US Air Augers In

Spending all day on the road robbed me of an opportunity yesterday to compete with half the planet in coming up with the wittiest one liners about @USAirways epic NSFW picture posted on their Twitter feed. Mashable posted some of the best ones here.

Yet, the hits keep on coming. For example, a quick Hootsuite search this afternoon found this gem;

“@textiles_: USAir wishes it had that kind of leg room.”

And this:

Here's a picture of Ted Striker, the director of social media at @USAirways, earlier today. #TweetGate #usairways pic.twitter.com/PWgabEpUPs

— Matthew A. Gilbert (@MatthewAGilbert) April 15, 2014

What is really interesting is a lack of public indignation and outrage that often follows something like this. While some tweets questioned the airline’s explanation of what happened, it appears most make fun of the airline carrier’s gaff while slamming their customer service.

I think the wildly pornographic image pretty much neutered any argument the company was purposely responding to a customer complaint, or had some other subversive or evil intent. It was just too shocking and extreme to be anything other than a big time screw up. While it remains to be seen if there is any further fallout, there is one BIG question that US Airways better make sure they correct moving forward: WHY DID IT TAKE AN HOUR TO DELETE THE OFFENSIVE TWEET FROM THEIR ACCOUNT?

Surprised the offending @USAirways tweet was up for so long. Even their reaction time gets delayed.

— nascarcasm (@nascarcasm) April 14, 2014

In today’s hyper connected world, a minute is an hour, an hour is a day. In this case, US Airways was way late to the gate.