JetBlue offers jilted bridesmaid a free trip. But guess who she has to take?
Bridesmaid Courtney Duffy whipped social media up into a frenzy a few days ago when she publicly outed her gal pal, Alexandra the bride, for dumping her from the wedding party - in an email.
Duffy went public by tweeting at JetBlue to ask for a refund on the plane ticket to the wedding.
“SOS @JetBlue!” she tweeted from a Twitter account now set to private. “Booked my X-C [cross-country] flights for a wedding, then was asked ‘to relinquish’ my ‘duties as a bridesmaid’ & mail my bridesmaid outfit X-C so another girl could fill in and wear it (Happy bday to me!)
“I am laughing & crying & must avoid this wedding at all costs. Pls help?”
The tweet caused deep lines to be drawn in the sand - most of them critical of a bride who would do such a thing.
Duffy - an MBA student at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, according to her Twitter account before it was closed to the public - was just too busy to be a bridesmaid, the bride had decided.
The email’s subject line: Hey Court!!
“I’m so glad to hear you booked flights! I’m sorry classes are taking such a long time to sort out. I know how hard you’re working to be here for the wedding and it means so much to us!” Alex wrote in the email, published by CBS News and other news outlets.
“I have a massive favor to ask you, though — and this is one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to ask anyone,” the bride-to-be continues. “But I need to ask you to relinquish your duties as a bridesmaid.”
She could still come the wedding, Alexandra wanted Duffy to know. But she didn’t want her in the wedding party anymore because Duffy didn’t have time for “this whole thing — the bachelorette trip, at least the weekend, prep and the full night of the event,” she wrote.
“The whirlwind nature of what your travel has become just won’t work with the duties as a party member. I’m so, so sorry!!
“Please don’t feel you’re letting me down, I am asking you to do this. I love you and value your friendship so much and I fully understand the need for you to prioritize school!”
The bride wanted Duffy to send back her bridesmaid’s jumpsuit.
The New York Post reports that JetBlue did, in fact, give Duffy a voucher for the ticket and waived the cancellation fees.
It’s less clear if these two women are still, will ever be again, friends.
Now JetBlue is trying to keep them out of friend divorce court.
“Hey Courtney, we’ve been thinking,” the airline tweeted Friday. “The jumpsuit may have been borrowed, but we’ll bring the (Jet)Blue. When you’re ready to patch things up, we’d like to help make your old friendship feel like new. A future girls’ weekend is on us!”
Speak now or forever hold your peace, Twitter.
“READ THE ROOM, JETBLUE,” tweeted one person, giving voice to the majority.