Get All Access for $5/mo

Angry Customer Used Promoted Tweets to Chastise British Airways A miniature PR fiasco unfolded on Monday night as a British Airways customer used promoted tweets to publicly reprimand the airline for losing his father's luggage. Here's what happened.

By Brian Patrick Eha

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Airports Internationl

British Airways is getting a sharp reminder that social media is a bully pulpit that welcomes big companies and little guys alike, after one disgruntled customer used promoted tweets to complain that the airline had lost his father's luggage.

Promoted tweets are typically used by brands to gain visibility for their products and promotions. But Hasan Syed, whose Twitter handle is @HVSVN, used them to call out the airline for allegedly ruining his European business trip and failing to address the issue.

Syed reportedly bought his tweets in the New York City and United Kingdom markets, aiming to reach other British Airways customers on both sides of the Atlantic. As the hours went by and the airline did not respond, his one-man campaign attracted attention, much of it admiring and supportive.

According to The Guardian and other news outlets, the airline finally woke up to the problem and made haste to address it, saying in a statement Tuesday: "We would like to apologize to the customer for the inconvenience caused. We have been in contact with the customer, and the bag is due to be delivered today."

Read the story as it unfolded below:

Syed continued to lash out at the airline:

Which prompted other Twitter users to begin sharing their stories of bad experiences with British Airways:

JetBlue Airways' senior vice president of marketing took notice:

Fellow travelers continued to show their support:

Syed wasn't happy about the continued silence from British Airways:

An airline representative finally responded, but the exchange didn't go well:

United Kingdom-based marketing agency TBG offered a helpful suggestion to a competing airline, Virgin Atlantic:

Finally, the night ended with Syed promising to divulge analytics data on Tuesday:

Related: 5 Secrets to Increasing Customer Retention -- and Profits

Brian Patrick Eha is a freelance journalist and former assistant editor at Entrepreneur.com. He is writing a book about the global phenomenon of Bitcoin for Portfolio, an imprint of Penguin Random House. It will be published in 2015.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Editor's Pick

Most Popular

See all
Starting a Business

I Left the Corporate World to Start a Chicken Coop Business — Here Are 3 Valuable Lessons I Learned Along the Way

Board meetings were traded for barnyards as a thriving new venture hatched.

By Chris Bowman
Business News

'Passing By Wide Margins': Elon Musk Celebrates His 'Guaranteed Win' of the Highest Pay Package in U.S. Corporate History

Musk's Tesla pay package is almost 140 times higher than the annual pay of other high-performing CEOs.

By Sherin Shibu
Business News

Joey Chestnut Is Going From Nathan's to Netflix for a Competition 15 Years in the Making

Chestnut was banned from this year's Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest due to a "rival" contract. Now, he'll compete in a Netflix special instead.

By Emily Rella
Marketing

Are Your Business's Local Listings Accurate and Up-to-Date? Here Are the Consequences You Could Face If Not.

Why accurate local listings are crucial for business success — and how to avoid the pitfalls of outdated information.

By Alex Quin
Money & Finance

Day Traders Often Ignore This One Topic At Their Peril

Boring things — like taxes — can sometimes be highly profitable.

By Ross Cameron
Growing a Business

He Immigrated to the U.S. and Got a Job at McDonald's — Then His Aversion to Being 'Too Comfortable' Led to a Fast-Growing Company That's Hard to Miss

Voyo Popovic launched his moving and storage company in 2018 — and he's been innovating in the industry ever since.

By Amanda Breen