There Was No Diane: Viral Airplane 'Note War' Never Happened

Dec. 3, 2013— -- The story of Elan Gale's Thanksgiving flight resonated with many travelers. Who hasn't wanted to tell off a pushy and rude holiday passenger, even through a series of passive-aggressive notes?

Gale, a producer of ABC's "The Bachelor," caught the Internet's attention as he live-tweeted a supposed feud with an unpleasant passenger named Diane. But he has now confirmed to ABC News that the feud never really happened. There was never a Diane sitting in 7A.

On Monday night, days after the story had gone viral, Gale tweeted the following:

"I conclude by saying hopefully a few people got a few laughs over a slow Thanksgiving weekend," Gale ended his series of tweets.

Diane was never identified by any more than her first name, so it was not possible to get her comment, if indeed there was a her to call. US Airways told ABC News over the weekend that it was looking into the alleged incident.

According to Buzzfeed, Gale had around 35,000 followers when he started tweeting about Diane. Today, Gale now has over 175,000 followers.

Even though the feud has turned out to be a ruse, Gale's Thanksgiving story inspired people to think about how Twitter relates to etiquette and privacy today. Daniel Post Senning, a spokesperson for the Emily Post Institute, said that "Diane" had a basic expectation of privacy.

"They're having an intimate interaction -- a fight -- and to me that would not necessarily be something I would put out there," Post Senning said. "To use an old term, it would seem a little gauche."