Justified? Russell Crowe angry tweets to airlines over kids' toys

by

Sara McGinnis

posted in Celebrities

Russell Crowe has a bone to pick with Virgin Australia Airlines, and he isn't being shy about who hears it.

Taking to his celebrity-sized Twitter account the actor, who is dad to sons Tennyson and Charles, vented freely about his boys not being allowed to take their hoverboards on their flight. Take a look:

Ridiculous @VirginAustralia. No Segway boards as luggage? Too late to tell us at airport.Kids and I offloaded. Goodbye Virgin. Never again.

— Russell Crowe (@russellcrowe) December 29, 2015

@VirginAustralia why did you not inform me when I booked my ticket? Where is your duty of responsibility in this?

— Russell Crowe (@russellcrowe) December 29, 2015

A number of folks are siding with Russell Crowe, including one who wrote this message which the actor retweeted:

@russellcrowe thanks for the warning. we had our one a Christmas present packed to go away on holidays.

— chris murphy (@chrismurphys) December 29, 2015

Others, however, have no sympathy for the man worth a reported $95 million. Tweets left in the airline's defense read:

Russ, you are a zillionaire, does Australia not have these magical hover boards?!

They did [tell you when you booked your ticket], it's listed in their banned items list, you just didn't read it.

Russell they explode into fire — and at 30,000 feet that’s a match even "The Gladiator" would lose!

They cant predict that you were going to attempt to bring one of those non hovering hover boards on the plane.

Virgin Australia has joined the conversation as well, and isn't backing down. Replying to the star they wrote:

"Hi Russell, due to safety concerns over the lithium ion batteries in hoverboards, these have been banned on all major Australian Airlines and many around the world. We’re sorry you were not aware of this prior to check-in today. We hope to see you on board again soon."

In Russell's defense I have to imagine he flies internationally more often than most, and so probably went into this Virgin flight assuming he had a solid handle on safety practices and procedures (especially when flying with kids). That being said, I think what we're beginning to see more and more often is a lack of communication about changes to the policies from the airlines and security to the passengers.

I'm inclined to spread the blame here to both parties -- although giving the heft of it to Russell. It's quite possible Virgin put out a notice that he didn't bother to read, and most certainly have it listed somewhere in their terms and conditions before booking. No one can really read through all that, so the airline would be smart to put effort into educating their customers as product trends evolve.

Russell or the airline: Whose side are you on here? What's your reasoning?

Weigh in

Photos: PR Photos