EasyJet wanted to fling me off flight for diss tweet, warns cyber-law buff A web-law tutor says EasyJet threatened to stop him boarding a flight because he posted a tweet criticising the bargain-basement airline. Mark Leiser, who teaches and studies internet law at Strathclyde University, was grumpy about a delayed flight from Glasgow to London, which made him miss a connection to the centre of the …
EasyJet paying money for reputation management that could instead be diverted into actual logistical improvements thereby avoiding the necessity for reputation management?
I suppose it's more likely that the queue were tittering about the twitter enough to catch the ear of the local mis-manager.
Got to laugh at his statement that he doesn't like flashing his Law Lecturer ID... But he did.
He'd have been stuffed if they had called his bluff.
If the aircraft is late, delayed or has technical problems, well that happens. My old DT school teacher missed his train and missed his ship and till the day he died he was probably thankful for it. He missed sailing on HMS Hood by three hours when she went after the Bismarck.
Using the soldier as an excuse to complain says it all sounds like he is just trying to big himself up.
He's a complete w@nker. Sh!t happens and in my experience of many years Easyjet have been very punctual in the past few years, far more so than BA. Seems that many of the youth of today think that simply bawling publicly is always justified and will get them results - well it's blackmail as far as I am concerned.
Non-practicing perpetual student, those that can do, those that can't teach.
"I'm a Law Lecturer don't you know!"
"You are, are you?"
"Yes, I am, here is my Law Lecturer ID!"
"I see, now fcuk off, I'm the pilot and you're not getting on with me!"
Now that would be proper customer service.
> My money pays your wages.
Only a tiny amount, unless by "your" wages you mean the first officer's, in which case no you don't, as he's likely to be on a pay-to-fly program (EZY essentially sell the right-hand seat to low-time trainees).
In any case, as has been pointed out, he doesn't seem to have exactly show a great deal of professional decorum if, as reported, he managed to get on a verbal scrap with a check-in agent. Certainly not someone I would be giving consideration should I need legal counselling in Scotland.
By the way, it is not in anyone's interest[*] for flights to be delayed, not the least for the carrier itself.
[*] Except perhaps for the soldier in question, who will hopefully get an extra R&R day or two.
It's worse than it looks. Here's a dude who teaches law, but somehow has failed to understand that the UK doesn't have a right of free speech and even if they did, the protections apply to govt. censure, not private corporations.
Anyone in his class should ask for their money back.
... but the HRA provides that public institutions, including courts, may not contravene ECHR rights. Which has been used in cases like Campbell v Mirror Group Newspaper to import additional criteria onto existing civil wrongs — once you've established standing for an action and are in court, the argument goes that the court can't act so as to contravene your convention rights and hence those rights themselves become enforced against a third party.
You'd therefore expect that, if the professor was making a threat at all, he was meaning to say that he'd go to court on contractual grounds and, once there, could likely use the HRA to bolster his argument.
What it actually sounds like to me is not so much that anyone was disputing the right to free speech so much as that the Easyjet employee tried to divert the conversation and failed miserably.
@ThomH - I quote '‘It wasn’t a threat, it was a criticism. It’s called free speech' ...
If he's said something like 'if you deny me boarding I'll sue for breach of contract' then what you cite may come into play. That isn't what happened tho'.
He thought he had some right to say what he liked. He should have known better.
The guy's a douche. Simple as that.
though easyjet are in the wrong here, the bloke does appear to be right up his own arse according to his webpage.
" I am currently researching what “activates” the active dot in the active/pathetic dot matrix within the context of cyber-legitimacy"
uhu. that's very interesting sir, we have upgraded you from this flight - you will now be departing in our brand new Golgafinchan aircraft, and will be one of the first to fly it... step this way.
This post has been deleted by its author
But, but. There was no water boarding as the soldier did indeed miss the boat.
Personally I would put the soldier on jankers for 7 days due to his bad planning and lack of real world experience. I used to travel on leave by train and boat. Leave a town in Corsica in 4 tonner and get to boat, take boat to Marseille or Nice, take train to Paris. Sit outside Metro until it opened and then take Metro to Gare de Nord, take train to Calais, take boat to Dover, take train to Victoria station, take undergound to Wimbledon and walk home. I used to do the same in reverse and give myself an extra day to deal with the vagaries of the transport system. A good distance and I was never late thank (insert deity).
Nahhh, squaddy was a muppet.
As for our PHD. student. He probably mentioned he had tweeted, as given the time frame Easyjet could not have responded that quick.
I do Easyjet at least once a month and Volcanoes allowing they are OK in my book, I do however prefer Etihad ;)
Seems like the headline is 'I wasn't denied boarding after tweeting'.
And seriously, do you really think a manager in Glasgow (one of the smallest easyJet bases) is gonna be spending all day checking for moany tweets from delayed passengers? Probably more like the guy was being a prick and was threatened with refusal cos he was making so much noise. If head office had seen it and called the Glasgow manager and sent him down there it would have been more likely that they would have been sent to placate, not wind up the annoyed tweeter.
The whole things sounds like a load of bull. I know easyJet and they wouldn't be able to react that quickly to a tweet.
What were the easyjet employeees doing on Twatter
Shouldn't they have been out front coping with a 90 minute late flight
And this modern thing of companies denying it afterwards is getting tiring, I bet someones looking at policy and someones been sent for training and some kind of memo has been sent out, I bet, I bet.
> You know...the more you post here...the more of an arse you make of yourself.
And you know, I don't really spend enough time here to follow who posts what, but...
> You are quite obviously totally clueless when it comes to the subject of CUSTOMER SERVICE.
