Too-fat-to-fly Director Kevin Smith lashes out at airline

Recently New Jersey raised film director and smart ass Kevin Smith wanted to fly to Oakland to speak at a MAC conference. He booked 2 seats on a Southwest Airlines flight. However, once he checked in he wanted an earlier flight than the one he booked  and agreed to “standby” for the desired flight. A standby seat did indeed become available, but it was one single seat.

Once he was seated the trouble began. Smith said he could put the armrests down and buckle his belt once seated on the stand by flight. Then stuff happened. Eventually the pilot told him he could not fit in the seat and could not fly on that flight, and Smith had to get off the plane.

Smith then began to TWEET about the event as did Southwest. Their media interplay will probably continue, with Smith generating many pointed TWEETS about the incident. Since Smith has a new film coming out soon,  he will probably milk the free publicity for all it’s worth.

Many articles about this incident  focus on the “obese passenger problem.” Smith did initially purchase 2 seats. I  understand the desire to have some elbow room, on Southwest I literally can’t move my arms without bumping the person next to me. An extra seat will also put some distance between oneself and the parade of humanity that flies Southwest. As Smith said

“I can fit into a Soutwest Airlines seat,” Smith stated in the podcast, defending his size. “This is the important part of the story. If I have to, I can fly one seat on Southwest. I just opt not to, because it’s more comfortable, and I have enough money to do it.”

but then he also tweeted

“Contrary to their claim that I regularly purchase two seats, I wasn’t a regular 2-seat buyer until just this week. They SEIZED on that. In their ‘apology’ blog, they implied (or flat-out wrote) that I regularly purchase 2 seats. Writing that buttresses their lie: 2 Fat 2 Fly.

“But, by their own guidelines, I was not, in fact, 2 Fat 2 Fly: the arm rests went down & I could buckle my seat belt w/o an extender. So…? Hey @SouthwestAir: you bring that same row of seats to the DailyShow, and I’ll sit in ‘em for all to see on TV.

“If I don’t fit, I’ll donate $10k to charity of your choice. But when I do (& buckle the belt as well)? 1) You admit you lied. 2) Change your policy, or at least re-train your staff to be a lot more human and a lot less corporate.”

in another TWEET

After his flight from Oakland landed in Los Angeles he wrote “Don’t worry: wall of the plane was opened and I was airlifted out.”

in another TWEET

“So, @SouthwestAir, go f*** yourself, I broke no regulation, offered no “safety risk” (what, was I gonna roll on a fellow passenger?).”

in another TWEET

“Fuck making it right for me just ’cause I have a platform. I sat next to a big girl who was chastised for not buying an extra ticket because “all passengers deserve their space.” Fucking flight wasn’t even full! Fuck your size-ist policy. Rude..”

Smith is no shrinking violet. In this vid clip from 2007 Smith easily handles a heckler. Alas the sound quality is poor but it shows Smith thinking quickly, sharply and smiling while he hands a critic their ass. Ironically I found this clip when I searched for “Kevin Smith teets” when I mean to search for his tweets.

Kevin Smith peeved after airline says he’s too big for one seat
By Randy McMullen | Contra Costa Times  |  02/16/2010

Director and actor Kevin Smith and Southwest Airlines engaged in a war of words Sunday and Monday — on Twitter and on blog posts — after Smith was refused a seat on a Southwest Oakland-to-Burbank flight because he’s too hefty.

“You have messed with the wrong sedentary, processed-foods eater,” snapped the filmmaker in a Twitter post Sunday.

Smith, best known as the director of “Clerks” and for portraying the Silent Bob comedic character, says he tried to board a Sunday flight but was turned away even though, he claims, he could fit in the seat and buckle himself in.

Smith, who has openly talked and joked about his weight problem, acknowledges he normally buys two seats while flying, and did so on an Oakland-Burbank flight on Sunday. But his plans went awry when he tried to snag an earlier flight. He was put on standby and was informed that a single seat had become available. But when he came aboard, the flight’s pilots ruled that he did not fit in the single seat.

In a blog post Sunday, Smith insisted, “I fit in the seat. “… I could buckle the belt. I complied with the Southwest Airlines standards “… and yet they bounced me regardless.”

But Southwest reps countered, in a blog titled “Not So Silent Bob,” that the filmmaker clearly did not fit in the seat comfortably. “Our employees explained why the decision is made, accommodated Mr. Smith on a later flight, and issued him a $100 Southwest voucher for his inconvenience.”

And, really, why should anyone be in a hurry to get to Burbank, anyway?

Smith, however, complained that Southwest Airline’s blog was “more insult than apology.”