“Hey @SouthwestAir! Look how fat I am on your plane! Quick! Throw me off!”
-Kevin Smith
Okay, the long story short is this: Kevin Smith was already on a plane, he was seated, he was ready for the plane to take off, and then the captain had him ejected from the flight. Because Smith was deemed as a “safety risk” (to which Smith tweeted: “what, was I gonna roll on a fellow passenger?”) and sent off the plane. After which he caught another Southwest flight, and he twit-pic’d the above photo. Actually, the whole catastrophe seemed to go down on Kevin’s Twitter account, where it looks like he’s still engaging in one of the biggest (and most justified) hissy fits ever. Here’s more:
Kevin Smith was delayed getting from Oakland to Burbank Saturday night because he was “too wide for the sky.” According to the ‘Clerks’ and ‘Jay & Silent Bob’ director’s Twitter, Southwest Airlines removed him from a flight after deeming him a safety risk.
“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.
“I’m way fat… But I’m not THERE just yet,” he continued. “But if I am, why wait til my bag is up, and I’m seated WITH ARM RESTS DOWN. In front of a packed plane with a bunch of folks who’d already I.d.ed me as ‘Silent Bob.'”
Smith was given a $100 voucher and put on a different Southwest flight, from which he continued to chronicle his mistreatment:
“The @SouthwestAir Diet. How it works: you’re publicly shamed into a slimmer figure. Crying the weight right off has never been easier!” he continued. “Hey @SouthwestAir! I’ve landed in Burbank. Don’t worry: wall of the plane was opened & I was airlifted out while Richard Simmons supervised.”
Southwest Airlines has a “customer of size” policy, requiring passengers to buy a second seat if they cannot fit between the arm rests. When extra seats are available these passengers are given refunds or relocated free of charge.
The company has not ignored Smith’s Twitter rant.
“I’ve read the tweets all night from @thatkevinsmith – He’ll be getting a call at home from our Customer Relations VP tonight,” it tweeted. “Again, I’m very sorry for the experience you had tonight. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do.”
[From The Huffington Post]
Personally, I do think it was wrong to eject one chubby (not morbidly obese) man from a flight when it was obvious that he fit in the seat and could buckle up and everything. It is discrimination. Of course, there’s enough discrimination going around to all kinds of groups in regards to flying. It’s sad that this one incident is getting and will continue to get so much attention, when there are probably thousands of stories of non-celebrity people out there who get kicked off of flights for little to no reason.
Since the incident, Kevin has been in rare form on Twitter. I was going to try to screencap some of the stuff, but it just goes on and on. Some of my favorites included:
Thank God I don’t embarrass easily (bless you, JERSEY GIRL training).
Wanna tell me I’m too wide for the sky? Totally cool. But fair warning, folks: IF YOU LOOK LIKE ME, YOU MAY BE EJECTED FROM @SOUTHWESTAIR.
You f-cked with the wrong sedentary processed-foods eater!
Via @SouthwestAir “Hopefully you received our voicemail earlier this evening” All lines checked, no voicemail message on any 323. Try again.
Twitpic and screen caps of Kevin Smith’s Twitter, courtesy of Twitter.
I remember watching a reality show called “Airline” and every once in awhile they would show a overweight person being checked to see if they could fit in a seat. I can only imagine how embrassesing that must be, much less being kicked off a flight!
This is ridiculous if there were seats free next to him. If the flight is full and a larger person is spilling into another person’s seat, isn’t it unfair on the other person who is losing their seat space because an overweight person is spilling into it? Had this happen once on an overseas flight and it sucked.
So wait, does Kevin Smith fly coach? Surely he can afford an upgrade! I do think it’s ridiculous and insulting to eject a passenger after they are seated, and possibly lawsuit worthy for the humiliation factor? I guess in these days of online check in people can board a plane without the check in desk, but whoever took his ticket and let him on might have avoided the embarassment. I do agree that passengers who are overspilling into another’s seat should have to pay for two, unfortunately airlines just pack people together like rats nowadays. All around pretty shabby treatment, I’m not surprised though as customer service from airlines is pretty nonexistant.
I hate saying this, but sometimes it is a safety hazard.
Blocking the aisle or an exit, and weight of the flight are two main components you simply cannot compromise.
The weight of a flight is based on luggage and average weight of the occupants. If this is overweight, planes can and have crashed from it. Also people blocking the aisles or an emergency exit can kill.
Let me put it this way: Most crashes are actually survivable. They happen during take off and landing when you don’t drop 4 miles to Earth. Every flight is treated beforehand as if it could crash. That’s why you’re always asked if you’re capable to sit in an Emergency Exit row and so forth. It’s just being prepared.
