British Airways and Virgin Atlantic managed to infuriate rugby fans ahead of the weekend’s Autumn Nations Cup games, with well-meaning, but ill-thought-out tweets.
On Saturday, after BA tweeted: "Good luck to the England Rugby team against Wales today," the hashtag #English Airways began trending and there was a backlash from Wales fans.
Wales’ Minister for Health Vaughan Gething tweeted: "Good way to annoy 3m+ potential customers," while another Welsh politician, Alun Davies, Member of the Senedd for Blaenau Gwent, said: "And you expect me to fly with you, British Airways?"
BA then deleted the tweet, and apologised, saying it had ‘unintentionally strayed offside’. However, that caused more outrage among people who felt the post should not have been removed.
"Fair enough. As BA sponsor England, they can cheer them on. They are not a British airline anymore anyway. Spanish these days so no need for us Weshies to get upset," said one Twitter user.
Another said Davies’ tweet was: "Pathetic rubbish, politic cheap point scoring," adding: "They sponsor England rugby via a lucrative deal with the RFU. Why shouldn’t they wish England well? Do rugby sponsors in Wales and Scotland have to wish England well too?"
Virgin Atlantic also attempted to have a go at BA, tweeting: "Good luck to England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales in the rugby this weekend. #British."
However, the airline was hit with a deluge of tweets from people saying Virgin had offended the Irish, while others pointed out Scotland wasn’t playing at the weekend.
England beat Wales 24-13.
