Ann Coulter Slams Delta In Twitter Rant; Airline Hits Back

ATLANTA, GA — Republican political commentator Ann Coulter is trending Monday, hours after unleashing a Twitter rant against Atlanta-based Delta Airlines over the weekend — but the company is having none of it, responding in kind to what it called the conservative pundit's "unnecessary" behavior.

The tiff started when Coulter boarded her flight from New York to Florida and there was evidently a seat reassignment, something that has become commonplace in the airline industry these days. Even though she pre-booked her seat, she was asked to change seats before taking off. (Get Patch's Daily Newsletter and Real Time News Alerts. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app.)

She even took a shot at the woman who had been moved to her seat, calling her “dachshund-legged” and posting an image of her. The tweet immediately caused a ruckus and went viral.

And she got a jab in at the beleaguered flight crew for what the airline said was a mistake on it part to make her move from her seat.

Coulter, who has 1.6 million followers on Twitter, then shared less-than-flattering stories of other Delta passengers. By Sunday, Delta had had enough. The airline hit back, apologizing to the columnist, saying, "We're sorry you did not receive the preferred seat you paid for and will refund your $30."

In a following tweet, the airline then got feisty, saying, "Additionally, your insults about our other customers and employees are unacceptable and unnecessary." Of course, Coulter wasn't finished. She tweeted that, " I love @Delta declaring my tweets unacceptable. @Delta now dictating acceptable conduct off the plane. NOT fascist at all. #Resist"

Even early Monday, Coulter was still taking shots at Delta over the seat mix-up. “If you thought it was about $30, @Delta, why didn't you give this woman $30 and let me stay in my PRE-BOOKED, ASSIGNED seat?" she tweeted.

Brand and reputation management expert, Eric Schiffer, said in an email forwarded to Patch that the airline boldly stood up for itself and its image.

"This is a rare moment where an airline is the victim," Schiffler, CEO of Reputation Management Consultants.com, said. "Delta stood up for its employees and its collective humanity when it called out the over-the-top reactions by Coulter. It helped its brand because its response to Coulter came off authentic, respectable, and reasonable – which enhanced credibility."

Schiffler said that Coulter didn't lose many fans as well. "But beyond her initial seat, Coulter didn’t lose either. She is known for controversy, and she got it plus lots of attention. This fuels the relevancy of her brand.”

Meanwhile, Delta has done away its exchange with Coulter from its feed and left up its last tweet from Friday, which is kind of an appropriate mic drop.

Image via Pixabay