Family kicked off a Southwest plane until the dad deleted a tweet calling the gate agent 'rude'

Duff Watson and his two children, ages 9 and 6, asked to leave the Denver to Minneapolis flight

Watson had become involved in an argument with gate agent over priority boarding

She would not let his children on with him and he called her rude in a tweet

The gate agent said he had threatened her and wanted to call the police



An incredulous passenger has said he will never fly Southwest Airlines again after being asked to leave a flight and threatened with the police unless he deleted a tweet that a gate agent did not like on Sunday.



To add insult to injury, marketing executive Duff Watson says that as an apology from Southwest they sent him three $50 vouchers after he became involved in an argument with the employee when he asked if his six-year-old daughter and nine-year-old son could join him as a priority boarder.



When the attendant declined to let his children on the Denver to Minneapolis flight first, Watson told her he was furious with the service and was taking to Twitter to complain about his family's treatment.

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Furious: duff Watson had to delete a tweet complaining about service before he boarded a Southwest Airlines flight from Denver to Minneapolis on Sunday

'I was left, you know, very upset, very embarrassed, very humiliated,' said Watson to WCCO.



'In leaving I said, you know, ‘Real nice way to treat an A-list. I’ll be sure to tweet about it,' he said.

'Something to the effect of, ‘Wow, rudest agent in Denver. Kimberly S, gate C39, not happy @SWA,’ he said.



Soon after they had sat down, the three were asked to leave the plane by a flight attendant, who told the family that Watson's tweet had made the gate agent 'uncomfortable'.

Rage: Watson deleted the tweet that offended the boarding agent, but took to social media to express his anger at the service he received

Disappointed: Watson got three $50 vouchers to say sorry for the incident aboard the plane on Sunday

'She said her safety feels threatened at this point because of what I tweeted,' Watson said to WCCO.



His daughter Lucy watched as the bizarre situation escalated and then began to cry.



'She said ‘I’m going to call the cops,’ Lucy said to WCCO. 'I like thought something bad was going to happen, like my dad being in jail.'



The exasperated father and his children left the plane but he then decided that he had no other choice, so deleted the tweet.

Flight: Watson holds priority 'A' class boarding status with Southwest Airlines

Frightened: Lucy Watson began crying when flight attendants threatened her father with the police on Sunday when he wouldn't delete the tweet

'There was no use of profanity, there were no threats made. There was nothing other than, you know, a terse exchange between a customer service agent and a customer,' he said.



However, he is furious that he was held hostage to the demands of the flight attendant.



'She said, ‘You can’t board the plane unless you delete that tweet,’ Watson said.



Southwest Airlines sent a statement which confirmed that a customer was removed for a short time and continued on to Minneapolis. They also said the incident is under review.



Despite an emailed apology from Southwest Airlines, Watson has revealed they sent him three $50 vouchers.

