet complaining about WN's service in DEN. What would have been WN's reaction? Would WN have prohibited him from flying WN ever again? Is that the standard WN's reaction to a customer's complaint? He happened to send the tweet while on the plane. Why should he be removed from a flight for a tweet complaining about WN's service? This is just wrong.

Edited for grammar (twice...)

[Edited 2014-07-23 08:51:20]

[Edited 2014-07-23 08:52:50]

BC77008 · Wed Jul 23, 2014 3:39 pm

We are only getting the Douche's side of events here, not the gate agents or SWA's.

Dallas · Wed Jul 23, 2014 3:40 pm

I'm just curious how they detected the tweet so quickly. I would think the gate agent would have more to do before a flight than to check Twitter to see if a random person tweeted about them, and how exactly they would find it.

No way this would come from any company or their communications/ PR dept. This all had to have been from the gate agent IMO, and she was completely out of line and overly dramatic. I wouldn't be surprised if she got fired for this, due to the abuse of power and bad PR. Yes, he probably was out of line a little, but this is definitely not how you treat your paying customers.

karadion · Wed Jul 23, 2014 3:47 pm

Quoting s5daw (Reply 3):
Wow... free speech the reason to be de-boarded!? In 'murica no less?

Free speech only applies between private parties and government. Not private and private. You can say whatever the heck you want to another private party but it doesn't protect you from the consequences unlike government.

The First Amendment of the United States says this "Congress shall make no law ... prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech"

ouboy79 · Wed Jul 23, 2014 4:00 pm

Quoting s5daw (Reply 13):
What law did he break or what what exactly has he done wrong, exactly? He didn't even publish agent's full name.

He has 18 followers... no one, NO ONE would have noticed. It's like stepping into the cabin and saying loudly "man the agent today was rude". Is that a reason to de-board someone? Please...

Who said he broke a law? Anyone who follows SouthwestAir would be able to see the tweet - more than the 18 people.

Quoting enilria (Reply 14):
So Southwest's policy is that if you criticize the airline or its employees then you will be removed from the airplane? The airline is not owned by that employee. This is not a threat. Individual employees should not have the power to prevent you from traveling because they don't like you. If they had called the airport police and the passenger was calm I think the agent would not have succeeded in arresting the man, but they probably would have insured their own unemployment.

This may be the airline's boarding policy, but the customer is free to not like the policy and tell people they don't like it. If WN wants to ban passengers who criticize them then they can adopt that policy and see how that goes for them. Then they can succeed in moving below UA on customer service.

What an obtuse reply. Could things have been handled better? Of course. People got worked up and things got out of control. They customer is definitely free to dislike the policy. If he has a complaint there is a proper way to get that resolved. We are only hearing the passenger's side of this because he ran to the media. Pretty convenient if you ask me.

Quoting d l x (Reply 15):
I'm not a twitter expert, but wouldn't other @SWA followers see the tweet?

Indeed.

Quoting s5daw (Reply 18):
Of course you can search for @SWA and you can find that tweet. At least they created a PR horror from a non-issue for themselves. I doubt many people would decide not to fly with an airline for this reason... investors however, could be more cautious.

Investors don't give two flips about this. LUV is pulling in record profits and the stock price is up - that is all they care about. To think otherwise would be naive.

Quoting jfidler (Reply 20):
He didn't post her full name. Just her first name, last initial, and airport/gate #. If he wrote a complaint to SWA via email, I'm sure they'd want the same information, so why is it not OK to post the same information on Twitter?

Twitter = public, official complain via email/phone = private. Pretty big difference.

Quoting Dallas (Reply 25):
I'm just curious how they detected the tweet so quickly. I would think the gate agent would have more to do before a flight than to check Twitter to see if a random person tweeted about them, and how exactly they would find it.

No way this would come from any company or their communications/ PR dept. This all had to have been from the gate agent IMO, and she was completely out of line and overly dramatic. I wouldn't be surprised if she got fired for this, due to the abuse of power and bad PR. Yes, he probably was out of line a little, but this is definitely not how you treat your paying customers.

