Father and family get ordered off SWA flight for tweeting about bad service

[hollydolly]

Minneapolis man Duff Watson, says he and his two children were ejected from their flight for a tweet criticising Southwest Airlines’ service.The father of two, who is an A-list member of the airline, tweeted his disappointment in the airline when his children, aged nine and six, were denied priority boarding alongside him for the flight from Denver to Washington.
After a terse exchange with the gate agent, who would not let the children through with the priority boarders despite them apparently being able to board with their father on numerous occasions, Mr Watson walked to the back of the queue to board with his kids.
“I tweeted something like ‘Wow, rudest agent in Denver. Kimberly S, gate C39, not happy @SWA’.”
Having made his complaint, Mr Watson waited to board the plane with his children. The family found their seats and sat down, only to hear their names on the flight broadcast, telling them to get off the plane.


Read more here.. http://www.independent.co.uk/travel...o-delete-tweet-before-reboarding-9628613.html

 

[Warrigal]

Interesting approach to customer relations by an airline..


Priority boarding over here is people with small children and people with mobility problems.
Getting off is not prioritised but it would be roughly the reverse of boarding.
No-one minds waiting their turn.

 

[hollydolly]

Same Here DW...priority boarding means people with little children and the disabled. Disembarking is only prioritised for the disabled.

 

[oldman]

I am sure that the gate agent was only following instructions that the airline has given to him/her. Southwest has one of the strangest methods for boarding that I have ever seen. If I understand it correctly, the passengers are boarded by some kind of letter and number system and must stand beside a numbered and lettered pole that matches what is on their boarding pass.

The airline who I had worked for allowed pre-boarding for two-year olds and younger, those that are physically challenged or handicapped and the extreme elderly and a companion, if they have one. We also allowed pregnant women, if they were showing or had a physician's note and military in uniform.

As for being removed from the aircraft for tweeting about the service, I have to believe that there is more to the story, but if not, then I would think that SWA is being a little over sensitive. SWA still offers some really good fares, but when I read their boarding procedure, I find it very confusing. I also believe that we have all had at least one bad experience with an airline, but that should ever deter us from flying with them again. After all, the entire company should not be judged by one bad experience.

 

[SeaBreeze]

Safety threat for a tweet like that?? Now I've heard everything!!

 

[WhatInThe]

I don't which bothers me more. The expulsion from the plane from a personal opinion nazi or the real time monitoring of customer comments on social media. But thanks South West I now know about the boarding procedure, an over sensitive public relations department and customer treatment in glorious detail that other wise would've been hidden. Give this Tweeting customer a medal.