Man ejected from Southwest flight for tweeting that a gate agent was rude

People never seem to learn about the dangers of jumping to conclusions. Taken from SWA's own website...

"Priority standby will be provided only for A-List or A-List Preferred Members. If an A-List or A-List Preferred Member is travelling on a multiple-Passenger reservation, priority standby will not be provided for non-A-List or non-A-List Preferred Members in the same reservation. For A-List and A-List Preferred Members who are also Companion Pass Holders, priority standby will not be provided for the Member's designated Companion unless he/she also is an A-List or A-List Preferred Member."

...case closed on "that" issue.

Now, as for the agent being rude in the process of doing her job...saying that someone is being "rude" to you is HIGHLY subjective. In the world of customer service, politely telling someone they can't do something (that they probably already know they can't do) can still be interpreted as rude behavior.

Keep in mind that this guy could have just refused priority boarding and boarded ordinarily with the rest of his family. The agent's only fault was how she dealt with the situation after the fact. Instead of making the guy delete the post, what she should have done was gotten the corporate security department to follow up on man's tweeting of her name...and of course (this is America afterall) sued him if she felt threatened by him.

There are two sides of a pancake. We only saw the side that was burnt. He sounds like he is an entitled s.o.b. and when he didn't get his way he whined his way thru a tweet. Really...??? Don't bring your overactive "it's all about me" attitude to the airport. It doesn't work. You might be pleasantly surprised what kindness...a please and a thank you can bring you. Might want to try it out if you can check your attitude before you get to the gate! Reminds me of a passenger who went ballistic when we were #14 in line for take-off at O'Hare. He said he would never fly United again...going to fly American! I told him that sounds like a great idea but you might want to know that American is right behind us in the #15 spot for take-off. Didn't hear a peep out of him the rest of the flight.

I think that there is more to this story than is being told. That said, the cardinal sin here was calling a name and making it personal. The ticket and policies were issued/set by the airline. If he felt a complaint tweet was what he had to do, the airline name, flight# and day/time would have been sufficient. Let them investigate and respond to the customer. Same with any business. A company can tell by date/time who was working. Let them investigate and deal accordingly with their employee.

JL Hilliard sounds like one obstinate S.O.B.

Amazing how often two fools meet.

he got what he deserved, nobody likes a smartass.

The world is full of people who believe they have self-empowered authority to break the rules that apply to everyone else. Priority boarding is a status symbol for some of these, and shoehorning non-priority passengers in front of legitimate priority boarders would have angered those who felt their status was being one-upped.

TSA agents are like all law enforcement officers. When a command is given within the jurisdiction of their authority, there can be no compromise - do it or else. While this was not an egregious violation of the rules, it was nonetheless a violation. The response and attitude of the passenger to a reasonable command is inexcusable. His actions suggest he is a hot head that was probably deserving of his eviction.

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2014/07/22/family-asked-to-leave-sw-plane-after-tweet/

"I'll be sure to tweet about it!" Ha ha.

Grow up, man. "I didn't get my way. I'm going to piss and moan on twitter."


Anybody know the exact rule from SWA on this? I read conflicting things about family being allowed to use A list. In my experience, AA and UAL have zero problem letting family board with "status" groups.

There's not shortage of whiners these days especially now that they can whine to a large gathering of strangers via the Internet and electronic media where a lie can travel around the world before the truth can put its pants on. Southwest shouldn't have apologized nor given him any treats. Poor behavior, make that bad behavior, doesn't warrant any rewards.

And to the poster Hilliard who repeatedly below yapped that the gate agent's badge made her name a public issue thus justifying the whining at large via twitter by this disgruntled passenger, he sounds too much like this passenger, yet another whiner at large. I'm sure SWA won't miss this passenger or any of his menagerie or like minded twits in the future if they choose to fly with one of its competitors.

The last boarding at SWA that I made with my grandson two weeks ago had the family with children boarding age of 4 years old. Older kids use the boarding pass sequence. What isn't clear is why all this egotistical passenger's tickets weren't in the same sequence (having been purchased at the same time) and why priority boarding is such a big deal. You all get there at the same time and sometimes you don't get to sit up front. Deal with it. While the TSA agent could have broken the rule for one passenger, then you would have dozens of other passengers wanting special favors because of connecting flights, legroom, adjacent seating - the list goes on. (As an aside, TSA agents don't board passengers, that's done by SWA personnel after passengers have cleared the TSA checkpoint.)

