Duff Watson said he was flying from Denver to Minneapolis on
Sunday and tried to board in a spot for frequent flyer privileges he
held and take his sons, ages 6 and 9, with him, even though they had
a later spot to board the plane.
The agent told him that he would have to wait if he wanted to board
with his children. Watson replied that he had boarded early with
them before and then sent out a tweet that read "RUDEST AGENT IN
DENVER. KIMBERLY S. GATE C39. NOT HAPPY @SWA."
Watson told TV broadcaster KARE in Minneapolis on Wednesday that
after he boarded, an announcement came over the plane asking his
family to exit the aircraft. Once at the gate, the agent said that
unless the tweet was deleted, police would be called and the family
would not be allowed back onboard.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2014/Jul/25/images/ads/current/napa_bch1-3108.png) "We get bounced off the plane, and it turns into a completely
different situation and escalated for reasons that are quite
honestly silly," said Watson, who eventually boarded and flew back
home, after agreeing to delete the tweet.
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Southwest said in a statement that a customer was briefly removed
from the flight, and as an airline, it has no intention to stifle
customer feedback on social media.
"Our decision was not based solely on a customer's tweet," it said,
adding it offered the customer vouchers as a gesture of goodwill.
(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Texas; Editing by Bill Trott
and Eric Beech)
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