Disgruntled British Airways customer uses Twitter's promoted tweets to bombard brand with bad PR
An unhappy customer has harnessed the power of promoted tweets to slam British Airways for losing his luggage.The nameless Twitter account user goes by the handle @HVSVN and is thought that Hasan Syed is the president of Illinois cosmetic products company Salon Commodities, makers of Uberliss and As I Am. In his tweets, he ‘thanked’ BA for “ruining my EU business trip” and said he’d never fly with the airline again.He added he would not stop running promoted posts until BA found his lost luggage and proceeded to bombard Twitter with posts and pictures criticising and mocking the brand over the issue.BA eventually responded to the disgruntled customer, claiming they couldn’t send a private Twitter message to him because he didn’t follow them on the social network – which irritated him even further when he claimed that was not true and asked if BA had bothered to check.Twitter’s promoted tweets function is designed to allow advertisers to target an audience either by placing tweets at the top of any Twitter searches made by users searching for a brand or related topics; placing tweets in timelines designed to reach users who are likely to be interested in the brand; or by placing tweets on the timelines of users in a specified geographic area.A spokesman for British Airways told The Drum: "We would like to apologise to the customer for the inconvenience caused. We have been in contact with the customer and the bag is due to be delivered today."
Unhappy: The customer's Twitter profile
@BritishAirways @British_Airways is the worst airline ever. Lost my luggage & can't even track it down. Absolutely pathetic #britishairways
— (@HVSVN) September 2, 2013Thanks for ruining my EU business trip #britishairways. I shouldnt have flown @BritishAirways @British_Airways. Never flying with you again
— (@HVSVN) September 2, 2013@rubigodi @BritishAirways @British_Airways Yes. I'm promoting my tweets to all BA followers since their Customer Service is horrendous.
— (@HVSVN) September 2, 2013@mattb3012 @BritishAirways @British_Airways Its not about the money at this point. I'm going to run promoted ads until BA fixes this mess.
— (@HVSVN) September 2, 2013What is taking @British_Airways customer service so long? They've had over a day to figure this out.
— (@HVSVN) September 3, 2013I'm sorry for spamming everyones feeds. It just has to be done. The customer is usually right.
— (@HVSVN) September 3, 2013Hey @British_Airways! I can haz my luggage back PLZ?
— (@HVSVN) September 3, 2013I refuse to stop running Twitter Ads until @British_Airways finds the lost luggage
— (@HVSVN) September 3, 20137 Hours & counting with no response from @British_Airways. Guess they don't care about customer service or Twitter, LOL
— (@HVSVN) September 3, 2013The customer also retweeted a stream of other users who had contacted him to express their own dismay with BA customer service and congratulate him on his promoted tweets initiative.@British_Airways jesus. I have been following you already. Did you even bother to check?
— (@HVSVN) September 3, 2013Interesting; a disgruntled customer is buying a promoted tweet slamming a brand where they had a bad experience. That's a new trend itself!
— Marty St. George (@martysg) September 3, 2013Saying all hail @HVSVN would be excessive perhaps...but..wtg! Also, @BritishAirways — * meh * #based? (@wwaazzaap) September 3, 2013
Just read about your promoted tweet. Good for you. The airlines have sucked the fun out of travel. Hope they listen! @hvsvn @BritishAirways
— Jeff Abramo (@JeffAbramo) September 3, 2013Hey @British_Airways: Good PR = responding to @HVSVN with an apology and information. Bad PR = what you are doing.
— Terminally Snarky (@whiskeypants) September 3, 2013What if patients were more forward and public with their frustration with hospitals like @HVSVN was with @British_Airways?
— witt (@_foreward) September 3, 2013