If he was blocking it because of his seat location, or making the airplane to heavy to commit to safety standards I’m going to go ahead and say it was okay to throw him off.
I sympathize with him. But I’ve done some time in the aviation world, and safety cannot be compromised for anyone. Even a celebrity.
What they should have done was given him 2 seats in a non exit row. At Southwest if you buy one and you’re overweight you get the second at a lower price. I don’t know why this wasn’t implemented. If it was weight ratio and room wouldn’t have played a factor.
Again, I feel terrible for him. At the same time, Southwest is one of the best airlines out there (the only one without a fatal crash ever since 1972) and it treats their employees well, unlike American or Delta.
I don’t think they deserve this kind of backlash. Especially if they were putting safety first. Kevin Smith is not a pilot. He was not there while they calculated weight pre-flight (which pilots must do before takeoff). So I don’t think his constant rant is necessarily justified.
I’m so tired of size-ism. First of all the way the cram all the seats in there, there isn’t room for skinny people. Second I’d rather have someone overflowing a seat on to me, than someone sitting next to me who has horrible body odor, which that has happened to me multiple times. THOSE people are affecting more than the person directly next to them. They are affecting the people in front of them and behind them as well. Let’s see them hauled off a flight. Though that would be considered racist because many times it’s cultural, so THAT would never happen.
Oh PLEASE, Kevin Smith doesn’t weigh 500 pounds. I hardly think he was going to bring the plane down. Think about what you just said. If he had bought another seat it would have been fine. Since he didn’t, his weight would bring the plane down. LOL!
Kevin Smith is totally right. And Peach, really, a safety risk? I’m sorry, but in the event of an actual emergency on a plane, any number of people could be deemed “safety risks”. What about elderly or disabled people who can’t move quickly? What about children who could become confused in an emergency? What about mentally ill people? Should they also not fly and be subjected to unnecessary humiliation because of their “risks”? Southwest’s policy is bullshit. Check out their blog and pathetic response.
Sizeism is the one of the last forms of “acceptable” discrimination in America, and it’s pathetic. How sad that we are so obsessed with the external appearance that we have deemed overweight people as OK to humiliate because we, being thin “normies”, think we’re better than them.
I’m not fat, but I will never fly Southwest – because I don’t want to support a company who thinks it is OK to subject people to unnecessary public humiliation in the name of “safety”. Kevin and any other person subjected to this kind of bullshit treatment should sue.
You can choose to believe me or not. But overweight planes do pose a hazard. It’s just JUST Kevin Smith. It’s him, his luggage everybody else, their luggage and fuel.
Taking off 100-300lbs overweight is illegal for commercial airliners because it poses a safety risk. You may be willing to go ahead with it, but it’s unfair to the other 100+ people on board. Planes have crashed from being overweight. It is illegal to overload an airliner for that reason. Being 200lbs overweight decreases takeoff lift by 1/3. If you’re climbing into an air, that’s quite a bit.
Had he bought 2 seats then an extra person with their luggage wouldn’t have been on board and the plane would not have been overweight.
Also important to note that every airplane must operate under the guidelines of it’s Airworthiness Certificate. If it does not it invalidates every other legal document aboard the aircraft. So any insurance on there is rendered null in void. That means if anything does happen, related to the weight or not, you’re not going to see a penny. Nor will your families or the families of the flight crew and Captains.
Are you seriously okay with that risk? I’m not.
I’m OK with the airlines removing anyone they consider a risk of any kind, but this doesn’t seem like it was handled well.
How heavy is he? It seems to me if he was in the seat and buckled properly with a standard seat belt, he can’t be too huge. And if he is, I don’t know why he was allowed to board the plane, go to his seat, etc. I would think most people working for the airline would be able to recognize who might be over the limit and who isn’t, and it should be dealt with before it got that far.
Has Kevin Smith gained weight recently? Because, if I remember correctly, he isn’t any bigger than the vast majority of other overweight people. Overweight people fly every day. I”m confused by this story.
I’m not going to get involved in this debate, but regarding the weight on planes…
didn’t Aaliyah’s plane crash because of being over loaded?
while the weight may (or may not) have been a legit concern in Smith’s case, it IS a legit concern overall.
Air Stewardess “We have the famous celeb Kevin Smith on the flight today”
Captain “Hmm, I don’t know him, what’s he done?”