I was a deputy sheriff years ago and assigned to prevent traffic from turning down one road to avoid congestion. One driver defied my command not to turn because he lived down that road and didn't want to go around the section. During the time he stopped in a live stream of traffic to argue with me, he caused a rear-end collision when numerous other vehicles also stopped unexpectedly to ask why they couldn't turn down that road as he had done. After the traffic cleared and I was released from the post, I drove to the person's house down the road and issued him a citation for failing to abide a command from a law enforcement officer. The request was unreasonable due to factors that this narrow-minded person failed to understand. You cannot allow such behavior to occur without consequence. There is more to any situation than your own personal wishes. If I had witnessed a bully trying to pull such egotistical self-empowered rank, I would have spoken out as a passenger. Priority boarding costs extra. You can't pay for it (or "earn" it) on one ticket and have it apply in perpetuity to your family for the rest of your life. If it was such a big deal, why didn't this guy buy it for his kids? He's nothing but a con-artist trying to get something for nothing.

I am a frequent traveler and enjoy the early boarding privileges so many of the posters have condemned. I agree the passenger should have been aware of the policy, but the gate agent has the responsibility to share it with the passenger in a courteous manner. My big issue here is, after the passenger's statement of tweeting what happened, did the gate agent scan tweets to SWA to see if the passenger would carry through on his statement?

Any one of us would be completely embarrassed and fear for our jobs if someone tweeted we had treated them in a discourteous and disrespectful manner. How far would you go to put the heat back on the passenger who tweeted? Would you even say you felt threatened to get the tweet removed? Notice that was her first demand even before the supervisor arrived. Nothing like getting caught red handed.

There is enough blame to go around. If you are in the customer service organization of your company, your behavior reflects on the entire company not just you. And bad behavior towards customers certainly leads to a very short career.

I worked for an airline as a gate agent for many years and I will say,"rudeness" is a perception, generally of someone who does not get their way in any given situation,from pre boarding,to carry on luggage, to missing a flight or being an "oversale"..the agent is in control of a flight and also any situation which might arise..interaction with the public,,nice,nasty, or otherwise is part of the job and agents have classes on handling situations..if it gets to be a big problem. they have supervisors and airport security personnel to back them up...people generally do not want to hear about policy or procedures and there are a lot of "me first" personalities who fly..

I am so fried with people trying to be number one. If this guy had his card and wanted to use it then he should have boarded alone. Guys like him give passengers a bad name.

I'm really not sure why people feel a need to make public every nuance of their life -- good or bad. It seems that it is an attention-grabbing self-confidence issue that has come of unfortunate age.

Just a guess, but judging from his self-absorbed, needy tweet, he is nothing more than an obnoxious, self-centered passenger who deserved his fate.

Let's see a tweet gets you pulled off but 3 hours tarmac sitting inside a hot aircraft with no water is OK ? Enjoy the train ride sir. Much safer.

Southwest has their own ways... They have the right to deny boarding.

The thing about a tweet is that people usually know who you are. So sometimes a tweet makes you look more stupid than the subject you were tweeting about.

The passenger was in the wrong about boarding and the tweet was unfair. What the gate agent did made it worse. She should have ignored the tweet. I love SWA but this type of behavior by the gate agent is unacceptable. She should be disciplined and re-trained. They should read Zingerman's book on customer service.

AWWWW, Another "entitled" customer. Gee, I hope his inner child wasn't injured.

Common sense run amok

Buy the ticket ya takes the ride. I don't care where I sit...preferably not over the wing cause I love to look out the windows..but other then that? Don't matter cause you're gonna get there the same time as everyone else.
As for this dweeb? Entitled SOB should have/could have kept his mouth shut and his tweet silent. BUT NOOO I'm an Alister so I deserve the best of attention and I don't have to follow the rules. You're flying on the Wal-Mart In The Air, take what ya get and SHUT UP.

What I don't understand is how they found his tweet and were certain beyond a doubt that it was done by him... granted it was obviously him, but that's pretty scary that they must have immediately watched for it and found it between boarding and take-off? I wouldn't put that past the NSA, but SWA?

Having said that, the guy is an uber-doche and got what was coming to him.

We will never know what actually happened but I hate people that spill their guts out "tweeting" or Facebook crap. Deal with the person one to one or F off to the bar and get pissed and whine there.