Perhaps he is. May I now ask how intimate is your knowledge of the airline business, my dear Sir?
> Back under your rock bozo.
Is there a need to be childishly rude?
"What were the easyjet employeees doing on Twatter"
All large companies now employ comprehensive "reputation management" software, that continually scan the internet, with a particular focus on live social media, for mentions of the company. The good software will immediately classify the message and forward it to the appropriate manager. Twitter and facebook are quickly becoming the first port of call for customer complaints - who wants to fill in a form or call an 0845 number or speak to some bottom-tier supervisor when you can attach your complaint to the company's own public profile? That needs to be managed, and the good software can be frighteningly good.
However in this case it's just as likely the staff member in question saw him tweeting - he sent it immediately after/in the midst of a verbal exchange.
Criticising an airline on Twitter is one thing. This guy, despite his law credentials, should have realised that calling everyone to 'get into em' could be read as tantamount to inciting trouble, physical or otherwise.
It seems we have our first company fighting back in the nastiest way against internet criticism. I really, REALLY hope that this news goes further and that people censure this company for their behaviour.
Of course, the downside here is that people vote with their wallets, and people's votes are managed by the potential damage to their wallets, so EasyJet is likely to retain their customers regardless.
Criticising an airline on Twitter is one thing. This guy, despite his law credentials, should have realised that calling everyone to 'get into em' could be read as tantamount to inciting trouble, physical or otherwise.
Think he got off lightly ... from my recollections on the BBC documentaries on Heathrow then a comment like that there is more likely to have ended up with him being escorted by the Police to the station to receive a caution. (That certainly happened to one traveller on that program who when complaining at the check in desk said that the checkin clerk "needed a good slapping")
As I assume you are not a lawyer then you will be perfectly ok if you wake up one day no one serves you in any shop, bar, restaurant, denies you to board a train, stop and searches you, locks you up for 72 hours under section 7, stops you attending any sporting activity...the list is endless
So yeah a guy sticking up for himself with the ultimate result of letting Easy Jet know their bullshit is bullshit..... thank fuck for a typical lawyer...
The point is, the employee didn't know if they were legally allowed to deny him access or not. Nobody has commented on this. But being a typical arrogant lawyer he uses this as a threat. Lawyers do this all the time and since the person they're doing it to is rarely a lawyer, they can get away with anything. Nobody dares deny a lawyer.
I knew you lot were a bunch of whinging sad-cases, but seriously sticking up for a LAWYER?
"The point is, the employee didn't know if they were legally allowed to deny him access or not." I completely agree - that is the whole point. The EasyJet employee still did actually threaten to deny him access, not knowing whether they had the legal ability to do so or not. The customer stood up for himself, as, I assume, you would too. The fact he apparently has a Law Lecturer Badge to flash is incidental. You say "nobody dares deny a lawyer" - I say "nobody should dare deny anyone without an actual proper reason".
So why did that employee do this? Why did the employee take it upon themself to make such a decision. You can be sure that there is no such training within EasyJet to say it should be done. Likely, what has happened is one more-seasoned employee has told a new employee that since 9-11 they can kick whoever they want off their planes for whatever reason (to be possibly created after the incident), to be investigated by whoever, have nothing proved against them and be released without any charge, only to realise they have missed their plane and are not able to get a refund. The person be interviewed and not getting on the plane is their own fault.
Typical, a lawyer trying to scare people to get what he wants.
Typical, a pissy employee of a substandard airline trying to play God because someone had the temerity to not worship the ground they walk on.
Take a look at what happened here. The guy might be a shark, but he's also incidentally happened to defend your rights as well as his own. Or, do you think that somehow a shit airline should not be criticised?
OH GOD I'LL NEVER BE ABLE TO GET ON AN EASYJET FLIGHT NOW!!!!
what rights ?
plane was LATE not cancelled
read the ticket - all the T&Cs- & the EU directives
Until the plane is cancelled or over x hours late they don't have to re-route you or do anything
if a plane is late - it's late - fog/snow/ice/incompetence happens - quit bloody moaning & making everyone else's life a misery (fog in Luton yesterday morning over an hour & a half late on site - shit happens).
Some poor slob of an underpaid pseudo manager trying to keep a couple of hundred people only moderatley unhappy; with no authority or tools to help him ..
What do YOU do when your project is late and some stupid client demands cancelletion/late delivery charges/free upgrade to supper dupper extra special all bells & whistle when the contract EXPLICITLY says said client has no redress ? And then starts publically slagging you & your company off ?
The plane was only LATE - surely in this day and age no one serriously excpects an airline to never be late ?
And then starts publically slagging you & your company off ?
A few years ago, I was a PC World employee.
Try "suck it up and get on with it"? There is a marked difference between criticism and abuse. Actually, I kept my job there for so long despite not having the best sales figures because dammit, I had so few complaints. Customers liked me. Tended to come back more often because of that. Partly because I didn't respond to criticism with "right, fuck off, out of the shop, you." In fact, in many cases I would agree wholeheartedly with some of the stuff that customers came out with. Why act like a pissy jobsworth? Life's too short, and the company certainly isn't going to reward blind loyalty anyway. Yes sir, you are absolutely right, that is a terrible price for a USB 1.1-rated cable. Unfortunately there is little I can do about it, however my figures for today are not too bad. If you're buying a printer and ink, I can probably discount it for you.
Professionalism. Something an Easyjet employee or two might do well to learn about.
> The plane was only LATE - surely in this day and age no one serriously excpects an airline to never be late?
Those happily slagging off the airline as if they wanted to be fashionable by being late... please raise your hands those of you who have heard of the CFMU.
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