Russell Crowe Got Into A Twitter Fight With Virgin Airlines Over A Hoverboard
Well, now we know there’s at least one Christmas hoverboard out there that didn’t end up confiscated by an ER nurse or slowly melting into a flaming pile of motorized plastic.
Because hoverboards (which don’t actually hover, but WHATEVER) were this year’s Tickle Me Elmo or Totally Hair Barbie, the internet was filled with people bragging that Santa brought them Segue’s less-dorky cousin. Of course, that means there are also some people out there who woke up Christmas morning and found a knock-off hoverboard-style GlidePlank™ under their tree. (As someone who got Gobots in their stocking, I feel you). Anyway, all that matters is that Russell Crowe’s sons Tennyson and Charles are members of the hoverboard club, and Russell got all Russell Crowe-y when he found out that you can’t bring that shit on an airplane.
According to a bunch of angry tweets he type-hissed earlier today, Russell and his sons voluntarily walked off a Virgin Australia flight after they were told they couldn’t bring their hoverboards onto the plane. I guess Russell doesn’t follow Wiz Khalifa on Twitter, otherwise he would have known that airports aren’t crazy about hoverboards. But he didn’t know that, and let Virgin Australia’s Twitter account know he wasn’t happy that his sons and their hoverboards almost had a Jack-and-Rose-at-the-end-of-Titanic moment.
Ridiculous @VirginAustralia. No Segway boards as luggage? Too late to tell us at airport.Kids and I offloaded. Goodbye Virgin. Never again.
— Russell Crowe (@russellcrowe) December 29, 2015
@russellcrowe Hi Russell, this information is outlined in the Dangerous Goods section in the booking confirmation and check in… 1/4
— Virgin Australia (@VirginAustralia) December 29, 2015
@VirginAustralia why did you not inform me when I booked my ticket? Where is your duty of responsibility in this?
— Russell Crowe (@russellcrowe) December 29, 2015
.@VirginAustralia I'm awaiting your reply, where is your duty of responsibility in this? Why not tell me when I am booking my ticket?
— Russell Crowe (@russellcrowe) December 29, 2015
@russellcrowe …hope to see you on board again soon. 3/3
— Virgin Australia (@VirginAustralia) December 29, 2015
This is Russell Crowe we’re talking about, so I’m legit shocked his tweets were so calm. When I first heard that Russell had laid into Virgin Australia on Twitter, I was honestly expecting something like this:
In case you couldn’t tell by my exquisite emoji work, that’s an angry face throwing a hotel phone at an airplane. And yes, I also imagined a rage-filled Russell outside on the tarmac angrily whipping a hoverboard against the nose of an airplane, because = Russell Crowe.
I get why Russell got so pissed – hoverboards are expensive and nobody wants to throw away money – but he could have totally put a positive spin on it for his kids. “Really, what is an airplane if not the world’s largest hoverboard. Right?”
But back to the real hero of this story: Virgin Australia’s infuriatingly pleasant Twitter account! I didn’t realize there was a chapter in the Virgin Australia’s customer service manual on how to be an appropriate level of shady, but the person on the other end of Virgin Australia’s Twitter account deserves an employee of the month award for that “Hope to see you on board again soon” comment. That is some 100% pure passive-aggressive customer service work.
Pic: Splash