Man Says Southwest Airlines Kicked Him Off Plane Over Tweet Complaint
LatestA Minnesota man said he and his family were kicked off of a Southwest Airlines flight on Wednesday because of a tweet he sent.
Duff Watson said he and his children were removed from a flight for sending a tweet to the airlines complaining about the customer service of one of their agents. Watson told CBS affiliate WCCO the agent treated him rudely during a disagreement over early boarding before a flight from Denver to Minneapolis. Watson is an “A-List” passenger with Southwest, which allows him to board early. However, Watson said the gate agent refused to allow his 6-year-old and 9-year-old to board early with him. Not wanting to leave his kids behind and not wanting to wait to board later, Watson argued with the gate agent. Via ABC:
When the gate agent told Watson she can’t let his children board with him, Watson said he asked the agent: “Is this a new policy?”
Watson said the agent didn’t answer his question directly, but told him: “I am not going to change my mind.”
The gate agent allegedly asked Watson and his two children to step aside and wait until the rest of the A-list members board.
“We waited, which was fine,” Watson said. “I thought she was very rude and wanted to complain to customer service, so I asked her: ‘Can I get your last name?'”
“She told me: ‘You don’t need my last name for anything,'” Watson said.
“I said, you know, ‘Real nice way to treat an A-list. I’ll be sure to tweet about it,'” he told CBS. He followed up on that promise as soon as he got on the plane. Watson’s original tweet is not accessible now (he has since made his account private).
“[The tweet was] something to the effect of, ‘Wow, rudest agent in Denver. Kimberly S, gate C39, not happy @SWA,'” he said.