I doubt the gate agent was checking twitter, more like this guy made a complete scene of everything and made it known what he had said. Will she get fired? I doubt it. We are only hearing one side of this because the pax went to the press to get the attention.

As far as dealing with paying customers. He was told of the rule that everyone has to follow. If he doesn't like it he can find someone else to fly. This is just a case of someone thinking too highly of themselves and craving the attention.

Quoting Karadion (Reply 26):
Free speech only applies between private parties and government. Not private and private. You can say whatever the heck you want to another private party but it doesn't protect you from the consequences unlike government.

Bingo. So many people want to be constitutional scholars but don't have the slightest clue on what most of it means. Free speech doesn't mean a non-public entity (person or business) can't take action against you for your comments.

northwestair · Wed Jul 23, 2014 4:05 pm

Quoting Dallas (Reply 25):

She's not getting fired cause then WN would have to pay her back pay when she got reinstated. The union would get her job back in a sec.. She'll probably get some coaching and a letter in her file.

D L X · Wed Jul 23, 2014 4:07 pm

Quoting BC77008 (Reply 24):
We are only getting the Douche's side of events here, not the gate agents or SWA's.

True, but the gate agent DID let him onto the plane. We know that much.

Dallas · Wed Jul 23, 2014 4:16 pm

Quoting northwestair (Reply 28):
She's not getting fired cause then WN would have to pay her back pay when she got reinstated. The union would get her job back in a sec.. She'll probably get some coaching and a letter in her file.

I doubt she will get fired, but I am curious to see what her attitude is moving forward. In my profession and at my company, if I were to speak to a customer like that and cause a scene, I would expect a hefty reprimand or expect to be terminated. You learn to roll with the punches (unless threats are being made), no matter who is right, and I am very curious to hear her side of the story, because I bet more is being left out. From what I've read though, it does not sound good for her. The way I see it is that the customer had already boarded the plane and the two would never encounter each other again, yet she continued the situation and made it 100x worse with her actions.

toxtethogrady · Wed Jul 23, 2014 4:19 pm

Quoting jreuschl (Thread starter):
He should know being an A-List member (supposedly) the policy of kids boarding.

Sounds like he's on a different kind of A-list.

AIRWALK · Wed Jul 23, 2014 4:23 pm

Quoting wanderlustlax (Reply 22):
She "feared for [her] safety"?? Talk about melodramatic.

Tell me about it. Reason enough to kick them out of the airport.

Firstly the gate agent should have just let them on. Its not that big a deal

Secondly, even if she absolutely could not due to policy (which I agree with, policy is policy), there is no need for him to have a whinge. His children would eventually get on the plane, I am sure the 15 mins apart is survivable.

Thirdly, what is the point of complaining about it on twitter to his insurmountable number of followers, what is that going to achieve.

I'm guessing due to the fact that they somehow found out about the tweet and the deplaning, there is more things said by this passenger that we do not know about. $50 voucher? $50 too much.

b727fa · Wed Jul 23, 2014 4:30 pm

Quoting s5daw (Reply 3):

Wow... free speech the reason to be de-boarded!? In 'murica no less?

You misunderstand the "free speech" protections in the US. It has nothing to do with individual persons to other people or companies. It's a government thing to/from people.

lpdal · Wed Jul 23, 2014 4:35 pm

Quoting toxtethogrady (Reply 31):

Sounds like he's on a different kind of A-list.

Yeah...Maybe this behavior would be a little less ridiculous (but still inappropriate) if you were a Diamond Medallion, Global Services, or Executive Platinum. Southwest A-List? Artificial high horse, to me.

Unfortunately, this sort of behavior is widespread across the service industry. The customer knows they can bully the associate/salesman/gate agent etc. and get away with it, because they need a job. Only when the customer gets seriously harassing or violent can management have right to have them removed from the establishment, and then you have situations like these where they threaten the employee/post on twitter/etc...Come on, dude. You didn't get to board when you wanted to on WN, of all airlines. Chill out...

-LPDAL

Silver1SWA · Wed Jul 23, 2014 5:13 pm

Quoting ouboy79 (Reply 27):
Who said he broke a law? Anyone who follows SouthwestAir would be able to see the tweet - more than the 18 people.