Air Stewardess “Oh he plays this hilarious silent fat guy”
Co Pilot “Sorry to interrupt, Captain, we’re having some problems with the weight calculations here”
Captain “That’s a serious thing Jimmy, planes have crashed from being overweight. It is illegal to overload an airliner for that reason. Being 200lbs overweight decreases takeoff lift by 1/3. If you’re climbing into an air, that’s quite a bit.”
Air Stewardess “omg!!”
Captain “Looks like it’s time to have a word with Mr. Hollywood”
Amelia, you are so right about how the airlines cram so many seats in a plane, even a skinny person is uncomfortable. Overweight people are not thrown out of sporting events, movie theaters, trains, etc. Somehow these places have managed to make seats that accomodate a variety of sizes.
I, too, would rather sit next to an overweight person, a crying baby, a chatterbox, than someone with B.O.
@No Sensei…LOL.
@Peach…While I buy that airplanes need to be at a set weight to be safe, how is this even enforced? Is there a scale on the plane that tells you whether or not it’s safe? Is luggage frequently “kicked off” for overloading the plane (as it should be, rather than kicking PEOPLE off) And sorry, but I still think it’s the AIRLINES’ (who serve the entire population) problem to provide planes that can safely transport a load of AVERAGE AMERICANS.
I’m sorry but I just don’t think these policies are justified. If the plane is too heavy, take some luggage off. And if this was really such a huge issue for airlines, I would imagine when you purchased a ticket you would be required to select a weight range for each ticketholder.
How awful for Kevin! I agree, if he was already seated, with the seatbelt securely closed, and the armrests could go down, they had no justifiable reason to boot him off the flight.
First of all, let me start off by saying I love me some Kevin Smith! Been a fan for years.
@ Praise: Yes, that is the reason Aaliyah’s plane crashed. It was overweight. It is a concern. So I’m assuming that he didn’t get thrown off the plane because he was taking up too much space, it was the weight issue.
On the other hand, Amelia has a great point in response to Peach’s comments: “If he had bought another seat it would have been fine. Since he didn’t, his weight would bring the plane down. LOL!”
Yeah, that doesn’t make any sense. Does he suddenly weigh less if he’s in two seats rather than one? Hmmm… I’ll have to try that, sounds like a great diet, LOL! Instant weight loss!
Obviously Southwest handled this situation extremely poorly. At the very least, he should get some comped flights out of this.
@Erin:
Luggage is weighed. If there is more luggage than usual the ground staff will let the pilots know.
Sadly, the chart that calculates passenger weight is not so great. It’s been revamped and I’m not sure what Southwest’s charts look like, but basically they calculate using the average weight of men/women. This is, naturally, becoming more of a problem.
If it is overloaded it’s procedure to ask the heaviest to leave first until the weight falls within guidelines. Should they remove luggage? Well then you’ll just have people complaining about missing luggage. Deal with 1 person or deal with 10? And Southwest only operates 737’s. They put that luggage on the next flight and that could overload the next flight as well.
Now–do I think Southwest handled it poorly? Sure. The flight attendants should have surveyed the group prior and reported to the Captain and First Officer before everybody was ready to go.
But that doesn’t mean they were wrong for making sure the flight was safe. Even if it was embarrassing or inconvenient for one person. If you operate outside of the standards of weight your charts and reading will be off. The speed you’ll need during a missed approach or during takeoff will be skewed. That can cost people their lives.
@Tia C: If there was one less person on the flight their weight and luggage would not have been on it. Therefore it would have changed the weight of the flight making it safe. If one person is as heavy as two average people, it works out.
I do think it sucks for Kevin Smith. I love his work and have heard his lectures. He’s awesome. But when it comes to safety, I don’t give a shit who he is. If the plane is overloaded, kick him off. You don’t compromise the safety of 100+ people because it might hurt one person’s feelings.
From what I’ve read, overweight people are pretty much forced into buying 2 seats. Kevin was on standby and the plane was full so there wasn’t a 2nd seat available so they booted him off. Fair? Sure, he was on standby. True? We’ll soon find out, no doubt.
So do they weigh the plane at takeoff or not? If this is such a huge issue for airlines, again, then they should probably have figured out a workaround for this issue by now. The fact that they haven’t figured out something beyond publicly humiliating people tells me that either A)you are slightly overstating this issue to justify your own views or B)Southwest and other airlines that engage in this are run by complete idiots and should be taken to task for it. If the exact weight of an airplane is crucial to it not crashing, then the airlines should be figuring out how to refine methods for calculating weight pre-flight. Also, they should come out and say, in exact words, that fat people may be kicked off airplanes to satisfy weight requirements if they don’t buy an additional seat.
