Boston's Logan Airport Holds 9/11 Fire Drill

AT&T, Marriott step in it, too
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Sep 11, 2013 2:47 PM CDT
Boston's Logan Airport Holds 9/11 Fire Drill
The offending tweet from AT&T.   (Twitter)

Officials at Boston's Logan Airport are apologizing for holding a fire drill, complete with smoke and flames, on the 12th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. And yes, you're remembering correctly: The two hijacked jets that were flown into the World Trade Center towers that day had taken off from Logan. Gov. Deval Patrick, who did not know in advance about the drill, had two words for the timing, per the Globe: "just dumb." The Massachusetts Port Authority, the public agency that runs the airport, has apologized and says it "understands that it may have offended many of those touched by the events of Sept. 11."

The runway fire drill, announced on the airport's Facebook page, drew harsh condemnation online, and it wasn't the only social media-related faux pas of the day. AT&T is getting slammed for an ill-thought-out tweet that comboed the words "Never Forget" with an image of a BlackBerry Z10 bearing the Tribute in Light memorial on the device's screen. ArsTechnica—which quips "Never forget (to photograph those lights with your AT&T smartphone)"—notes that @ATT got a sea of expletives in response. CNNMoney reports the tweet came down an hour later, and was followed by a tweet apologizing "to anyone who felt our post was in poor taste." Meanwhile, the Marriott chain is taking lumps for a sign at one of its hotels: "In remembrance of those we lost on 9/11 the hotel will offer complimentary coffee and mini muffins from 8:45-9:15am." Daily Intel has the resulting apology. (More September 11 stories.)

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