Thus the invention of the new popular hashtag, #theresalwaysunited.
Yesterday afternoon on a flight from LAX to who-knows-where, Alec Baldwin was “reamed out” by an American Airlines flight attendant, apparently for refusing to shut off Words With Friends on his mobile phone or iPad while waiting to take off, and wound up on another flight. Naturally, the entire scuffle was recorded on Twitter.
The first Tweet came from a random passenger, Michael J. Wolf, who wrote: “On an AA flight at LAX. Alec Baldwin removed from the plane. We had to go back to the gate. Terrible that everyone had to wait.”
That Tweet was shortly followed by one from Baldwin to his 607,000-plus followers saying, “Flight attendant on American reamed me out 4 playing WORDS W FRIENDS while we sat at the gate, not moving. #nowonderamericaairisbankrupt.”
After creating the hashtag #theresalwaysunited, Baldwin wrote, “But, oddly, 30 Rock plays inflight on American,” and quickly, “United Airlines should buy Words With Friends.”
As word of Baldwin’s amusing row spread, the hashtag caught on. When CNN anchor Brook Baldwin asked via Twitter if WWF was worth uploading, Baldwin responded “It’s…well…addicting.” He then informed his followers that he boarded another American flight where “The flight attendants already look…..smarter,” and went for the jugular with: “Last flight w American. Where retired Catholic school gym teachers from the 1950′s find jobs as flight attendants.”
Baldwin then rounded his short, though entertaining tirade out with, “My words with friends user name is now #theresalwaysunited,” and after a few more witty tweets called it a day.
American Airlines of course played coy, telling CNN they would not “comment on something that might or might not have happened,” but Tweeted back to Baldwin, “Mr. Baldwin, we are looking into this. Please DM us contact information.”
Now, Wednesday morning, the Alec Baldwin vs. American Airlines Twitter War is front page news on almost every major web outlet. While it’s still unclear if AA kicked Baldwin off the plane or he decided to leave because the flight attendant was being obnoxious, that’s neither here nor there. Anyone who has ever flown and/or played the addictive Words With Friends can at least sympathize with his position. But I guess you know you’ve made it when bouncing from a flight for your word game addiction leads to this kind of fanfare. The rest of us would just be spat at.
[Image via Alec Baldwin's Twitter feed]