If the policy actually is to ask the “heaviest to leave first”, again, I’m not even sure how that would be justified or enforced. Do they carry scales on airplanes to weigh the fat ones to figure out who weighs the most so they can be asked to leave? Since muscle weighs significantly more than fat, would a very tall, very built bodybuilder be asked to deplane? Since airlines are still technically a service industry, it’s on them to figure out a way to deal with the issue without humiliating and pissing off their customers. Fat does not equal less of a person. I’ve said my piece on this issue; point is I just call bullshit on this entire practice and the airlines themselves. Humiliating PAYING CUSTOMERS is not the way.
Everyone body flies coach on SW there is no first class unless they’ve canaged since I flew it a yr ago
Y’know he look(s) exactly like
someone that y*ll*d F*t B****
at me for 20 min straight.
While much less than runway
male co-wrkers over-looked
giggling expansively.
Had the same last name.
If he’s not a party to -y-
antic(s) in his humdrum lfe,
it’s such a shame.
Mrs.Darcy- I don’t think Southwest has fisrt class, that don’t assign seat numbers either. I’m surprised he flew Southwest at all.
Peach- I agree with you that if he was some how a safety risk that removing him from the flight would be acceptable but, it sounds like he doesn’t know why he was removed. When he was asked to get off the plane he should have been told why. If it was safety he might have been a bit more understanding.
His Twitter post are really funny.
I haven’t seen a pic of Smith in quite some time, but I don’t remember him being too terribly overweight, chubby? yes. I guess he must have packed on quite a few pounds.
On a semi related subject, wasn’t SW Airlines the one that kicked a woman off a flight because they felt that her skirt was too short? Again, after the passenger was seated.
Uh, just to point out, NO ONE has claimed he was booted because if he had been allowed to remain on the flight it would have been over the safe weight limit. Not even Southwest is saying that. That’s a red herring, Peach.
@KSGirl, there is only one reason a captain kicks off a fat person. It’s weight. They don’t have to say it because anybody in the industry understands it automatically.
He doesn’t know why he was removed because he either A.) refused to listen or B.) he doesn’t actually comprehend that planes don’t work if you don’t use them right. They aren’t magic flying machines, people. They operate within strict guidelines. Guidelines that have been created, in part, by past crashes. If you mess with those guidelines really terrible things can happen. I used to make wings for Boeing. And 1/4 of an inch is life and death.
And I’m just going to put this out there:
If the plane had crashed and we found out it was from being overweight we’d all be ranting and raving about how Southwest should have taken people off the flight.
Southwest has one of the best (sorry, the best) safety record in American Aviation History. That is saying something. I don’t care that they kicked of Kevin Smith. I think they did the right thing. And I kinda think he’s acting like a little bitch about it given the consequences of him staying ON the flight.
There is not enough room on planes for even “regular sized” passengers these days. Airlines have brought this problem on themselves because they have insisted on cramming more and more passengers into planes.
We were on the way to Kauai and the plane was determined to be overweight: there was so much head wind that at the present weight, the plane would not have had enough fuel to get there. The pilot announced that either 2 people had to volunteer to get off, or they would start taking off random baggage to lighten the load.
Southwest should have started taking off baggage instead of insulting a customer who was already seated.
Southwest, you suck.
The solution: a new airline that caters to fat people. No more cramped seats (they are so cramped now that they are uncomfortable for stick-insects as well.)And no skinny people allowed. Anyone who looks like they weigh less than 180 pounds are thrown off the plane.
BTW. Kevin can sit in the seat w/the arm rests down and the seat belt buckled w/out an extender. He made the trip on the flight up there with no problem. And on the flight he got on after the incident (he bought the bloody second seat) an overweight girl was seated in the 3rd seat. A woman asked her to step out in the hallway with her and told her from now on she should buy a second seat. She was told she should ask Kevin if it was alright that she might spill over into his EMPTY seat. WTF is THAT? THAT is obnoxious and THAT is finally what put him over the edge.
Overweight people are half if not a majority in this country, they need to stop being ashamed and demand their rights. NO ONE who is overweight is happy that they are overweight. Many are prone to it and have fought it all their lives. My mother was one. She was miserable yo-yo-ing all her life. Trying one diet after another, losing weight, then of course gaining it back then some because that’s what happens when you go on a “diet.” You lose weight, you then try to eat normally (not overeating) and it comes right back at you. I hated watching that. She finally just let herself be who she was.