As a former gate agent, I can tell you that sometimes the way people say things and act is threatening. You are taught and trained to report ALL threatening behavior because if the FA would have done something he didn't think was right then it would have only escalated and the crew would have been trapped with him.

I don't know if the agent was rude or not, but she was apparently following the rules of SWA. My airline had different rules, but we didn't have open seating either. If you wanted to get on early then get on. Not a huge deal either way. Also we were always in a rush to process our aircraft and passengers. We didn't have time to check the Twitter feed to see what a passenger had said about us.

So he will not fly SWA again,
what a shame! I cannot get my way and the agent refused to break the rules, so here comes the tweet.
This type of behavior is becoming too common, unfortunately by giving him vouchers SWA confirmed that he was right and the agent was wrong. How can you tell your agents to follow the rules when managements is willing to break them to satisfy a moron!

Folks... a word of CAUTION RE tweets/blogs that identify an individual.

Some years ago a musician was flying to a concert on United Air Lines,. He had high value guitar tagged "handle with care". This was obviously a red flag to the baggage handler: he watched his $1000 guitar get destroyed as it was loaded into the baggage hold. When he filed a damage claim with UAL, he talked with a claims agent who he described as very polite, but unable to act on his claim. SO he wrote the song "United Breaks Guitars" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo. In this song he identified the claims agent who he worked with by name. Within hours, she was being harassed in every way by insulting and scary internet posts and walk-up comments; barbs from managers, and co-workers. It was her nightmare caused by factors outside of her control. The musician eventually wrote several follow-up songs explaining how she was just a cog … and NOT the real problem.

I think we have all had rude 2-way conversations with agents and clerks, etc, that were unproductive; Some we may actually have started by having a bad day and snapping back. However, that's where most of us dropped it and walked away... no long term harm/foul. When this guy tweeted HIS SIDE of the story to the world and identified her explicitly, he was setting her personally up for internet/blog harassment on a scale FAR beyond what the situation warranted. In-other-words instead of saying SWA has agent with short fuses and poor attitudes at xxxxxx. He was figuratively pointing a finger at her face saying she is a b*tchy agent worthy of being pointed-out specifically and punished by ALL who would read his tweet. He wanted to get this bad encounter off-his-chest with this blow-steam-off tweet… that could actually put a target on the agent’s back for weeks/months to co

Should have told him to walk!

There must be something this guy is not telling , for the flight attendant to back the gate agent....
The tweet may not have been the issue.....
He was.......

This whole thing is a waste of time and space.

What happens to some folks when they arrive at the gate? I like Dee's comment. Civility and manners often enough seem to evaporate. I still can't figure out the rush to be first on board. Sometimes I get a good seat, sometimes not. Not too many guarantees in life, but flying sure beats walking.

Exactly what did SWA think deleting the tweet was going to accomplish? It already went out if he sent it. It was seen, archived, cached, etc. You can't "delete" it from memory, virtual or wetware.

I'm surprised the ARSTechnica "journalist" did not bring this up.

Ever watch the TV show "Airline"?? It followed the gate ops of SWA. In that show it seemed as if SWA would deny a passenger from boarding for just about anything including flirting w/the gate agent. Having a couple of Beers at the Bar across from the gate. Search out a re-run and see for yourselves. Bizarre..........

Next time he can save nerves flying Delta. (But no one can be forced to have a good taste.)

^.^

This is a threat to our freedom of speech. I know Southwest is not the government; however, as a common carrier, it takes on some characteristics which distinguish it from your random private business. Sure, this guy probably is a jerk who feels entitled. I see his type every time I fly. That's not the point though. This is about free speech and the ability to express opinion without sanction. Wearing a name badge in a public place makes you fair game for publication of your name, so that's not the point either. After all, that's why the last name is shown as only an initial. Wake up, folks, and smell the aroma emanating from the galley when you board the aircraft for its first flight of the day! If we don't stand up for this man's right to engage in free speech, even if he's a jerk and his opinion may be in error, we all lose in the long run.

oh good grief..this discussion has gotten way too long and out of hand..we all know that people can be rude or discourteous,and that applies to both ends of the spectrum..people in customer service as well as the customers themselves..the difference in airline positions is that due to the massive security doctrines handed down by the faa,tsa and the airlines,airline personnel can revert to that angle and its up to a supervisor,manager or yes,even the pilot of an aircraft, to determine the worth of a complaint..lets move on to some other discussion shall we??

