Law prof claims his Twitter criticism nearly got him banned from flight
A law lecturer at a university in Scotland says he was nearly banned from a flight because he made a critical comment about the airline on Twitter.
Mark Leiser, who lectures at Strathclyde University, says he was eventually allowed on the EasyJet plane Tuesday evening—but it wasn’t until he mentioned free speech to a manager, who asked, “What are you—some kind of lawyer?” Leiser says he answered in the affirmative and showed his law lecturing ID as proof. The Independent, the Metro and the Drum have stories.
Leiser says his troubles began when he became concerned about his delayed flight from Glasgow to London. He says he asked an attendant about the last train in to London, and was told his connection was not EasyJet’s responsibility. The attendant reportedly told Leiser that a member of the military might also miss his connection.
At that point, Leiser tweeted: “Flight delayed 90min. Soldier going to miss last connection & @easyjet refusing to help pay for him to get to Portsmouth. Get right into em!”
After sending the tweet, Leiser says, he was pulled out of line and told he could not board the flight because of his tweet. He says he doesn’t think he would have been allowed onto the flight if he hadn’t flashed his law lecturing ID to the manager who came to speak with him.
EasyJet released this statement after the incident: “EasyJet has never denied boarding due to comments on social media. On the rare occasion that we consider denying boarding it is on the basis of disruptive behavior.”
