Kevin Smith/Southwest - whattaya think?

morningstar

morningstar

Cathlete
I never thought he was all that big a guy; are Southwest Airlines' seats small? I can't imagine a female star going public like this under the same circumstances. Well, maybe one or two, but the majority, no. Having been, in the past, a large woman trying to fit into a small airline seat, I can say that it is excruciatingly embarrassing to not fit, and having to take up two seats or a seatbelt extender would only ensure that I would never ever fly again. I once just hid my lap with my coat and pretended my seatbelt was done up, rather than admit I needed an extender. Dangerous, but the harm done to my self-esteem would have been much worse.

Edited to add a link to the story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/arts_and_culture/8515960.stm
 
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I am unfamiliar with this story but SWA is the only airline I will fly. I feel the seats are larger than most other domestic airlines in my area. The personnel are the friendliest also.
 
he is a bigger guy but not to the point where he needs two seat belts big guy. he was more offended that they waited until he had his bag on the plane and was seated and buckled up to go before they said something, so pretty much made him a public embarrassment on the plane. that was pretty wrong IMO, its one thing to say it was going to be a problem but why wait until he was boarded before saying anything?

debbie here is the first link i saw on the subject through yahoo http://omg.yahoo.com/news/director-kevin-smith-kicked-off-plane-for-being-too-fat/35864?nc

kassia
 
I wonder why they waited until he was seated. That is really embarrassing to be removed from the plane at that point. Everyone would think you were a terrorist! I was on a flight once in India--small plane--and they not only weighed all the luggage but they also weighed each passenger! You got on the scale and then they shouted out your weight to some guy at the other end of the counter. It was actually pretty hilarious but then again I was rail thin at that time. Not sure I would be laughing now.
 
The news report I heard said that he had - and normally does - purchase two seats but this time they had to change planes and he did not have that option (there were not two seats together? Something like that.)

Anyway, I don't think it's appropriate to humiliate people in public. That said, I think airlines have every right to have such policies (should be handled discreetly though). It's not only uncomfortable for passengers already crammed into increasingly tiny seats, it's also a safety issue. If you need to exit the plane quickly and the person in front of you is having difficulty navigating the seats and aisle because of his or her size, that's a problem.

Do airlines deal with the safety issue? I have no idea.

ETA: sadly these days it may not just be the one person on the plane. It might be the 3 or 4 or more who can't navigate the aisle/seats quickly.
 
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Thanks for the link. I agree with all of you, they shouldn't have done it once he was on the plane and in his seat. How humiliating.

I'm not too fond of airlines to begin with, this is just one more thing to add to that!
 
I would have been humiliated if they said something to me on the plane. How horrible of SWA. Maybe they need the extra seat that he was taking up?

I love flying SWA. I was on a flight where my DH got the window and I was on the isle. So, a seat between us. The woman who came over to sit down was the same size of this guy. I asked her if she minded that I move next to my DH. She was happy to switch seats. When she sat down she took up a 1/4 to almost 1/3 of my seat. I couldn't put the arm rest down. Then, I needed a few inches of personel space between us. I basically sat on 1/2 my seat a tad of dh's seat.

Then she had the nerve to ask me (of course, nicely) to bend down to reach for the bag that contained her hamburger and pretzel.

I can see why airlines have size rules in place like this. This woman should have bought 2 seats. I was the one that accomadated her so she would be comfortable while I stayed squished.
 
Makes me wonder if they should add some rows on airplanes/venues where someone could have say, a seat with 1 1/2 times the space at a higher rate than just a single/regular sized seat?

I have to squish many times into my DH when we go to hockey games and the ticket holder next to me sells hers to a friend whose legs and arms come over into my seat. Hard to stand up and cheer when there is a goal because I don't have enough room. :confused: It is me who has to turn sideways. And I can't use my cup holder because his leg goes in front of it.:confused:

Not trying to be mean, but I should be able to use the seat that I have paid for comfortably.
 
IIRC, Smith did, as was customary for him, purchase two seats for his original flight but either got bumped to another flight or voluntarily took another flight, and it was on that flight that they didn't have the adjacent second seat available. The staff, IMHO, should have caught that and discussed it with him before he boarded, quietly and unobtrusively.

I've gotta say - it was totally funny that Smith tweeted something that you can't say on television after Southwest issued the standard-issue Big-Box-Corporate Non-Apology Apology. That shows a certain spirit!

