Family Kicked Off Southwest Airlines Flight Over Tweet

A Minneapolis man claims his family was kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight after he criticized an allegedly rude airport employee on Twitter last Sunday, ABC News reported.

Duff Watson said he and his two children were preparing to board a Minneapolis-bound flight at an airport in Denver when they were barred by the gate agent.

Since Watson is an A-list list member of Southwest Airlines, he can board early and never had a problem doing so with his 6 and 9-year-old kids. So when the agent said he could not board with his children, Watson thought it was odd.

"I am not going to change my mind," the agent allegedly told Watson when he asked her if it was a new policy, ABC News reported.

Watson asked the agent for her last name. She refused, saying " 'You don't need my last name for anything,' " according to Watson.

So he took to Twitter.

"I tweeted something like, 'Wow, rudest agent in Denver. Kimberly S, gate C39, not happy @SWA,' " he told the station.

By that time the Watson family already boarded the plane after the agent made them wait for the other A-list passengers to get on. The family barely settled into their seats when Watson heard his name called and a flight attendant told him to get off.

The same agent was waiting for him at the gate.

"She [the agent] said I was a safety threat," Watson told ABC News. "I was shocked. There was no use of profanity, there were no threats made. How was I a safety threat?"

But the agent wasn't kidding. She threatened to call the police if he did not delete the tweet.

"I was taken aback by the situation. My two kids were crying," the father said. "She watched me as I deleted the tweet."

Shocked by the whole situation, Watson and his family boarded the plane for the second time.

Southwest Airlines told CBS Minnesota in a statement that an incident involving a customer who was temporarily removed from a flight to Minneapolis is being reviewed.

The airline offered Watson a $50 voucher. The airline also told him their A-list member benefits do not extend to other family members.

"I looked on their website and didn't find any explicit rule," Watson said. "I'm not going to fly them again."

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