Wrong Alan Joyce berated on Twitter

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This was published 12 years ago

Wrong Alan Joyce berated on Twitter

By Lema Samandar

An American university student named Alan Joyce has been wrongfully targeted on Twitter as people all over the world react angrily at Qantas' decision to ground its entire fleet.

Channel Ten's political reporter Hugh Riminton was among those who had the wrong guy.

"If you're so proud of taking the 'hard decision' how about making one about your pay @alanjoyce ?" he tweeted last night.

"After feeling sorry for @theashes last year i manged (sic) to help get a flight to Australia. Sadly for @alanjoyce there's no flights just now," tweeted Marcus Westbury.

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But the younger Alan Joyce set the record straight with some cheeky tweets.

"I'm no more CEO of Qantas than @willsmith is a famous movie actor," the student from California's Stanford University tweeted.

"I'm glad to see someone appreciating my impeccable American accent, but I'm guessing you're looking for a different Alan Joyce."

When the news was revealed, the tweeters had sympathy.

"Maybe @alanjoyce, ComSci student from California should get a free trip to The Ashes for the unexpected bollocksing (sic) he's getting," Carline Wardrop tweeted.

Alan Joyce, CEO of Qantas, doesn't appear to have a Twitter account but the airline is urging passengers to use the social networking site for updates on the grounding of its entire fleet.

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The American Mr Joyce acquired more than 300 extra Twitter followers over the past 24 hours after tweeters confused him with the Qantas boss.

"Oh dear," he tweeted around 11am AEDT today. "I think Australia is waking up again ... time to prepare for another deluge of tweets."

Mr Joyce later tweeted that Qantas had contacted him "with a graceful apology", which could indicate not all his new followers were friendly.

Also making an appearance on Twitter was a fake Alan Joyce, whose account described the tweeter as "leading Qantas Airway to its biggest disaster yet and then on to the next".

The fake Joyce was quickly acquiring followers, up from about 300 on Saturday evening to almost 2000 on Sunday afternoon, as he racked up more than 470 tweets.

Qantas itself was also a major topic on Twitter, with many tweeters expressing their disappointment with the airline's action.

Among them was NSW federal Labor MP Mike Kelly, who tweeted his followers: "Finding it increasingly difficult 2 accept credibility of Alan Joyce. Worried we will see the flying roo give way 2 the flying pig emblem."

AAP

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