A-Jock
 
And another thing . . .

If they're going to get all Enforcer about the Passengers Of Size rule (which Southwest says has been in place for 25 years, something I seriously doubt), perhaps they can initiate and enforce a rule about Passengers Of Foul Aromas. I've been stuck seated next to more than a few people with serious alcohol, hyper-perfume and/or hygiene issues in the past, usually in the window seat, and that, my friends, is torture. I'd rather be squished than gassed.

A-Jock
 
Maybe they should just have a few larger seats on every plane. Instead of making people buy 2 seats or endure public humiliation. (I know, I know...the answer is: Money. But still).
 
He actually decided to go on an earlier flight via standby - the airline did not switch him. By doing that, the airline had to wait until everyone was boarded before they could see if there was room for him - that's just standby procedure no matter what your size. The airline claims that when everyone was boarded, there was a seat left for him, so they let him try it out. The airline then decided that it wouldn't work. They should have just told him there weren't 2 seats left and let it go at that, but for some reason they decided to see if they could make him fit. I'm sure they were trying to be accomodating, but in the end it made it quite embaressing for him. I don't really fault the airline though. They really didn't do anything out of the ordinary.
 
morningstar said:
I never thought he was all that big a guy; are Southwest Airlines' seats small?
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I flew SW for the first time last October, and while I was generally happy with my flights, I felt the seating was "tighter" than I've experienced with other airlines, on the same size planes.

My uncle was a bigger guy, and he'd also buy himself two seats when he flew.
 
The whole thing seems a bit weird. I saw Kevin on Friday morning. I was at Macworld for his stand up in room 134. I sat close to the first row, just three people back. I know just how big he is. He doesn't even seem like he would be the guy you wish wasn't sitting next to you. Except for one little thing, he swears and is sexually explicit at all times. You can't do that on an airline. I don't know if he was rude to the attendants on the flight. That kind of behavior can be cause to throw someone off the airplane. Still, that said, I just don't know if its some sort of publicity stunt. He just isn't that big.
 
atiman said:
I would have been humiliated if they said something to me on the plane. How horrible of SWA. Maybe they need the extra seat that he was taking up?

I can see why airlines have size rules in place like this. This woman should have bought 2 seats. I was the one that accomadated her so she would be comfortable while I stayed squished.
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I commute by bus and many times I find because I'm smaller the heavist people always sit next to me...a miserable ride when your squished and can't move your arms around. I think bus, train, and plane manufacturers in the US need to start making seats larger.
 
My husband is a Kevin Smith fan and listens to his podcast every single week. He listened to this one as well. He said that Kevin Smith readily acknowledges that he’s a fat guy, but not that fat. Smith said he believes that the flight attendant recognized him, and kicked him off because of his movies, and not his weight.
Sure, he has a bit of a potty mouth, but that’s just in movies and the podcast. He’s not like that in public and you never hear stories about him causing any trouble. Kevin Smith also said in his podcast that as he was being marched off the plane, he locked eyes with another guy a few rows back, in the middle seat, who was much larger than him. He said the guy’s expression was one of “abject fear” that Kevin would rat him out and get him booted off the plane too.
Kevin said something like “I wouldn’t do that to a fellow fatty.” I can’t help liking a guy like that! :D
 
Govtgirl said:

Sure, he has a bit of a potty mouth, but that’s just in movies and the podcast. He’s not like that in public and you never hear stories about him causing any trouble.

Do you know Kevin? Cause he is like that. In person. I'm not saying they needed to kick him off the plane. But, he is like that. But in a kind of gentle sort of way. He picks on himself just as much as anybody else or more.
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RapidBreath said:
Do you know Kevin? Cause he is like that. In person. I'm not saying they needed to kick him off the plane. But, he is like that. But in a kind of gentle sort of way. He picks on himself just as much as anybody else or more.
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Well, of course I don't know him. And I would gather than nobobdy knows him except his family, and you can't make judgements about him from his stand-up act either. When celebrities are in the public, on stage, they are always "on."

I said, you never hear about him in the news causing public disruption because or his behavior or language. If everyone got bumped off a plane because the attendants were afraid somebody might, possibly use foul language, then the skies would be empty.

I think he was bumped off because of who he was, not because of his weight.
 
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