US Airways apologizes for accidental pornographic tweet

NEW YORK, April 14 (UPI) -- Someone at US Airways accidentally violated one of the most obvious rules of corporate social-media management -- don't tweet lewd images.

US Airways responded to a tweet from a customer named Elle, who complained about the airline's service, by encouraging her to file a customer service complaint. But instead of linking to the form, the airline shared a graphic photo of a woman with a model plane between her legs.

Twitter users immediately pointed out the indiscretion.

No matter what you do for a living, you will never have a day worse than what US Airways Social Media/PR team is probably having.

— Shawn Reynolds (@WCL_Shawn) April 14, 2014

"We apologize for an inappropriate image recently shared as a link in one of our responses," the airline tweeted. "We’ve removed the tweet and are investigating."

In a statement, US Airways explained that they had "captured the tweet to flag it as inappropriate."

"Our investigation has determined that the image was initially posted to our Twitter feed by another user," the airline said. "Unfortunately the image was inadvertently included in a response to a customer. We immediately realized the error and removed our tweet. We deeply regret the mistake and we are currently reviewing our processes to prevent such errors in the future."

[NY Daily News, Washington Post]