MSNBC is reporting that the crew of Southwest Airlines flight 879 from Dallas to Albuquerque are credited with removing a baby from its parents mid-flight after witnessing her parents slap her.
Southwest Airlines spokesman Brad Hawkins confirmed the incident, and said “Our flight attendants do great customer service. In this case, it was a baby that was upset, and the flight attendant asked the mother if she wanted help with the baby.”
Upon arrival at Albuquerque, local police were waiting for the flight and questioned the parents. According to the airport police chief, removing the baby calmed everyone down and neutralized the situation. The parents have not been cited for the incident.
Kudos to the Southwest Airlines crew – even though we do not have all the details about the situation, when a child is being hit by his or her parents, I feel it is very easy to justify removing the child from their parents to calm things down.
Last week a 5-foot-4, 110-pound woman was removed from a Las Vegas to Sacramento Southwest flight in order to accommodate an overweight teenager who required two seats. Despite paying full-fare for the last available seat, the anonymous woman was booted off the flight when the heavier passenger boarded the plane just before departure. Southwest admits their handling of the incident was “awkward” but were reluctant to ask for volunteers to deplane as the overweight person was a minor and they didn’t want to cause her further embarrassment.
This isn’t the first time this year Southwest has had a weight-related controversy. In February, director/actor Kevin “Silent Bob” Smith tweeted that he was deemed a safety risk and bumped from a flight after he refused to buy a second seat. The airline claimed they were acting in accordance with their “Customer of Size” policy, but apologized to Mr. Smith. In response to this latest incident, he tweeted “Now me AND my wife can get booted off Southwest… TOGETHER!”
How do you think Southwest Air should have handled the situation?
Of course, there is no shortage of travel content available on Facebook, from Gadling‘s page to resorts such as Turtle Island on Fiji. And, social media marketing is starting to creep into thetourism and travel business. There have been some successes, such as JetBlue and Southwest, but the gains haven’t been as profound as in other industries, particularly media. Hotels are lagging. A quick poke around shows that the W Hotels page, for example, has a bit more than 10,000 “likers.”
The travel business is taking steps toward a more robust social media presence, but there’s still plenty of ground to cover. For now, it looks like it’s up to traveler to fill in the gaps! How do you use social media on the road … or to book your trips? Leave a comment below to let us know.
Last year, we compiled a list of vintage airline commercials, and since the Internet is full of some of the greatest commercials commissioned by airlines, we picked “sexiest airline commercials” as the topic of this top ten lineup.
The list has some vintage clips (Southwest Airlines hotpants) and some pretty recent stuff. So, sit back and enjoy these ten sexiest airline commercials.
Virgin Atlantic 25th anniversary video
This commercial is brilliant – it takes all the best (and the worst) of 1984 to celebrate 25 years of Virgin Atlantic
Air New Zealand “Nothing To Hide”
Bodypainted cabin crew members, and a cameo appearance by the CEO of the airline.
Southwest Airlines
Remember before Southwest Airlines? We didn’t have hostesses in hotpants. And now we still don’t, but at least they don’t charge for checking a bag. Though if I’m honest, I’d probably prefer the hotpants.
Airport metal detector prank
Alright, so it isn’t for an airline, and it isn’t even for a product remotely related to flying, but it has long been one of the most popular commercials involving an airport.
Silverjet
Seriously? Using a lesbian mile high romp to advertise your airline? Sadly, the airline only lasted two years before they realized that their all business class service couldn’t survive in the new economy.
Fake airline, funny commercial
This commercial for “Lynx Airlines” was made in 2008.Obviously it isn’t for a real airline, but it does mimic the services Ryanair said they’d offer in Business Class should they ever start flying transatlantic.
National Airlines “Go Go vacations”
They really don’t make them like this any more – because if they did, someone would probably sue.
If you wanted to sleep with him, you would have married him
Not every sexy airline commercial involves a stewardess in hotpants.
“I just love a man in a JetBlue uniform”
These girls love pilots – but only JetBlue pilots. Talk about being picky.
Nothing says awkward like exposing yourself to your inlaws.
(Warning, may not be suitable for work). This is one of those commercials that was clearly devised before the ad agency had a taker, because nothing in the clip is even remotely aviation related. That doesn’t prevent it from being hilarious.
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