I wish hateful “normal” people would get over themselves. They have no idea what it’s like and those that have been fat and lost weight and have no patience for current fatties should just wait. It’ll be back before you know it.!
Airlines have become the enemy for ANYONE flying. $25 for one piece of luggage (which they promptly lose). $8 to use a blanket. Allowing terrorists on to the plane and strip searching grandmothers. It’s become the equivalent of riding the bus to Cartagena in “Romancing the Stone.”
I hate all these “size-ist” arguments. It’s not the same as racism, for goodness sake. A person cannot control their race, but (with VERY few exceptions) a person can control how fat they get. And a person’s race does not effect my taxes (paying for their increased healthcare costs), nor my comfort (sitting next to them on a plane). A person chooses to eat a ton of crap and not exercise and should face the consequences of this choice, be it higher healthcare expenses or paying for a second seat.
That being said, Keven Smith has never been THAT big, so unless he’s gained weight recently this is ridiculous, and certainly ANYONE should be treated politely and with sensativity when being asked to leave a plane (or singled out for any reason such as this).
“And a person’s race does not effect my taxes (paying for their increased healthcare costs), nor my comfort (sitting next to them on a plane). A person chooses to eat a ton of crap and not exercise and should face the consequences of this choice, be it higher healthcare expenses or paying for a second seat.”
This argument really pisses me off. HOW, if an overweight person has health insurance is it driving YOUR insurance up? And not EVERY fat person has a chronic disease, or has more doctor visits than you have. It’s complete BS.
Hypochondriacs who have to see a doctor and have to have special tests for every twinge and ache, THEY are driving up health care costs. Public health insurance companies that care only for the bottom line for their stockholders, THEY are driving up health care costs. Pharmaceutical companies that spend BILLIONS on TV and Magazine ads to influence people who have no business even considering what medication they should “ask their doctor” for are driving up health care coast. Stop making fat people the scapegoats for that particular problem.
The bottom line here is greed. Airlines install as many seats as possible, seats that will only comfortably seat kindergartners or 80 pound starlets, and then act like their major concern is safety due to the weight of the plane. Spare me the BS. If airlines were more concerned with safety than with profit, they wouldn’t pack us in like sardines. That’s the truth.
SW couldve handled it better but Kevin Smith should get off Twitter and get some exercise and stop his narcissistic whining. I’d be embarrassed too but he should own his part and take better care of himself.
Peach, sorry but I call BS. If weight were really such a CRUCIAL issue, we would be hearing about A) lots more planes crashing due to being overweighted B) more flights being delayed etc due to having to kick off fat people. If 100 lbs were REALLY the difference between life and death on a flight, I’d think everyone would have to be weighed before getting on. What I do think is that that argument is a convenient attempt at justifying an unjustifiable practice.
Also, just wondering exactly what the “consequences” would have been had he stayed on the flight? Given that 1) the pilot had no opportunity to even see Kevin and 2) the airline said NOTHING about the plane being overweight or close to it.
I am absolutely not a racist, nor do I discriminate against anyone, but this must be said.
Boo, obviously you don’t live in Southern California, because let me tell you, a person’s race does absolutely effect my taxes, my auto insurance rates, my children’s education, my hospital co-pays and hours of waiting to be seen, and my quality of life.
I endure my taxes going to those who are here illegally and breed here, so they qualify for welfare, MediCal, and public education, which all come from my tax dollars. I endure higher auto insurance rates due to the fact that so many drivers where I live are unlicensed and/or uninsured, in addition to paying extra for “uninsured motorist insurance” on my auto policy. I endure my children learning to speak Spanish at school, since the majority of the children are Spanish-speaking students. I deal with having to pay up-front at the hospital and waiting for several hours in the emergency room since so many uninsured illegal immigrants seek emergency services for things that aren’t emergencies. I also endure neighbours who cram as many people as possible into an apartment or house intended as a single-family dwelling, and all the noise, parking issues, etc…that come with that issue.
Obviously, a person’s race effecting your taxes depends on where you live, but it definitely effects mine! And I absolutely adore Kevin Smith!
SW has also kicked women off for breast feeding (horrors) and people wearing shirts with political slogans on them. The biggest problem is that it is so random — they don’t kick everyone doing this off, but periodically just seem to pick on one or two individuals. Maybe it is the flight crew, I don’t know, but I’ve been disappointed.
Alarmjaguar, thank you for pointing out one of my pet peeves: inconsistent discrimination. If you are going to have rules, enforce them uniformly, across the board, period. No exceptions, no differentiation, no discrimination.