Clarification on SWA's boarding of families...

"An adult traveling with a child four years old or younger may board during Family Boarding, which occurs after the “A” group has boarded and before the “B” group begins boarding. Those holding an “A” boarding pass and traveling with small children should still board with the “A” boarding group. If a child four years old or younger is holding a “B” boarding pass, the child and accompanying adult traveler may board during Family Boarding (between groups “A” and “B”)."

His children were age six and nine, so he should have boarded with the same boarding group as his children, or boarded as an A-lister and blocked off two seats for his kids (assuming it can be done without causing an onboard fight).

I get that the guy feels entitled, and that he's probably a jerk, but I don't get that the airline has the right to boot someone off the plane because a tweet reflects poorly on one of its employees behavior. There were no threats mentioned in the article. It sounds pretty high-handed to me and I have to believe there's something more to this than written about. Putting myself into his position, I surely would think I could tweet my dissatisfaction (except I don't tweet, but you get what i mean).

He wasn't ejected, he was removed. I want my money back.

Two sides to every story. That said, this whole thing sounds really petty. Bent out of shape over a tweet? Really?
"I'm gonna tweet about this."
"My safety feels threatened."
Drama. Drama. Drama. Aw, c'mon both of you. Grow up.

While I do agree that they should have boarded in family after Group A, I dont understand how the agent felt "threatened" Only thing the passenger said was that she was rude-----how is that threatening someone? Now if this isnt the only whole story----sounds like she gets offended too easily and shouldn't be a Gate agent, your not suppose to take this stuff personally. I wonder what this agent is like during the winter time during blizzards and thunderstorms in the summertime

Thanks Jim. I am a bit surprised by that. Regarding the event itself, I agree that the passenger was being pushy and rude. As someone already mentioned, The passenger should have moved back if he wanted to be with his kids. Nonetheless, ejecting him from the flight for a negative tweet was excessive.

If the accompanying passenger(s) were adults I'd say follow their policy. But in the case of those passengers being the A-Lister's minor children, give the guy a break and let them be seated with him. That's a simple courtesy they should extend to someone who spends so much money with their business.

The actions by the employee for the tweet... now, that's very much over the top.

Folks here are going on and on about the "whiner" but given how the gate agent reacted to an upset passenger and threatening removal if a tweet is not deleted, I can't help but go with the passenger on this one.

It was just common sense for that gate attendant to have allowed the children to board with their father. Instead, she'll hopefully be sent for re-education or at worst be fired. It's unnecessary to cause this kind of outcome.

I am sorry but I see it completely differently as my experience has been that gate agents are totally rude often. She felt threatened, then let him board only to kick him off AFTER she let him board?! What kind of logic is that???

You better be nice to me or I'm going to tweet you bad!!!! Oh please. Whatever. Do you want a ticket or not. A childish act doesn't need to be followed by a childish act.

So, if this guy, instead of tweeting simply told other people that gate agent (whatever her name is) at gate xx was rude would she have removed him from the plane?

I think we have something called the First Amendment right to free speech. He used it-she didn't like it and should have shrugged it off or put a note in his passenger file (the dreaded 'permanent record') that he was an a-hole.

I appreciate the tweet, I am glad to learn that I am not the only airline customer subjected to rude, indifferent treatment. Mediocre service and arrogant, disinterested employees seem to be the norm, fostered by union membership, I suspect, at U S airlines. Long gone are the days of polite, friendly service, to my observation. Maybe this is why Etihad,among many others,have pulled WAY ahead of any USA airline in customer satisfaction.

so much for freedom of speech , please be silent while boarding , no tweeting and definitely do not insult our agents , sounds to me like that tsa agent should loosen up is belt , the reason he has a job is because of travelers willing to put up with all the crap that is imposed on us at airports , never mind the $8.00 slice of pizza .

Oh please. His tweet was the equivalent of filing a report with the BBB. It was no threat. It was just an Airline Nazi showing her power. Let's say he was a jerk; let's say she did her job. Customers have a right to complain. There was no threat; had there been a threat, he would have been arrested and SW would not have issued refunds and vouchers for future flights.

Any thoughts about freedom of speech being threatened here?

Fire that agent immediately for costing my company 1,000 times more than the drain on the payroll. There is no excuse for the stupidity of having such drones on the payroll.