Elan Gale via
The note that set off a war on a
According to Gale's tweets, which were picked up by Buzzfeed's Rachel Zarrell, a female passenger was complaining that she might not make it home for Thanksgiving dinner.
She seemed to be oblivious to others on the flight, who also needed to get home to their families for Thanksgiving.
The battle began before the flight boarded. Gale tweeted about the woman at 11:05 AM.
Our flight is delayed. A woman on here is very upset because she has Thanksgiving plans. She is the only one obviously. Praying for her
- elan gale (@theyearofelan) November 28, 2013
A flight attendant tried to calm her down, which was apparently the wrong move.
The male flight attendant said "I understand ma'am. I'm looking forward to seeing my family too." She responded "This isn't about you"
- elan gale (@theyearofelan) November 28, 2013
"Today is Thanksgiving! I'm supposed to be with my family. NOT with you people I barely know!"
- elan gale (@theyearofelan) November 28, 2013
Once the plane boarded, Gale said he could her here breathing deeply and muttering from a few rows back. That's when the note-passing war began. He sent her a glass of wine and later two vodka nips with this note:
I sent the lady a glass of wine and a note pic.twitter.com/GttnmQI25P
- elan gale (@theyearofelan) November 28, 2013
This was not well received by the woman, Diane. She sent Gale this response, pittying the family that has to "deal" with him:
From 7A pic.twitter.com/OEaCWw5mz3
- elan gale (@theyearofelan) November 28, 2013
Gale retaliated with yet another note and escalated the language:
My response to "Diane" in 7A pic.twitter.com/cRN2togLdq
- elan gale (@theyearofelan) November 28, 2013
Diane replied, noting its inappropriate nature:
Diane has responded #TeamElan #7A #DianeCanEatMyD pic.twitter.com/vYFyGtGMZl
- elan gale (@theyearofelan) November 28, 2013
Gale responded again with a vulgar comment:
My final (I think) note to Diane in 7A pic.twitter.com/SLrOug9U4d
- elan gale (@theyearofelan) November 28, 2013
When the plane landed, Gale waited for Diane to get off the plane and held out a final note. When she saw him, Gale says she smacked him.
She walked right up to me and slapped me immediately in the face
- elan gale (@theyearofelan) November 28, 2013
Diane may have ended up missing her connecting flight because she smacked him, while Gale was able to board his.
The gate agent for the next flight actually grabbed her and held her back. He asked me if I wanted to have the airport police come over
- elan gale (@theyearofelan) November 28, 2013
The final note he handed her read:
"Look me up online. Read every tweet. Read every response. And maybe next time you'll be nice to people who are just trying to help"
- elan gale (@theyearofelan) November 28, 2013
Yesterday afternoon, Gale wrote a blog post explaining why he felt the need to pick a fight with Diane.
"I don't care what's going on with you: Don't be rude to people who are doing their job," he wrote on Tumblr.
"If you're the customer, you're only right if you're kind, polite and positively thankful. If you're not, you're a jerk, and that's the bottom line...Be nice everyday, but if you see a man or a woman working on a holiday you better respect that they would like to be with their family too."