And kicking off a breast-feeding mother and baby is grounds for a lawsuit, IMO. A security guard at a mall tried that with me several years ago when my daughter was an infant, and I told him under no uncertain terms that not only would I not stop feeding her, I would not leave, and if he didn’t like it he should avert his eyes or call the police; he wouldn’t have tried to stop me from feeding my baby if I was bottle feeding her.
@ bella who wrote: “I am absolutely not a racist, nor do I discriminate against anyone,”
“and breed here, so they qualify for welfare” (Are they animals or people?)
“I endure my children learning to speak Spanish at school” (Since when is learning a new language a bad thing that needs to be “endured”)
“I also endure neighbours who cram as many people as possible into an apartment or house” (Because they can’t afford larger homes so they share space together, it’s also a family-oriented culture.)
I wonder, Bella, how you would feel about these over-crowded breeders who speak a different language, if they were German, Swedish, Swiss, French, British. But it’s a good that you’re not a racist.
I have friends who will deny up and down that they’re racists. They would never admit to being prejudiced against anyone. But, they will only associate with certain people. The reason that bothers me, is because I see it as hypocritical. When I hear how they speak about other people, it’s so disrespectful that it’s offensive. Of course they’re racists!
I think it’s deplorable how they humiliated Kevin Smith. There is a terrible prejudice against overweight people. I also would prefer to sit next to someone who is too overweight, than by someone who smells. (I guess that makes me prejudiced against B.O.! Oops!:o)
Meh, how do we know he wasn’t spilling onto the seat next to him? I’ve seen big people cram those arm rests down and they’re still encroaching on the person next to them. How right is that to have the person who paid for their ticket have to “share” their seat and space with a person who doesn’t fit into the confines of their seat?
Boot ’em.
@Erin,
If weight wasn’t crucial then there wouldn’t be a law in place making it illegal to fly over the certified weight limit for the airplane.
Airlines could be fined thousands, pilots can loose their licenses and people can and have died. Again 100-300lbs overweight depending on the airliner is illegal.
For a good fucking reason.
You can call bullshit but these are facts. You can like them or not but they don’t change and pilots don’t need to bend the rules and put people in jeopardy because you don’t like it.
And quite frankly, unless you know something about aviation safety I, the FAA, CAA and NTSB don’t, your bullshit really amounts to a bunch of…well bullshit.
Yes, I am curious- How does a fat person who pays for their own health insurance, drive up the rates of YOUR health insurance? Educate yourselves before commenting.
The only person that it costs is the person who is overweight, if, indeed, they are unhealthy.
I might remind some people- Thin doe not equal healthy. There are plenty of skinny people with health issues out there, so stop with the “health” of the fat person crap, because the argument is lame.
So fatass Kevin knows the rules about fat asses on planes. He already bought a ticket for two seats just for that reason… Now he wants to make a big deal out of the fact that Southwest enforced their long standing rule about PEOPLE OF SIZE and spilling over into a second seat. Stop giving fat people air time.. he new the rules..shut up and move on!!!
Well,
I suppose now having our children scanned naked in airports will soon just be a matter of “well you knew the rules, so we get to look at little Suzie & Johnny naked”.
People don’t have to be emaciated to travel. And they aren’t always the size you demand they be, Ron.
The flight wasn’t full. Common sense dictates a gentler solution.
The “hall monitor” mentality always makes me giggle. I wanna get Ron a bathroom pass and a sticker for his notebook, and let him off duty for the day.
Moms should run airports.
I’ve flown Southwest loads of times and have been squished by my fair share of tubbos that were allowed to stay on the flight. To be fair, I’m pretty chubby myself, but not the point where the person sitting next to me is inconvenienced in any way. WTF, Southwest, Kevin Smith isn’t huge.
@ yae: I like your style : )
Just saying, maybe if it is a reason of a plane weight issue (as in gross cargo wt) why not remove the persons who bought their tickets last? Everything is computerized and they have a seat assignment roster. So once everyone is seated if they need to remove weight, take the last 3 people to buy tickets off?
Because weight is an important consideration for flights, I think it makes sense for every passenger to have a weight allotment that includes body weight plus bags. Go over the limit, pay more. That said, you have to fit into a standard seat. My bf was seated next to a person who couldn’t fit into their seat and tried to move the armrest up so they could spill over into his. How is that fair? He paid for his entire seat and would prefer not to have a stranger pushed up against him for the duration of an 8-hour transatlantic flight. He said no on the armrest, the person couldn’t fit into the seat and called the flight attendant over. Luckily, there was room to move people. But basically, the end result was that the overweight person got two seats for the price of one. I think Southwest’s policy makes sense and is fair. If you can’t fit into one seat, buy two.
