Slashdot Mirror
Southwest Declares Kevin Smith Too Fat To Fly
theodp writes "Kevin Smith is not a happy Southwest customer. The director was thrown off a flight from Oakland to Burbank, after being deemed too fat to fly. He later wound up on another Southwest flight, but has declared It's On and taken his rants to Twitter. '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?' he began. He also let the airline know he'd made it to his destination. 'Hey @SouthwestAir! I've landed in Burbank. Don't worry: wall of the plane was opened & I was airlifted out while Richard Simmons supervised.'"
There goes the last shred of credibility Twitter may have had. Fatties are now using it to vent rage over how cruel the world is for discriminating against them for being fat.
Maybe if he directed some of that rage into jogging or not stuffing twinkies into his maw it wouldn't be a problem.
Even if they can get their butts between the armrests, the rest of them overflows into the next seat.
They should have required him to buy two seats, since he takes up two seats and twice the gas as a normal person.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
I still think its awesome, but let's keep this next celebrity rivalry off of slashdot. Slashdot didn't cover trump vs o'donnel, and it doesn't cover paris hilton, so while Kevin Smith is a nerd celeb, let's not report on every twitter update in this matter? Mmmkay?
Is it sad that I am more likely to recognize you and your posts by your sig than your name or UID?
Isn't this supposed to be a tech site? Not "popeater?"
C'mon /.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits" - Albert Einstein
Known to be eloquent and verbose on occasion. Not unlike his creator.
The cost of that cleanup, of course, will be borne by taxpayers, not industry.
I'm about 135 pounds. Why the fuck do I get charged extra if my bag is 55 pounds, when the fat bastard behind me has 150 pounds on me, and his bag is slightly less? Like somebody mentioned above, yes, I DO think they should weigh people before they get on. The nominal reason for this is fuel charges, right? Can I get a discount because I'm not toting my giant bloated belly around?
</rant>
The only reason they're working to resolve it is because of Kevin Smith. If it was a nobody with no platform to mention this from, Southwest would've cared much less.
Yet airlines want me to pay a full fare. You can't have it both ways. If you're going to charge the fat folks extra, you gotta give the rest of us the price break on kids' tickets. Otherwise, just reduce the passenger density and charge everyone the same.
What is it with the animosity towards large people?
Sure, most of the time they themselves are to blame for the state they're in. So what? It's their choice, and they shouldn't have to endure getting frowned upon, let alone being openly insulted.
I mean, c'mon, when the seats in an airliner are too small for the person, it's the person's fault? How so? Because he's larger than most others? A quick google search says that the average person in the US weighs 7 kg more than "ideal", so the airlines should of course have to adjust their seats accordingly. They're way too small anyway.
IMO, the airline is to blame when a large person inconveniences someone else due to the size of the seats. Don't ignore their failing just because big people are such easy targets =)
Truth arises more readily from error than from confusion. -Francis Bacon
The only reason they're working to resolve it is because of Kevin Smith. If it was a nobody with no platform to mention this from, Southwest would've cared much less.
Actually, I suspect it's mostly because it's on Twitter that they reacted at all. Random average Joes have had similar responses from other corporations as well. They tend to be scared to death of bad publicity and Twitter especially seems to make them nervous.
Of course, the fact that it's a celebrity, however minor (sorry Kevin; I love your films but ...) on Twitter doesn't exactly hurt.
You know the thing about UDP jokes? I don't care if you get it or not.
As much as I am a fan of Kevin Smith and take pride in the fact that he's from my home state of NJ, I have to side with Southwest on this one. I've had the horrible experience of being seated next to and between very fat people several times and it just isn't fair. They should have paid for part of my ticket each time. Flights are cramped uncomfortable experiences as it is, but to have some bloated wheezing corpse pouring over the arm rest into my seat really crosses the line socially.
Why is he not flying first class on a different airline?
I think the key word here is obese, usually defined as a BMI over 30 kg/m^2, i.e. weight divided by height squared. You might not enjoy sitting next to a person with a BMI around say 28 kg/m^2, but they'll basically remain inside their seat. Anyone whose BMI exceeds 30 will spill over into your seat, so removing them will make the crowded flight much more pleasant.
BMI isn't just useless, it's worse than useless. Not only does more muscle mass than usual completely skew the results, but being taller than average does as well.
Just work this out. Let everyone fly if they want to. Stop picking on fat people. Yes there are practical hurdles or considerations. Just work them out. Sheesh.
Some of my favourite people are from th US; Vonnegut, Chomsky, Bill Hicks.
Or they'll blame it on Linux-users.
FORTUNATELY the Department of Homeland Security said they'll be monitoring Twitter until the olympics are over.
Maybe if Kevin Smith had less than 3.5oz liquids they can help him.
