American Airlines responds after Alec Baldwin kicked off flight

Alec Baldwin attends Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation's A Magical Evening Gala on Nov. 30, 2011, in New York.

/ Getty

(CBS/AP) LOS ANGELES - American Airlines took to its Facebook page Wednesday to explain its actions after Alec Baldwin complained he was kicked off a flight for playing a Scrabble-like game on his cell phone as the plane was about to depart from Los Angeles.

Without mentioning the "30 Rock" star by name, the airline said an "extremely vocal customer" declined to turn off his phone when asked to do so by a flight attendant.

Pictures: Alec Baldwin
Read more: Baldwin booted from American Airlines flight

The customer then stood up "with the seat belt light still on for departure" and took his phone into the plane's lavatory, the company continued.

"He slammed the lavatory door so hard, the cockpit crew heard it and became alarmed, even with the cockpit door closed and locked," the airline's post said.

The passenger was extremely rude to the crew, calling them inappropriate names and using offensive language," it continued. "Given the facts above, the passenger was removed from the flight and denied boarding."

On Twitter, American Airlines said its flight attendants followed federal safety regulations regarding electronic devices.

Baldwin wrote on Twitter Tuesday that he was "reamed" by a flight attendant for playing the game "Words with Friends" while the plane sat at a gate at Los Angeles International Airport.

His spokesman, Matthew Hiltzik, added, "He loves 'Words with Friends' so much that he was willing to leave a plane for it."

The actor boarded another American Airlines flight to New York after Tuesday's incident, but tweeted that he wouldn't fly with the airline again, despite the fact that they show "30 Rock" for in-flight entertainment.

He also took a jab at the airline's flight attendants, tweeting, "Last flight w American. Where retired Catholic school gym teachers from the 1950's find jobs as flight attendants."

The actor has since deactivated his Twitter account.

Airport police Sgt. Belinda Nettles said officers did not respond to the incident.

American Airlines said the Federal Aviation Administration requires that all airlines have passengers turn off their cell phones and electronic devices for taxi-out and takeoff.

[kevinwkendall]

AA is just SO FULL OF IT. With that "IT" being their little corporate "I don't have to follow the rules of social propriety" legal personhood selves.

Hot off the press...
The AA dunderheads, apparently lacking discretion as far as the timing of public announcements is concerned, announced today that they will now allow its PILOTS in its airliners' COCKPITS (where probably 99.9% of all airliners' electronics are located) to have iPads onboard.
ROFL !!
man... just can't make this stuff up in this day&age of bigbiz corporate flakiness, eh?
Jay Leno, have at it....... LOL

http://www.google.com/search?tbm=nws&q=american+airlines+ipads

[jackholesrealm]

Hey Alex Knows what to do.
http://youtu.be/hgg3nGhVJ9U

[df19147]

I really like Alec Baldwin, his acting is great and he's handsome and I just enjoy listening and watching him, it is really a shame he acts like this, it just seems such a small thing to ask while flying with your fellow passengers to respect the people around you for the sake of safety and not to mention if there were any babies or kids on that flight. He's an embarrassment to himself and his family, it's sad.

[rincon1920]

alex, you should have showed them your badge and then shot them. this is the only reasoning people understanding. are you not glad you didn't have children as as this is a messed up world. love ya man, i want your last girlfriend......steve talley of santa barbara

[longtree-2009]

other passengers should have sided with the flight attendants and restrained baldwin, perhaps even kicking his behind a few times. baldwin, and other such celebs, will one day pick on the wrong person and end up getting his face rearranged or worse. or baldwin will one day find a crowd jumping his behind and siding with the object of his stupidity and beating baldwin to a pulp.

[venusvegasvada]

If Alec Baldwin doesn't like the rules here in the US maybe he should leave and go to North Korea?

Didn't he star in a movie with Kim Jong il a while back?

He'd probably love it there. They have a thing for creepy, schizophrenic, narcissistic megalomaniacs.

[CWOODS8178]

HE GOT WHAT HE DESERVED, ALL AIRLINES HAVE THIS RULE AND HE SHOWED NO RESPECT FOR THE OTHER PASSENGERS

[sweetcakesmaria]

They kicked his no talent be hind of the plane and that's exactly what he deserved. He stated that he was not going to fly American Airlines again but what he's to dumb to understand is that no airline is going to allow him to have his electronic toys on while the plane is about to take off.

[Hutterite]

I don't care about celebrities, and this one appeared to have had a tantrum. However, I also don't for a minute buy that crap about interference from electronic devices on a plane. If it were true, they'd never let a computer or cel phone on a plane. It's mostly homage to the cel phone industry, because airborne cel phones can play hell with cel networks. People still do deliberately or accidentally leave them on. We don't crash. I've listened to hundreds of hours of fm radio, set speed records on my gps and even watched tv a couple of times pre digital on planes. No crashes. Arrived where we were supposed to. Biggest threat on the flight? Beer prices.

[ramv36]

If you notice, electronic devices are prohibited from use only during take off and landing, the two most dangerous and vulnerable time periods for any flight and the time when the majority of disasters occur.
The idea behind powering off and stowing all electronic devices is to save your life: if an emergency occurred during take off/landing, the crew has your UNDIVIDED ATTENTION to accept instructions, rather than have you glued to a screen and zoned out. Easy to understand.

[MegaProcrastination]

Oh grow up for crying out loud, Baldwin!

(I'd call you Mister but you appear to be too immature to deserve the title.)