And by the way, the plane crash in which Aaliyah died was determined to have been caused by excess weight. It is a real concern for airlines.
@Seer — hear! hear! on your comments to bella. I live in a border state, too, and there is no way our local economy would work without our immigrant population.
BESIDES, immigrants to the U.S. are only immigrants for one generation, as their US-born kids are all Americans. My family comes from Scottish, French, German, Swiss, Lithuanian, Galician, and Nigerian immigrants. The US is 98% made out of immigrants. Immigrants won WWII for the US by creating the atomic bomb. If you look at the top cancer researchers in the US, a HUGE portion of them are first- or second-generations immigrants. Sheesh!
im a flight attendant and i happen to be very aware of Southwest’s policy.
it IS a very sensitive issue and if you haven’t walked in those shoes as an employee – you have no idea how uncomfortable it is. we all try to do our best while an entire airplane full of people wait. and wait, for the situation to be resolved.
SWA policy has already been mentioned and i think it is completely fair.
and when the word ‘safety’ is brought up…think about it, its pretty important and we have a pretty good track record in the airline industry for, if NOTHING else, keeping you safe….its still the safest way to travel which is amazing if you think about it.
when a flight is full and someone is crouching over into your seat, don’t always think..is this plane too heavy…think, if we had a bad takeoff or landing, would this person block my exit? or block the aisle if injured and leave me stuck in my seat?
if you don’t work for the FAA, you have no idea about rules and regs. and if you didn’t happen to notice, this country is broke….fines to airlines and individual airline employees are skyrocketing.
just sayin, if you don’t know, don’t make a quick call to judgment.
kevin smith, you had a crap day and you really can’t blame it on anybody. crap days happen, the world isn’t perfect.
if you are going to use your ‘celebrity’ to bring down a company….that’s just cocky and wrong. use it to get hooked up with a private plane or fly someone who has first class, the seats are much bigger.
“You can call bullshit but these are facts.”
You seem to keep ignoring the facts that others are pointing out that counter-act your argument.
1) It wasnt about the weight of the plane. Even the airline said it. They wanted him to buy two seats instead of one, that’s the reason he was kicked off. Yes he was kicked off because of his weight, but he wasn’t kicked off because his weight affected the weight of the plane. He was kicked off because he didn’t buy 2 seats instead of 1.
2) There were empty seats in the plane anyway. If it was full of normal sized people, it would have weighed MORE than half a plane full of people+this guy. Like everything that’s been stated already, it wasnt about the weight of the plane, so it doesn’t matter what the rules/laws are involving that.
You just keep ignoring those facts every single time people bring them up and just continue on your rant of “they have weight limits for a reason.” Nobody is saying they dont, they’re just saying that that doesnt apply here. Nobody is saying that they are a bad idea. You just don’t seem to be listening or want to listen.
Kelli,
Exactly. It wasn’t about a weight limit, but people who have a clear intolerance for overweight people keep emphasizing it.
However to correct something in your post. The plane he originally got on because he was on standby was full except for this one seat. What they are saying now is that someone else on the plane bought two seats, but only had one, and his seat was actually the “second seat” so someone had to leave the plane. This is was the latest reason from SouthWest. They stated the pilot didn’t even know what was going on, hadn’t seen him even enter the plane. That the order did not come from the pilot.
If this is true, it sounds like Suzanne made a mistake by putting him on the plane in the first place, but instead of admitting to her mistake, used his weight as an excuse. He fit in the seat, with the arm rests down and could buckle his belt. PERIOD.
All these arguments from airline folk is moot. It had nothing to do with his “weight.”
WTF??? I can’t believe that just happened. That’s insane. Especially if free seats are still available on that flight. There just cannot have been a security issue with the all over weight, just because the bloody plane wasn’t evenfully packed! Wow, how humiliating…
To those who commented about my comments:
I have no problem with legal immigrants. My problem is with illegal immigrants (no matter where they’re from) who expect special treatment. When my ancestors came from Europe, there was no welfare, and learning to speak English was a matter of pride. People wanted to belong in their new homeland. They didn’t wave their native flag while collecting welfare (or working under the table and sending most of their money back to Europe) and badmouthing their new country, while expecting everyone else to speak their native language.
And learning to speak a second language isn’t a problem when you’re in high school and it’s an elective, but when you’re a little kid in elementary school, trying to learn the specifics from a teacher who speaks primarily in Spanish, that’s an awful big challenge, don’t you think? (Yes, I know, that argument goes both ways, but I don’t send my children to school in Mexico.)
