Bridesmaid Who Was Asked to “Relinquish” Her Wedding Duties Over Email Gets Full Refund From JetBlue
How to Publicly Repair a Relationship: 101. JetBlue swooped in to the rescue on Friday, July 27, after a customer tweeted about her most unusual—and unfortunate—situation.
Courtney Duffy, an MBA student at Dartmouth, shared her predicament with her nearly 800 Twitter followers Friday. Based on her tweets, it appears as though she had been asked some time ago to be a bridesmaid in her good friend Alex’s wedding. Duffy agreed, even though she lived across the country from the bride, which would ostensibly pose some travel challenges for the would-be bridesmaid.
Duffy said she tried her best to make things work, wanting to be there for her friend, but ultimately, travel plans got tricky for her around the bride’s bachelorette party and wedding weekend, given her packed academic schedule. (Duffy is also working toward an acceptance at Harvard to get her Masters in Business Administration, according to Inc.)
Hence, the email read ‘round the Internet.
Duffy shared an email from Alex with tongue-in-cheek commentary, while adding that she wasn’t sure whether to “laugh or cry” at the situation.
“Hey! I’m so glad to hear you booked flights!” the email begins. “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 to much to us! 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 email continues, taking a slight turn. “But I need to ask you to relinquish your duties as bridesmaid.”
Alex goes on to tell Duffy that she should “come to the wedding, have a fabulous time, and travel in the time you need to without stressing about anything else!”
Though the tone seems friendly enough, Duffy wasn’t having it, especially after she had worked so hard to make her schedule work around the wedding. To add salt to the wound, Alex explains in her email that she had potentially found someone to replace Duffy, and made the “awkward” ask of requesting the bridesmaid jumpsuit back for Duffy’s replacement to wear.
“I’ll Venmo you the postage and the cost of the jumpsuit—just let me know the total,” Alex writes, adding, “I know everyone is looking forward to seeing you there! I know I am!”
In addition to posting the email in full on her Twitter, Duffy also tweeted at JetBlue, the airline through which she’d already booked her cross-country flights.
“Booked my X-C flights for a wedding, then was asked ‘to relinquish’ my ‘duties as a bridesmaid,’” Duffy wrote in the now-private tweet. “I am laughing & crying & must avoid this wedding at all costs. Pls help?”
A representative for JetBlue spotted the cry for help and jumped into the save the day. “Hey Courtney, we’ve been thinking,” the tweet reads. “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!”
JetBlue tells The Knot in a statement that Duffy’s tweet struck a chord with the company, and they decided to wade into the situation.
“After the customer’s initial tweet on Friday, our team immediately reached out to offer to waive any cancellation fees and allow her to save that fare for a future flight,” the statement reads. “JetBlue is also about bringing people together though, and while feelings may be raw now, we hope one day these friends might be able to patch things up, so we’ve also offered her a vacation to use with her old friend at a future date.”
In the meantime, the Internet is split over how to react to Duffy’s jilted bridesmaid tweet, with some users deeming her friend Alex a demanding bridezilla, and others siding with the bride and wondering why Duffy agreed to be a part of the wedding if she knew she was so busy in the first place.
I can’t believe people are defending a woman who is supposed to be a bridesmaid but wouldn’t even be able to attend the entire wedding. The reception is an important part of the wedding. Be a guest and call it a day.
— Kimberly Nicole Foster (@KimberlyNFoster) July 28, 2018
I know many bridesmaids who live far from the bride/wedding place. She was making every effort she could to fulfill her duties. Bride is definitely a bridezilla. If bridesmaid was her sister or family would she do the same to them? Probably.
— ??Mermaid at Heart? (@xoKaylaNicole) July 29, 2018
Yet others tried to lighten the mood with a few teasing jokes about the jumpsuit.
“Unless you’re a paratrooper, there is no conceivable event worth flying cross country toting a jumpsuit,” one commenter wrote.
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