Many in this thread lack an understanding of how twitter works. Let's clear this up...

If your tweet begins with @swa, then only SWA and your followers who also follow SWA will see the tweet. If @swa is mentioned anywhere other than the very beginning of tweet, then SWA and all of your followers will see the tweet. So in this case, according to the description of the tweet in the article (actual tweet was either never posted or has been deleted) all of his followers saw it, and if they had retweeted it then their followers would see it and so on.

Someone said above he had only 18 followers. I checked now and he now has 193. Anyway assuming he had 18 at the time of the initial tweet, then 18 people plus SWA saw that tweet. Only way more people would see it is if any of those followers retweeted it to their followers or through a twitter search for SWA. In other words, it's not like Facebook where someone makes a post on SWAs page and everyone who looks at SWAs page can see it. The only profile containing the tweet for everyone to see upon visiting is his twitter profile.

Note: @swa is not the official twitter handle for WN. Just using it for example.

[Edited 2014-07-23 10:24:35]

stlgph · Wed Jul 23, 2014 5:33 pm

If dude is looking for attention, I'm sure @SassyStewRants will give him plenty.

ouboy79 · Wed Jul 23, 2014 5:49 pm

Quoting AIRWALK (Reply 32):
Firstly the gate agent should have just let them on. Its not that big a deal

If you are saying they should have just let everyone board at his A-List assigned position, I completely disagree. That does nothing but upset everyone behind him who is also A-List or purchased Early Bird...and who are all following the rules. This is no different than those who abuse family boarding or (now former) blue sleeves for preboarding. His kids didn't earn status. He is more than able to board with them at their assigned spot. If he didn't like the position they were in, he should have got them EBCI for their PNRs.

Quoting AIRWALK (Reply 32):
I'm guessing due to the fact that they somehow found out about the tweet and the deplaning, there is more things said by this passenger that we do not know about. $50 voucher? $50 too much.

He had said that they were having an argument before the infamous tweet was quoted, so I'm guessing the context of that conversation is where the meat of this issue is at. Naturally the passenger, who is all over the news now (even the local station here in OKC aired), is conveniently leaving that out and instead posing with his kids for the cameras.

Quoting Silver1SWA (Reply 35):
In other words, it's not like Facebook where someone makes a post on SWAs page and everyone who looks at SWAs page can see it.

And the guy also made comments to the WN facebook page as well. So he definitely went all out.

enilria · Wed Jul 23, 2014 6:00 pm

Quoting ouboy79 (Reply 27):
If he has a complaint there is a proper way to get that resolved. We are only hearing the passenger's side of this because he ran to the media. Pretty convenient if you ask me.

Bottom line, he is 100% free to complain. Maybe he's a jerk, I don't know, but he is still free to complain and he can do so in public as long as what he says is true; and there is nothing he says which could be called untrue...so it's up to people to decide what they think which is the purpose of free speech, such that it still exists in the United States.

stlgph · Wed Jul 23, 2014 6:11 pm

People complain on Facebook and Twitter all the time. Read the posts - you seriously have read the biggest personal tragedies that ever happened in the history of the earth, all caused because someone's bag didn't come out first on the luggage carousel.

If Southwest hands out $50 for complaints on twitter, then sign me up.

This guy? Sounds like an idiot.

But the bigger idiot here in all this is WCCO. Seriously, WCCO, you're the CBS affiliate in the Twin Cities and of all the happenings going on this is what you devote your resources to? I mean, hell, if I can make $100K or whatever reporting on this fluff b.s. sign me up, I'll come work there.

DeltaMD90 · Wed Jul 23, 2014 6:12 pm

Quoting enilria (Reply 38):
so it's up to people to decide what they think which is the purpose of free speech, such that it still exists in the United States.

