You can be on Entrepreneur’s cover!

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

entrepreneur daily

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

Business Ideas

63 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2024

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2024.

Side Hustle

I Started a Semi-Passive Side Hustle That Earns $33,000 a Week on Amazon: 'Selling There Is a No-Brainer'

Dr. Jenny Woo wanted to create a product that would help people connect, and it turned out to be a lucrative one.

Business News

This Highly-Debated Piece of Cinematic History Just Sold For Over $700,000 at Auction

The wood panel from "Titanic" is often mistaken as a door. Either way, he couldn't have fit. (Sorry.)

Business News

From Tom Brady to Kevin O'Leary – See Who Lost Big in the Wake of the FTX Crypto Collapse

The crash exposed an $8 billion hole in FTX's accounts, leaving investors and customers scrambling to recoup their funds.