Kevin Smith kicked off Southwest Airlines Flight
Image by Getty Images via Daylife
Director and actor Kevin Smith was booted from a Southwest flight out of Oakland this weekend – not for being disruptive (Silent Bob wouldn’t hear of it), but for being too large.
According to Fox 40 News, “Southwest Airlines measures whether a customers too large to fly based on the passenger’s ability to lower both armrests while sitting on the plane. If the passenger cannot lower one or both armrests, the carrier typically requires the passenger to purchase an additional seat or make arrangements on other flights that may accommodate for extra space.”
But Smith says he could lower both armrests, and admits that though he is fat, he’s not too fat.
He’s been tweeting about the incident ever since last night, and some of those include:
(Part 1 of 2): @SouthwestAir “Our apology to KevinSmith and more details regarding the events from last night: http://cot.ag/96KHC7 ” So your apology
(Part 2): is “Sorry, sir. But you ARE kinda fat…”? I flew out AND back IN ONE SEAT, YOU PIECES OF SHIT! SModcast in two hrs tells WHOLE story.
Via @Malcontent79 “Didja take a pic?” Used my iPhone to shoot my fight with the pilot as he booted me off: http://tinyurl.com/thankyouiphone
Fuck you @SouthwestAir: http://tinyurl.com/iwillflyagain
Via @PaperFishies “sounds like @SouthwestAir has become the Walmart of the commercial airline industry.” WalMart at least carries XXX sizes.
This isn’t the first time Southwest has had to apologize for treating its passengers poorly – it had to issue a similar tail-between-its-legs apology after kicking off a mother and her toddler back in Fall 2009 after the 2-year-old started yelling “Go! Plane! Go!”
It has also removed passengers for wearing T-shirts with messages it deems inappropriate, which is perhaps the most offensive of all these passenger removals. The airline removed a woman from a flight from L.A. to Portland because she was wearing a shirt with a picture of President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Condoleeza Rice that said “Meet the Fuckers.” The airline forced another man to change his shirt before he was allowed to board his flight.
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As someone with a paralyzing fear of flying, I find these stories funny. Is flying so safe that the biggest job for airlines and flight crews is to monitor T-shirt slogans and belly fat?
People, people, people — switch to Amtrak. The seats are extrawide, you can wear the T-shirt of your choice, you can march up and down the aisles all you want, you don’t get stripped searched before you board, and the trains hardly ever leave the ground.