Airline Says Other Passengers Complained About The Public Display Of Affection

Actress and musician Leisha Hailey, who was one of the stars of the television show "The L-Word" and is a lesbian, says she was escorted from a Southwest Airlines plane when it landed in St. Louis Monday because she was kissing her girlfriend during the flight.

Hailey took to Twitter to demand an apology from Southwest and call for a boycott of the airline, according to several media reports including the online PR Daily.

Southwest reportedly heard about the call for a boycott through the social networking site, and had to follow the celebrity to find out what was going on. They quickly issued the following statement on their website:

Initial reports indicate that we received several passenger complaints characterizing the behavior as excessive. Our crew, responsible for the comfort of all Customers on board, approached the passengers based solely on behavior and not gender. The conversation escalated to a level that was better resolved on the ground, as opposed to in flight. We regret any circumstance where a passenger does not have a positive experience on Southwest and we are ready to work directly with the passengers involved to offer our heartfelt apologies for falling short of their expectation.

It's not the first time Southwest has had PR problems because someone was removed from one of their planes. According to the Associated Press, Green Day frontman Billy Joe Armstrong was asked to leave a plane earlier this month because his pants were too low, and the flight crew said he would not pull them up. Last year, film director Kevin Smith was removed from a flight because he could not fit into a single seat. He, too, expressed his displeasure on Twitter.

Meanwhile, this most recent incident is perhaps a bit more ironic because, on its website, Southwest says it is "the official airline of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation."

FMI: www.southwest.com