EasyJet Threatens to Deny Boarding Over Tweet

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“Manager from easyjet just said I couldnt board flight because I criticised @easyJet on twitter before boarding the flight….”

I follow a bunch of academics on twitter  and I started seeing tweets about EasyJet threatening a PhD Student and Law Lecturer with denied-boarding because of a negative tweet.  I got curious and wanted to see just how bad this tweet was.

I dug through to the original tweet, and… er…

Flight delayed 90min. Soldier going to miss last connection & @easyjet refusing to help pay for him to get to Portsmouth. Get right into em!

— Mark Leiser (@mleiser) September 24, 2013

  That’s not very angry, and it’s about a soldier trying to get home.  For an angry tweet, it’s a rather selfless one.   But right after that tweet is

Manager came down to inquire why I was tweeting about @easyJet. Staff member said I cant tweet stuff like that. Asked me to save the tweet.

— Mark Leiser (@mleiser) September 24, 2013

 

Manager from easyjet just said I couldnt board flight because I criticised @easyJet on twitter before boarding the flight.

— Mark Leiser (@mleiser) September 24, 2013

 

@smeaters @easyJet manager went as far as threatening to remove my bags from flight. Servisair girl demabded to see tweet before boarding

— Mark Leiser (@mleiser) September 24, 2013

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

He eventually made it on board, chalking it up to his status as a law lecturer.

Here’s some of the dialogue from Felicity Morse at the Guardian:

Then he said to me: ‘You should know better than to send tweets like that and think you can still get on the flight.’

“He replied:  ‘What are you some kind of lawyer?’ And I said: ‘Well yes I am a law lecturer actually and showed him my ID from university.

“At this point everyone else had boarded and I said to him that he needed to make up his mind whether I would be allowed on the flight or not. He then asked the woman if I did have any bags on board but decided to let me on the flight. He only really let me on the flight because I flashed my law lecturing ID and I don’t like doing that. “

EasyJet denied the incident, but I also see no reason for the passenger to lie about this.  My guess is one manager got overzealous and hotheaded over a tweet, and finally backed down when he realized he didn’t actually have the power to do this over a tweet.

I’m also inclined to believe him because I’ve seen similar PR disasters from other companies–and even other airlines.  The funniest back and forth I’ve seen was when Big Bang Theory Star Kaley Cuoco tweeted an ad for the Dish service which CBS wanted deleted.  Even though it is two companies going at it, it sounds like a couple of teenages.

I also frequently wonder if carriers like EasyJet and RyanAir are trolling us when things like this happen.