Over the weekend, there was a lot of talk on the twitters and on the interwebz about Kevin Smith and Southwest Airlines. He was pulled off of a plane, after he had been seated and put his luggage away, for ‘safety reasons’. In other words, they told him he was too fat for the flight (of course, they never used the word fat, but when you start talking about safety and comfort of other passengers? Pretty clear meaning). Which, in his words, he would totally understand if he couldn’t buckle his seatbelt or put the armrests down, but he could. And the ladies on either side of him in the row? Had no problem with his size.
They indicated that the pilot, whom Smith never saw, was the one who told him to get off the plane. Then, they booked him on ANOTHER flight. So, too fat for one flight, but not for another, simply because of the fullness of the plane (which apparently had empty seats). While Kevin was admittedly dismayed and embarrassed, he claims to have been willing to let it go until his second flight.
The larger sized woman who was sitting in his aisle (he had 2 …
Feb 15 2010
