Alec Baldwin Apologizes to Fellow Passengers for Plane Incident
ABC News
Actor Alec Baldwin apologized to his fellow American Airlines passengers in an online post today, but not to "the 1950's gym teacher" or other members of the plane crew that forced him to leave a flight Tuesday.
"It was never my intention to inconvenience anyone with my 'issue' with a certain flight attendant," Baldwin wrote in article posted on the Huffington Post.
Baldwin's earlier said via Twitter that his love for a Scrabble-like iPhone game got him "reamed out" and forced off the American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to New York.
"Flight attendant on American reamed me out 4 playing WORDS W FRIENDS while we sat at the gate, not moving," Baldwin tweeted Tuesday afternoon, along with the hashtag, " #nowonderamericaairisbankrupt"
Baldwin's rep said the dispute with American went so far that the "30 Rock" star was asked to leave the plane.
Baldwin said he's been a loyal American Airlines customer for more than two decades and the frustration and confusion started when he was already on board a behind-schedule flight.
"I then did what I have nearly always done and that was to pull out my phone to complete any other messaging I had to do before take off," Baldwin wrote in the Huffington Post article. "In nearly all other instances, the flight attendants seemed to be unbothered by and said nothing about such activity, by me or anyone else, until we actually were pulling away from the gate."
Baldwin said he was "singled out" by a flight attendant and felt that he was being made an example of, "while everyone else was left undisturbed."
American Airlines battled back today after being blasted by Baldwin.
"Since an extremely vocal customer has publicly identified himself as being removed from an American Airlines flight on Tuesday, Dec. 6, we have elected to provide the actual facts of the matter," the airline posted on its Facebook page. "This passenger declined to turn off his cell phone when asked to do so at the appropriate time."
"The passenger ultimately stood up (with the seat belt light still on for departure) and took his phone into the plane's lavatory. He slammed the lavatory door so hard, the cockpit crew heard it and became alarmed, even with the cockpit door closed and locked," American wrote.
The airlines said after flight attendants were asked to check on the situation, "the passenger was extremely rude to the crew, calling them inappropriate names and using offensive language. Given the facts above, the passenger was removed from the flight and denied boarding."
Baldwin said the incident has taught him a valuable lesson.
"The lesson I've learned is to keep my phone off when the 1950's gym teacher is on duty. That was my fault there, even though this trip was quite a bit different from so many others," Baldwin wrote in the post. "But it is sad, I think, that you've got to fly overseas today in order to bring back what has been thrown overboard by U.S. carriers in terms of common sense, style and service."