Alec Baldwin Bounced From AA Flight
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Alec Baldwin says he was kicked off a plane Tuesday at Los Angeles International Airport after having words with a flight attendant over an "addicting" word game he was playing on his cellphone.
The "30 Rock" actor was asked to get off a New York City-bound flight for playing "Words with Friends" while the plane idled at a gate Tuesday, said Baldwin's spokesman, Matthew Hiltzik.
"He loves 'Words with Friends' so much that he was willing to leave a plane for it," said Hiltzik, who added that Baldwin boarded another American Airlines flight to New York.
Baldwin, a prolific Twitter user, took to the social media site to vent, saying a "flight attendant on American reamed me out 4 playing Words With Friends while we sat at the gate, not moving."
It wasn't clear if passengers had been asked to turn off their cellphones, which is typical before a flight backs away from the terminal.
American Airlines released this statement Wednesday:
"Since an extremely vocal customer has publicly identified himself as being removed from an American Airlines flight on Tuesday, Dec. 6, we have elected to provide the actual facts of the matter as well as the FAA regulations which American, and all airlines, must enforce. Cell phones and electronic devices are allowed to be used while the aircraft is at the gate and the door is open for boarding. When the door is closed for departure and the seat belt light is turned on, all cell phones and electronic devices must be turned off for taxi-out and take-off. This passenger declined to turn off his cell phone when asked to do so at the appropriate time. The passenger ultimately stood up (with the seat belt light still on for departure) and took his phone into the plane's lavatory. He slammed the lavatory door so hard, the cockpit crew heard it and became alarmed, even with the cockpit door closed and locked. They immediately contacted the cabin crew to check on the situation. The passenger was extremely rude to the crew, calling them inappropriate names and using offensive language. Given the facts above, the passenger was removed from the flight and denied boarding."
Airport police Sgt. Belinda Nettles said officers did not respond to the incident.
Baldwin tweeted that it would be his last flight with American, despite the fact that they show "30 Rock" for in-flight entertainment. He mocked American Airlines flight attendants on Twitter, saying the airline is "where Catholic school gym teachers from the 1950's find jobs as flight attendants."
Baldwin called "Words With Friends" an "addicting" game. Players compete online to score the most points by building words with tiles on a Scrabble-like game board.
Baldwin plays the role of executive Jack Donaghy on "30 Rock" and played an amorous ex-husband to Meryl Streep in the 2009 romantic comedy "It's Complicated."
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