Ugh, no, again, that is NOT what free speech means. This story has absolutely 0 to do with the first amendment to the US Constitution

skywaymanaz · Wed Jul 23, 2014 6:16 pm

I have in the past been talked to rather rudely by customer service people, not frequently but it happens. Sometimes I've had my iPhone recording the entire conversation. I don't go tweeting it or post it on YouTube without dealing with their customer service dept. first. That's how he should have handled this. He might still have been wrong but heck they might have given him a bunch of drink coupons for good will or a travel voucher because she might have been a bit out of line too. It never hurts to be nice even when you're dealing with bumbling fools. If you start off by going nuclear you'll find out who can ruin your entire day real quick.

gregarious119 · Wed Jul 23, 2014 6:24 pm

Quoting Silver1SWA (Reply 35):
Many in this thread lack an understanding of how twitter works. Let's clear this up...

If your tweet begins with @swa, then only SWA and your followers who also follow SWA will see the tweet. If @swa is mentioned anywhere other than the very beginning of tweet, then SWA and all of your followers will see the tweet. So in this case, according to the description of the tweet in the article (actual tweet was either never posted or has been deleted) all of his followers saw it, and if they had retweeted it then their followers would see it and so on.

Someone said above he had only 18 followers. I checked now and he now has 193. Anyway assuming he had 18 at the time of the initial tweet, then 18 people plus SWA saw that tweet. Only way more people would see it is if any of those followers retweeted it to their followers or through a twitter search for SWA. In other words, it's not like Facebook where someone makes a post on SWAs page and everyone who looks at SWAs page can see it. The only profile containing the tweet for everyone to see upon visiting is his twitter profile.

Note: @swa is not the official twitter handle for WN. Just using it for example.

This person speaks truth.

The mostly likely number of people that saw the original tweet was 19...and that's if they were all looking at their feeds within a few minutes of him tweeting it. It was probably a fraction of that.

I love Southwest, but this one looks pretty rotten on their end.

ouboy79 · Wed Jul 23, 2014 6:47 pm

Quoting enilria (Reply 38):
Bottom line, he is 100% free to complain. Maybe he's a jerk, I don't know, but he is still free to complain and he can do so in public as long as what he says is true; and there is nothing he says which could be called untrue...so it's up to people to decide what they think which is the purpose of free speech, such that it still exists in the United States.

Did anyone say he wasn't free to complain? I think the only point to argue is that there is nothing that says you can't be held accountable for what you say. Trust me, our Freedom of Speech is well in tact down here regardless of what some may believe. Just like here, people can say whatever they want (though with in reason for DM's terms) but does that mean they shouldn't be held accountable for them? I'm sure you have plenty of experience being on the receiving end of comments you've made in the past.

Quoting DeltaMD90 (Reply 40):
Ugh, no, again, that is NOT what free speech means. This story has absolutely 0 to do with the first amendment to the US Constitution

He's Canadian, so give him a pass.

UALWN · Wed Jul 23, 2014 7:21 pm

Quoting ouboy79 (Reply 43):
Did anyone say he wasn't free to complain? I think the only point to argue is that there is nothing that says you can't be held accountable for what you say.

So the conclusion is that the way WN "holds accountable" a guy who complains about their services is by removing him from the flight? This is preposterous. I hope the WN employee is at least severely reprimended if not simply fired.

INFINITI329 · Wed Jul 23, 2014 7:28 pm

Quoting skywaymanaz (Reply 41):
Sometimes I've had my iPhone recording the entire conversation.

FYI this is illegal in certain states

Now to this story, there are holes in it. 1st off WN's offical twitter name isnt @SWA its @southwestair so if he did use @swa WN wouldnt have seen it. 2 I am almost positive the gate agent wasn't monitoring twitter to see if this guy followed thru... I think this guy took his rant on board the plane and kept going. The flight attendants weren't happy with demeanor and summoned the gate agent. Seeing how he was a problem from before she yanked him from the flight.

lpdal · Wed Jul 23, 2014 7:36 pm

Delta, the best rated of the big three (DL/AA/UA) has a two star rating on Facebook. If you go through the complaints, there are some legitimate complaints, but mostly it's nonsensical issues such as weather/ATC delays and other issues DL has no authority over.

WN has the best customer service rating of any airline in America.

-LPDAL

Tugger · Wed Jul 23, 2014 7:43 pm

Quoting Dallas (Reply 30):
The way I see it is that the customer had already boarded the plane and the two would never encounter each other again, yet she continued the situation and made it 100x worse with her actions.

