JetBlue Jerk In 'Mile High Text Club'JetBlue Jerk In 'Mile High Text Club'

Steven Slater, the former JetBlue flight attendant who went AWOL by sliding down his plane's emergency chute—brewskies in hand—at New York City's JKF is the new pitch man for Line2's Mile High Text Club contest.

The contest, meant to promote Line2's airborne SMS service, gives travelers the chance to win prizes ranging from iPods to a Manhattan shopping spree by texting their craziest airline experiences to 222-222-2222.

"In order to spread the word that Line2 allows airline passengers to text from the sky, we hired one of the most famous guys in the airline business today," said Peter Sisson, founder and CEO of Toktumi, which operates Line2.

"After talking with Steven, I realized that despite his dramatic approach, which he regrets—he was making a statement about the need to return civility and common courtesy to flying. He's a perfect judge for a contest concerning the current state of air travel," said Sisson.

Slater made his hasty exit from JetBlue flight 1052, inbound from Pittsburgh, on Aug 9th. After complaining about rude treatment from a passenger, he grabbed a couple of beers, announced, "That's it, I'm done," over the PA system, and deployed the emergency escape chute—which he used to exit the aircraft.

He was later arrested on a number of charges. He later left JetBlue, but insisted he was not fired.

Toktumi says Line 2, Version 3.0, is the first VoIP calling app to offer carrier-grade SMS texting. It lets customers exchange unlimited SMS text messages through any SMS-enabled phone.