The New York Post reports that Alec Baldwin, noted iPhone and “Words With Friends” fan, was kicked off an American Airlines flight in Los Angeles Tuesday because he was playing his much beloved game on his even more adored phone long after the time when passengers are supposed to turn off all devices.
On his Twitter account, Baldwin posted:
“Flight attendant on American [Airlines] reamed me out 4 playing WORDS W FRIENDS while we sat at the gate, not moving.”
Other passengers stuck on the runway at Los Angeles International Airport also tweeted about the incident, moments after it took place. (Wait a minute, I thought EVERYONE was required to have their devices turned off at this point…)
Michael J. Wolf, founder of the website Activate.com tweeted, “On an AA flight at LAX. Alec Baldwin removed from the plane. We had to go back to the gate. Terrible that everyone had to wait.”
AA Flight 4 was delayed an hour when the hot-headed “30 Rock” star was booted for not listening to the flight attendant.
Passenger Steve Weiss, who was sitting across the aisle from Bladwin, described the goings on:
“Apparently he said he was playing a game, but he was actually talking on the phone. She [the flight attendant] was very nice. The door was closed they just announced that they were pulling away from the gate. He got up threw his papers on the floor stormed into the bathroom slammed the door closed, beat on the wall and then came back.”
“He said ‘If you want to kick me off, kick me off.’ He was just crazy, he just flipped out, the guy has problems.”
The flight attendant who had the honor of dealing with Baldwin, said the actor was told he could not stay on the flight. The attendant, who did not wish to give her name, said he was violent and aggressive, yelling and screaming. “It was unsafe to keep him on board, that’s why he got kicked off.”
“Everybody is the same. Everyone has to follow the rules, it doesn’t matter who you are,” the flight attendant said.
A rep for Baldwin said, “Alec was asked to leave a flight for playing Words with Friends while parked at the gate. He loves WWF so much that he was willing to leave a plane for it, but he has already boarded another AA flight.”
Who wants to lay down money that Words with Friends does record download numbers this week, and that this incident becomes a plot line in a 30 Rock episode in the upcoming season?