My husband and I cannot afford a larger place, and our place is not cheap, but we both work hard (sometimes 2 jobs if necessary), rather than cramming our children into one small bedroom and renting out the other two bedrooms to our (quite large) immediate family members.
“Breeding” may be a harsh word, but just because one wants a large family doesn’t mean it’s fiscally sound or responsible. Birth control IS an option, and it’s one that doesn’t seem to be exercised much by certain people.
As far as your friends who only associate with a certain group of people, I do not fall in that category. I have friends of every race.
“HOW, if an overweight person has health insurance is it driving YOUR insurance up?” (Amelia)
This response is going to ignore the large number of uninsured in this country that our taxes help pay healthcare for (and there are a large number of uninsured who aren’t immigrants or illegal in this country). Health insurance is a business. When a larger person uses their health insurance more for many of the obesity-related diseases like diabetes (that, when bad, requires regular checkups and several drugs to control), they raise premiums to everyone, to help cover the larger amount they pay into the medical system. Obese people have more health-related problems….does anyone really dispute this?
I work in the healthcare industry…for years as an EMT, and now in a hospital. 90% of the people I transported under the age of 70 were obese. I was transporting them because of heart attack, stroke, or for daily issues like dialysis or regular blood tests on their other conditions. The more a person is in and out of the hospital, the sicker they are because they pick up other things in the hospital (surprise! hospital aren’t as nice and clean as we’d all like them to be). So, I’d also be transporting obese people who had infections their reduced immune systems couldn’t handle.
How much of our nation is obese these days? 1/3? If you don’t think that effects how much you pay in taxes or for your health insurance, you’re kidding yourself.
Sidenote: the only people I dealt with over the age of 90 were little old ladies. While we do see hypocondriacs now and then, there are definately more obese people in and out of the hospital.
Uh Bella, I don’t know when your ancestors came over, but if it was before 1891, there were no federal immigration laws for them to break (unless they were Chinese). And you might want to ask a Native American what they think about their arrival…Also, many, many of those European immigrants were sending money back to their families (in fact a lot of them were sojourn laborers who had no intention of staying here). They encountered precisely the same kind of arguments against them (esp if they were Asian, Irish, Italian, Russian, Greek, or Eastern European) that you are making against Mexicans…learn some history.
**if a person is oversized, it is the policy to make someone buy the 2 seats…no matter what. if the plane doesn’t fill up, the money is automatically refunded!!! but you must have a policy and you must enforce it or you will have tons of drama, late airplanes, and even more frustrated people.
does he have a picture with the armrest down? because i haven’t seen one.
all of you people talking like you know so much…do you work in the airline industry?! have you ever dealt with these situations?!
i have seen 3 people walk onto an airplane and say to me, “there are no seats”. i, as the flight attendant go to look and “wow, there are 3 seats but you will not fit into any of them because the person next to you is spilling over”. so is it fair to kick these 3 people off and make them fly standby because the policy wasn’t enforced.
it is a touchy situation but i think southwest handles it as well as anyone. can you imagine kevin smith even fitting down the aisle on Spirit airlines? i was smooshed in one of their seats and im 5’3″ 105 lbs lol.
No one should be embarrassed about not fitting their seat. I’m below average size and I get uncomfortable in airline seats. But hope all overweight folks can be truthful with themselves about their size.
I STILL remember how uncomfortable I was on a flight ~18 years ago – I’m aisle seat, and the middle (Jack Sprat) & window (his wife) were seated already, arm rests up, when I got there. They were very nice, I didn’t want to appear rude, so left arms rests up. 30 minutes after takeoff, Jack is taking up 25% of my seat cause his wife is spilling out of hers.
No need to be rude about it, but ALWAYS put those arm rests down – only way to keep and use the seat you paid for.
As long as you’re not in my personal space, I don’t care how fat you are. However, I would be livid if I had to sit next to someone who was overspilling into my seat, but that’s mainly because I have severe panic issues and cannot stand to have strangers touching me. I would probably have a meltdown on the spot, and I would feel terrible about it, but that’s just how it goes. Flying sucks in general though, which is why I try and drive everywhere no matter what. I’d rather drive for 19 hours to go back to my hometown than take a 2 hour flight, and all these stories do is reinforce that.
we’ll be sure to spread the word & boycott until it goes outta business like all the other badly run operations …heeheehee
hey SW build bigger seats !!
bottom line ? we ain’t ALL midgets …