"We're from the government and we're here to help." -- SNL
E
...and some people are just assholes incapable of empathizing with anyone other than themselves.
We'll give some seats to the chinks and the niggers, but we don't want the Irish.
In simple terms: you're full of shit.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
You have to be let on the plane to get kicked off.
Sig: I stole this sig.
The seat I, not they, paid for.
Yes, it's not right to sneer at people for being fat, whether it's their fault or not. It's perfectly all right to sneer at someone for stealing someone else's seat.
If you need two (or three...) seats buy them. Don't steal from your neighbours.
Airlines have overcrammed more seats into each plane than the original designers would have believed possible. When people complain, they respond with "You're freakishly tall," or "You're mbidly obese," when the real answer is "The airlines are so greedy they're cramming so many people into their cargo hold it would make a slave trader of old boggle."
My 5'2", 100lb mother-in-law complains that they've made the seats too small to be comfortable, and she's been flying for 50 years. Do we really think the problem is Kevin Smith is too husky?
How about this for an answer? Let's make airline seats the same size and legroom as movie theater seats and see if the problem goes away.
He put his boots up on the table and made a face. "The sig," he smirked. "You can waste your life in search of the sig."
"Customer of Size"? Is that like "People of Color"? Has political correctness come so far that you can't even call someone a fatass any more? I'm with Southwest on this one. Brilliant director or not, if I had to spend an "Evening with Kevin Smith" squished up against him in a coach-class seat, I would not be happy and would be demanding my ticket price back. They tried to accommodate his special request to fly early and couldn't. He should graciously accept their apology (it's more than he would have gotten from me).
Support Right To Repair Legislation.
Of course its ok if the airlines have cut back both the width of the seats and the space between the rows in order to pack in more cattle. Thats ok, despite the fact that over and beyond the obesity problem people in general are getting taller and heavier. Sure, sell by the seat or sell passage by the pound, but dont cut back on the space and then punish the people who were dumb enough to fly them in the first place.
Dear Fucktarded PR-Challenged Fatty-Haters at @SouthwestAir: Your "apology" blog is insulting, redacted bullshit. FULL details in two hours.
According to TFA Kevin Smith claimed to be sitting in the seat with the armrests down before he was asked to leave the plane. He also claimed to have purchased only one ticket when flying the first leg of his trip. He was kicked off on his return leg.
The Southwest PR people seem to be stretching the truth in their side of the story. I think that the Southwest policy to require the purchase of two tickets when some one cannot fit between the armrests of one seat is generally a good one. However, I think the pilot was overzealous in enforcing the policy. Southwest has not apologized for the mistake they actually made. They merely said, "we're sorry that you don't like our policy." They need to say "we're sorry that we misapplied our policy," in this instance.
As a traveler I hare airlines. They are a bunch of snivelling money grubbing slime balls who would never give anyone an inch more room than they paid for in blood.
That said, SWA's response does sound quite reasonable, much as it pains me to admit.
I hate printers.
What was Kevin's weight/height? I mean I've seen a lot of subjective options here as to what it's like to fly next to someone who is spilling over into your seat. How it's unfair that a 5 year old has to pay a full fair because they are taking up a full seat but weigh next to nothing compared to an adult. Blah blah blah.
Look, during my real hardcore WoW days was at least 250 lbs. and I stand 6' tall. I've leaned up to 190 lbs. but you know I still fill those airline seats up pretty damn much the same way. (For those who don't understand how the male body stores it's fat, it is not just right to our guts. Look at any obese persons face and think about it.) And I'm quite sure I could have easily packed on another 50 lbs. and not made that much a difference in my presence to the people next to me from 250 -> to 300 at 6'.
My point is that I've yet to see the real reason that Kevin, given that he freaking eventually flew the same airliner to his destination, was booted from the flight in question. I suspect that it had nothing to do with his weight but lets clear that up so that we can get down to what really happened.
Really, I know what I'm doing...Ohhhh, look at the shiny buttons!
Yep, I fly a lot too, SWA's response is very nice and very reasonable. It's a LOT more than other airlines, say American, would do. In this case the customer IS wrong and SWA points that out in a nice way.
Mr Smith is acting like an asshole. That sort of language isn't going to win him any sympathy from SWA even if they WERE wrong.
As a traveler I hare airlines. They are a bunch of snivelling money grubbing slime balls who would never give anyone an inch more room than they paid for in blood.
The main reason airlines never give 'anyone an inch' is because their profit margins are unbelievably small - They transport thousands a day. An inch here and inch there, and suddenly they're bankrupt.
This happens largely because airline passengers day to day often have little brand loyalty. They simply shop for the cheapest fare.
