Do you have to be a celeb to tweet for airline help?

When film director Kevin Smith tweeted about getting kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight on Saturday, the airline responded in less than 20 minutes.

“Dear @SouthwestAir – I know I’m fat, but was Captain Leysath really justified in throwing me off a flight for which I was already seated?” Smith tweeted at 6:52 p.m.

“@ThatKevinSmith hey Kevin! I’m so sorry for your experience tonight! Hopefully we can make things right, please follow so we may [direct message]!” the airline responded at 7:08 p.m.

The airline contacted Smith personally to apologize for bumping the director of “Clerks” off a standby flight, accommodated him on a later flight, and sent him a $100 travel voucher for his inconvenience.

Southwest did not immediately return calls or a Twitter message for comment but posted a statement on its blog apologizing to Smith and explaining its “Customer of Size” policy, which “requires passengers that can not fit safely and comfortably in one seat to purchase an additional seat while traveling.”

But if Kevin Smith were, say, John Smith, who worked in Muncie, Indiana, instead of Hollywood, California, would he have gotten the same response to his tweets?

“If the company is actively using social media — and I think that most companies are using social media — I think the consumer stands a great chance of hearing directly from the company and being engaged and having their issues resolved,” said Steve Loucks, vice president of communications for Travel Leaders, a large travel agency network.

Southwest has more than a million followers on Twitter. Loucks believes the majority of travel companies now are using sites including Twitter and Facebook to get feedback from their consumers.

“If someone feels they are not being heard, social media is a very visible way to tell your friends, the people that follow you, that you’re not happy and hopefully the company will be paying attention,” Loucks said.

Adam Ostrow, editor-in-chief of social media site Mashable.com, says many big brands are starting to dedicate entire teams to social media monitoring, because they know it’s important to respond quickly to negative comments before they become a public relations nightmare.

Yet there’s a difference, Ostrow said, between responding and being able to fix the problem.

“For example, if you tweet that your plane has been stuck on the runway for four hours, JetBlue can respond to you, but they’re likely not in a position to do anything about getting your plane off the ground,” Ostrow said.

JetBlue, which wasn’t involved in the Kevin Smith incident, is one of the most followed airlines, with more than 1.6 million followers on Twitter. JetBlue has six people who watch the airline’s social media presence. The team rarely handles issues personally — instead directing customers to the right resource for their complaints or questions.