Any Kevin Smith fans out there?

cmw72

Full disclosure, I would consider myself a hardcore Kevin Smith fan.

I'm just curious what other people think of his current situation with Southwest Airlines.

I could see how his unrepentant stance towards being overweight might offend some people here. Then again, many of us have been or currently are seriously overweight and should at least be able to understand his plight.

If you don't know the story, and have 90 minutes to kill, and don't mind massive amounts of profanity, you can hear his side of the story at smodcast.com (episode 106, also available on iTunes). Essentially, he got kicked off a Southwest flight for being too fat. Even though there were larger people already on the plane.

Personally, I think it's a horrible situation, and even though he plays it off, you know it's still humiliating. It's been on the front page off CNN and Google news for the last two days now. He's got everybody from Larry King, to Good Morning America, to Oprah wanting an interview, and there are a number of TV reporters / paparazzi camped outside of his house. I would have probably jumped off a bridge by now.

MacMadame

Southwest Airline sucks. They are very uneven in enforcing these policies and it's all based on judgment, not some objective criteria. I say, if they aren't' giving me a discount for weighing less than the average person, and they aren't going to enforce their policies evenly based on weighing people and not some counter clerk eyeballing them, then how can they justify making *some* overweight people pay more?

lazygirllosesweight

I'm severely overweight (I'm trying to lose 140 lbs) and I don't have a problem with what Southwest Airlines did. Granted, I don't know if they did it gently or with tact. But still, I don't have a problem with it. And I also think they are justified making large people pay for an additional seat. They are selling you a certain percentage of their aircraft to get you from point A to point B. If you can't fit within that percentage, then I think you should pay for another. Should Southwest just eat the lost profits because they can't fit another paying passenger next to you?

I personally think that people in our society have developed an entitlement complex.

It isn't THE PEOPLE'S airline and they don't HAVE to provide anyone with service.

I fly now and again & I'm always terrified that I won't fit in my seat or that I'll have to ask for a lap belt extender. And, if I don't get my weight in check and one day I walk up to the gate or counter and they request I buy another seat, I'll do so. I'll be humiliated. But it will be my fault. NOT Southwest Airlines'.

**You being used in the general sense, of course.**

HealthyKt78

I'm severely overweight (I'm trying to lose 140 lbs) and I don't have a problem with what Southwest Airlines did. Granted, I don't know if they did it gently or with tact. But still, I don't have a problem with it. And I also think they are justified making large people pay for an additional seat. They are selling you a certain percentage of their aircraft to get you from point A to point B. If you can't fit within that percentage, then I think you should pay for another. Should Southwest just eat the lost profits because they can't fit another paying passenger next to you?

I personally think that people in our society have developed an entitlement complex.

It isn't THE PEOPLE'S airline and they don't HAVE to provide anyone with service.

I fly now and again & I'm always terrified that I won't fit in my seat or that I'll have to ask for a lap belt extender. And, if I don't get my weight in check and one day I walk up to the gate or counter and they request I buy another seat, I'll do so. I'll be humiliated. But it will be my fault. NOT Southwest Airlines'.

**You being used in the general sense, of course.**

But what Southwest did with Kevin Smith was completely unjustified. They waited til he was seated and the plane was ready to leave to kick him off. Another fact OP didn't mention is that he was able to buckle his seatbelt and the armrests were able to go down. No one seemed to have a problem with his weight until he was already on the plane and buckled in. It would be completely different had they initially asked him to buy a second ticket but that wasn't the case.

Personally I'm shocked at the way Southwest handled it. I saw an abc interview about it today and they showed a picture of an extremely large man (way larger than Kevin Smith) trying to only take up one seat on a plane. If you're going to have rules then be consistent.

cmw72

He had also already paid for two seats on the 7:00 flight, but got moved up to the 5:00 flight, where there was only one seat available. And the two women in the row with him said they didn't mind him being there.

That's like if I was sitting next to my wife and kid, who don't mind sharing a little space, and they pulled me off the plane anyways.

I guess the moral of the story is if you're gonna pull somebody off a flight because they are too fat, make sure they don't have 1.6 million followers on twitter first.

I already disliked Southwest. I would avoid them at all costs now.

toots99

I'm severely overweight (I'm trying to lose 140 lbs) and I don't have a problem with what Southwest Airlines did. Granted, I don't know if they did it gently or with tact. But still, I don't have a problem with it. And I also think they are justified making large people pay for an additional seat. They are selling you a certain percentage of their aircraft to get you from point A to point B. If you can't fit within that percentage, then I think you should pay for another. Should Southwest just eat the lost profits because they can't fit another paying passenger next to you?