If a company wants my loyalty, they have to be loyal to me. Pretending to give a shit when my luggage goes missing or waiving the cost of one of those padded sleeping goggle whatchamacallits instead of carrying on like I'm trying to screw them out of the 2c those things cost would go a long way
Right, but you're the exception, not the rule. Airline customers *claim* they'd pay more for a fare that included things like free eyemasks and pretzels, but then when the time comes to book a ticket they pick the airline with the cheapest fare. Airlines have, in the past, tried to be 'loyal to you' and have learned it gets them nowhere, at least in the USA and Canada. Customers aren't interested in good service, they're interested in getting where they're going on the cheap, pure and simple - And with respect to service, passengers have reaped what they've sown. Compared to 20 years ago, airline fares are dramatically cheaper, and service is dramatically worse. Coincidence? I think not...
There is a condition known as "hypothyroidism". There are many causes; in my case it was an auto-immune disease known as "Grave's Disease". It caused my body to attack my own thyroid gland - a gland in the neck that secretes thyroid hormone, which controls most of a person's metabolism.
Yes, it seems the US has had a pandemic of 'hypothyroidism' the last few decades. I wonder if it is contagious.
- These characters were randomly selected.
"it is not that bad."
And yet you're calling it the Goat Locker?
"It was Hell. It was a little warm."
Pick one. Either it's a goat locker, or it's not that bad. Which is it?
He put his boots up on the table and made a face. "The sig," he smirked. "You can waste your life in search of the sig."
Metabolic condition or not, the fat does not apppear out of thin air. You still have to have bring your hand to your mouth and consume those calories. It's like an asthmatic complaining of shortness of breath after smoking.
I realise however that in order to control your weight you may end up being hungry all of the time though, and that just plain sucks.
That sounds perfectly reasonable. Maybe this Kevin Smith guy should try getting outside and exercising now and then instead of sitting around on his fat ass in his mom's basement bitching on the internet.
"He who can destroy a thing, controls a thing." --Paul Atreides, Dune
Whenever a big fatty complains about genetics, I always think of the Biggest Loser.
They all manage to lose weight. They lose weight in proportion to the exercise they do.
Sure they find it challenging, that's why it's a workout. But they all lose weight, regardless of their genes.
I weigh about 260lbs now. I eat sensibly, get exercise, but none of it does any good at reducing my fat.
Obviously you are not eating sensibly for your condition. Slow metabolism by itself will not make you fat. You have to be eating as if you still had a faster metabolism.
Adjusting eating habits is difficult, which is why so many of us get larger in middle age. Each snack or meal is a choice.
Most of us have also smelled the skinny person walking down the aisle, dreading that we'd be spending time within 5 rows of him/her let alone next to us.
Why should we have to put up with the person making us want to vomit or have an allergic reaction to their shower of perfume?
Kevin is not the victim of sizism, he - and you and I - are victims of a common feature of modern life: perfect procedures, imperfect systems. Issues of how many seats can an airline cram into a cabin and America's eating habits aside, the Southwest policy sounds pretty reasonable. Oversize passengers buy a second seat and get a refund if the plane isn't full. So how does it happen that Kevin get's so far along the chain of events that it causes everyone involved a lot of unnecessary pain and embarrassment? The captain who threw Kevin off the plane was enforcing a procedure. Nobody was taking any responsibility for the system. What happened when Kev bought his ticket? Did a screen come up - before the plug in your credit card number screen - warning Kev that if you're over a certain weight you have to buy two seats? What happened when Kev arrived at the check in counter? Are the check in staff blind? How hard is it to notice that man or woman is 'of size' and won't fit into a seat my eleven year old daughter can barely squeeze into (she's big for her age)? Isn't there a role here for the security staff? It IS a safety issue. Plane skids off the runway a large passenger will have difficulty getting down that rabbit trail called an aisle. Kevin's embarrassment, and the discomfort of his seatmates, could have been avoided at any of several steps along the way. But it wasn't, because everyone is responsible for a procedure, but no one is responsible for the system.
Sooo...
Your statement is that all skinny people wear a shit ton of perfume? Where does that even come from? Hmm...
You sound fat.
You seem to want First Class elbow room at steerage prices. For that you can't blame fat folks, you can blame your cheapness or poorness.
No, we can blame the really fat guy encroaching onto our seat. The seat that we paid for. The seat that would be fine if it weren't for the guy next to us being really overweight. Airline seats are a certain size. In economy they're pretty small because fares are so damn cheap. Why the hell should I have to pay for a first class seat just to get the elbow room I deserve in economy? This isn't about being poor or being cheap, it's about someone being too fucking big to fit in an economy seat. Let the fat guy spend the cash on a bigger seat in first class. How dare you say it's my responsibility to pay extra cash to accomodate the obesity of someone else. If anyone is being too cheap/poor in this situation it's the fat guy who won't spring for the extra seat that he needs, or one larger seat in a higher class.
You can advertise in this sig from as little as £99.99 a month!