TORONTO — Musical artist will.i.am launched a Twitter tirade against United Airlines on Saturday after he was denied access to a first class lounge.
“#unitedAIRLINES is the worse,” he tweeted. “Im a member & I have my card to prove it. but they tell me my card is fake & kick me out of the lounge #ouch.”
The Black Eyed Peas frontman added: “after I gave them my united miles card, my passport, drivers license & they say Im not a member #unitedSUCKS
“I fly so much…a business should know who their customers are.”
will.i.am was on his way to Washington, DC to support Puff Daddy, who received an honourary degree from Howard University.
It is not clear where he was flying from, though. The star tweeted he was “flying across the world” to be at Puff Daddy’s ceremony but he was pictured the night before at the Liberty Science Center gala in New Jersey.
will.i.am later told his 12 million Twitter followers “the @united pilot asks me to take a selfie #WTF.”
He added: “@united needs major work on customer service for sure.”
United Airlines said in a statement it is “reaching out” to will.i.am and “appreciate his business” but stood by its decision to deny him entry to the lounge.
“We invite customers travelling in United Global First, customers with Global Services status travelling in United BusinessFirst, and customers travelling in first class on other Star Alliance carriers to visit our Global First Class Lounges. Since the customer did not meet these criteria, he did not have access to the lounge.”
Qantas Airways jumped on the opportunity to take business away from United.
“You’re always welcome in our Lounge,” the airline tweeted, “and we promise not to ask for a selfie.”
Comments