An actor who appeared in the Harry Potter films has kicked off at an airline after he claimed he was kicked out of first class on a flight and bumped down to economy. Matthew Lewis, who played Neville Longbottom in the films, was on his way to a fan convention in Canada.
He claimed on Twitter that his first class ticket was torn up at the gate at Orlando International Airport in the USA, reports the Mirror. He vented his frustration by tweeting: "Confirmed. @AirCanada is the worst airline in North America. And that’s saying something."
In replies to other Twitter users, Matthew, 33, said: "Kicking me out of first class to back of plane is what it is but doing it at the gate. Literally tearing my ticket up. No explanation other than 'full flight'."
"Said if I wanted to sort it I should go to customer service. I asked where that was. 'Toronto.' I’m in Orlando," the actor fumed. “Honestly never experienced anything like it. I’ve been bumped before. Comes with the territory.
“But at the gate, less than two minutes to boarding and without explanation or apology? Never. They even said if I wanna complain or get a refund I have to reach out to them!”
In a statement to CTV News Toronto, Matthew said he hadn't yet spoken to Air Canada in person about the incident yet.
“Air Canada customer service is s***e,” he said. “And we as a society should not be okay with normalizing the profiteering of overbooking and kicking people off flights.”
Matthew was heading to Fan Expo in Toronto, which took place over the weekend.
Commenting on Matthew's tweet, Air Canada said: "Hi Matthew, we regret hearing this. Please send us a DM with further details of the issue, we'll see if we can help from here."
The company told CTV News Toronto that the matter was under review, and they couldn't yet provide further comment. The Mirror has approached Air Canada for further comment.
This is not the first time one of Matthew's Tweets has hit the headlines. In 2019 his missing wallet was returned to him after he issued a plea on the site.
The actor wrote: "Yo, if you stole my wallet in East London yesterday, or even if you just found it: it's yours, keep it, have the money, the cards, the lot. But the note from my wife engraved on a piece of metal, if you can post that to the address on the driving licence I'd call it evens. Please?"
Thankfully the right person saw his plea and gave wallet back to him, with Matthew saying he was "humbled" by the response on Twitter.