I personally think that people in our society have developed an entitlement complex.

It isn't THE PEOPLE'S airline and they don't HAVE to provide anyone with service.

I fly now and again & I'm always terrified that I won't fit in my seat or that I'll have to ask for a lap belt extender. And, if I don't get my weight in check and one day I walk up to the gate or counter and they request I buy another seat, I'll do so. I'll be humiliated. But it will be my fault. NOT Southwest Airlines'.

**You being used in the general sense, of course.**

I agree.

In this case, I read that he said the plane was full, he was able to sit comfortably with the armrests down and seatbelt on, and the people around him were not complaining about his size.

But yes, if you can't fit in the seat - or if you can squeeze in but you're imposing on the people next to you - that's your problem and you need to do something about it. If they had to make seats bigger, that means there'd be fewer passengers being transported so then fares would increase to compensate for fewer passengers, and there'd be people *****ing about that.

weaklink109

Frankly, I wouldn't have know Kevin Smith from the man in moon before this controversy. I am not into current popular culture, as far as movies go. He definitely has increased the awareness of the issue of airline travel policies towards travellers that are outside the size norm. I can't help but wonder, has there ever been an instance where a traveler was rejected because they were too "tall?"

It doesn't surprise me that this incident occurred. The airlines have been treating their passengers like so much cattle for years. Even before 911 brought with it the depersonalizing "screenings" and the threat of profiling grandma as a terrorist because she wanted to carry her knitting needles on board,:noway: there were plenty of ways the industry has inspired the travelling public to feel less than warm and fuzzy about airline travel and airlines in general. These comments are meant to apply all airlines--not just Southwest.

These are the same geniuses who had to be told by the US government that it was "not nice" to leave people stuck in a plane on the tarmac for hours at a time with no functioning restrooms, and therefore a regulation was passed mandating the number of hours they can subject their paying customers to this indignity. Common sense and the golden rule went out the window some time ago when it comes to how paying customers are treated. A few commercials talking about how wonderful it is that "bags fly free" can't undo what is already done.

In Kevin's case, it appears he has decided the best defense is a good offense. Because of his propensity for inappropriate language, and, at times, juvenile "so there" comments, his comments have, IMO actually detracted from the message he was trying to get across. I know others will disagree with me on that point, and they are entitled to their opinion.

There is no question it was poorly handled and smacks of bad judgment, given that he was already in his seat and able to buckle the belt and get the armrests down. Seems like it was a non-issue. Maybe the captain, who as I understand it was the decision maker, didn't like his last movie....

BrendaLee

I'm not a Kevin Smith fan in general, but I think the whole situation is disgusting. He met the criteria for NOT being too big for one seat. The armrests went down, and he didn't need a seatbelt extender. That's that. People treat fat people bad. It's a fact of life.

kiffypooh

I am taking my first flight next month since losing 50 lbs and I'm really looking forward to not getting the stairs from passengers who you know are thinking, "oh poop, please don't be the person sitting in the empty seat next to me." If you can sit in the seat and put the arm rest down he should not have been kicked off. If they felt he was too big they shouldn't have let him fly standby for one seat. I feel so bad for him, I could not even imagine how he felt when he had to stand up in front of a plain full of people and walk off. Really SW?? I've seen the show and I've seen you tell people they have to buy two seats so I know you knew it was coming! Regardless if the person is big, small, average or whatever, show them a little respect!

Iceprincessk25

What the hell was Kevin Smith flying on Southwest for in the first place????:noway:

It's the cattle call of airlines!

MacMadame

It isn't THE PEOPLE'S airline and they don't HAVE to provide anyone with service.

They do if they want to stay in business.

It doesn't surprise me that this incident occurred. The airlines have been treating their passengers like so much cattle for years.
[snip]
These are the same geniuses who had to be told by the US government that it was "not nice" to leave people stuck in a plane on the tarmac for hours at a time with no functioning restrooms, and therefore a regulation was passed mandating the number of hours they can subject their paying customers to this indignity. Common sense and the golden rule went out the window some time ago when it comes to how paying customers are treated.

Exactly. Airlines have been treating passengers like crap for years. And telling them that they have no choice or it will cost more to fly. Except it's not going to cost the airlines more to treat people with courtesy and respect. Those come for free.

Maybe the captain, who as I understand it was the decision maker, didn't like his last movie....

I've been thinking that, myself. :laugh:

But it's dumb to pick on famous people. They have a platform to get their views across.