THIS is the stupidity of the situation, she created something out a nothing event, something that occurs dozens of times a day and goes unnoticed. Now instead Southwest is getting "noticed" for "booting a customer off a plane" and no company wants that really (well OK maybe a couple: Ryanair? Spirit?

). And now he has ten times as many twitter followers (and probably increasing for a few more hours) so his self-important views, comments, and diatribes get more attention making him happier.

To me she shoudl have just had him board with his kids at the end of the A group to get it done and over with. While the policy may say that he should board in whatever group the kids had (or let them board alone - honestly not something I would do with my preteen kids even though they could do it), it is not mandatory, the gate agent has the flexibility to allow this. The policy online only states that they "ask that earlier boarding positions board with the later positions", not "you must"
http://www.southwest.com/html/customer-service/faqs.html

Quoting stlgph (Reply 39):
But the bigger idiot here in all this is WCCO. Seriously, WCCO, you're the CBS affiliate in the Twin Cities and of all the happenings going on this is what you devote your resources to? I mean, hell, if I can make $100K or whatever reporting on this fluff b.s. sign me up, I'll come work there.

Uhh... more likely less than $40K for a lot of work (if you are actually going to succeed):
http://www1.salary.com/Reporter-II-Salary.html

Quote:
Job Description for Reporter II

Researches a variety of news stories through interviews, observation and library and/or online resources. Determines tone and intended audience of story. Develops, investigates and writes a variety of news stories. Investigates and determines the validity of news story leads. May require a bachelor's degree with 1-4 years of experience in the field or in a related area. Familiar with a variety of the field's concepts, practices, and procedures. Relies on extensive experience and judgment to plan and accomplish goals. Performs a variety of tasks. May lead and direct the work of others. A wide degree of creativity and latitude is expected. Typically reports to a supervisor or manager. View Reporter II job description

Just sayin'....

Tugg

WNCrew · Wed Jul 23, 2014 7:49 pm

Quoting Tugger (Reply 47):
THIS is the stupidity of the situation, she created something out a nothing event, something that occurs dozens of times a day and goes unnoticed.

We don't know how he was behaving onboard (as another poster stated)... which is why I'm always careful to just immediately assume the customer or agent were right immediately. I don't know if he got onboard and continued to talk it up, wouldn't let it go etc. At the end of the day, if he is asking to have a policy waived... then should they do it for ALL families traveling on said flight with kids who don't meet the age requirement for "family boarding"?,... or just HIM because he's being pushy and posted to twitter?... if that's the case then should everyone just push harder and threaten CSA's with twitter complaints?

Quoting Tugger (Reply 47):
The policy online only states that they "ask that earlier boarding positions board with the later positions", not "you must"

Correct... you don't HAVE to... you can' board completely separately and sit 25 rows apart, just like everyone else who get's separated due to open seating, or on other airlines when you can't get two seats together.

flyboy_se · Wed Jul 23, 2014 8:11 pm

Quoting Dallas (Reply 25):

I'm just curious how they detected the tweet so quickly. I would think the gate agent would have more to do before a flight than to check Twitter to see if a random person tweeted about them, and how exactly they would find it.

Most big airlines, and i am sure other companies, have people monitoring their social media resources. If a bad tweet was posted, somebody would have seen it quite quickly. As the gate info was provided, they could have contacted the DEN station to find out what is going on. So that is most likely how the gate agent found out.

I have dealt with a obnoxious B celebrity in ARN, tweeting while checking in how it is such horrible service she is recieveing from my airline at ARN. She barely left the counter and we got a call from the country manager to find out what is happening. The issue this time was she wanted an upgrade, and flight was full in Business. So that was bad service.

As we do not know the whole story, and especially we have not seen the actual tweet. For what we know, he could have posted her full name and a photo. He could have complained to WN in a mature way, giving the name of the agent to them directly instead of tweeting it. Also most of the times it is enough to mentioned the flight number and the company will know who was working that flight.

To me it is pretty bad to put an agents name publicly like that. I am sure most of you would not like it either. I had a colleague who almost got killed because a mentaly unstable passenger found out her adress through her name and broke into her house. So i can fully understand the agent fearing for her safety by having her name put publicly like that.

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