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Kevin Smith says he’s “way fat,” but that shouldn’t stop him from flying.
The director and actor says a pilot ejected him from a Southwest Airlines flight from Oakland to Burbank, Calif., saying he didn’t fit properly in a single seat.
Smith raised a stink about the incident on his Twitter page Sunday, saying “I’m way fat, but I’m not there just yet,” and “If you look like me, you may be ejected from Southwest Air.”
He posted a picture of himself sitting on the plane with his cheeks puffed out.
Southwest says it “Customer of Size” policy require travelers must be able to fit safely and comfortably in one seat or make other arrangements.
After a storm of angry online comments from Smith and his fans, the airline issued an apology first from its own Twitter account and later in a statement on its Web site titled “Not So Silent Bob,” a jovial jab at the Silent Bob character Smith plays in many of his films.
“We would like to echo our tweets and again offer our heartfelt apologies to you,” the statement said.
The airline said it also accommodated Smith on a later flight, gave him a $100 voucher and apologized by phone.
Both Smith and the airline acknowledged that he had bought two seats for his original flight from Oakland, where he had spoken at the Macworld Expo conference.
But he was flying standby in order to catch an earlier flight, and only one was available.
Smith insisted that he was still able to put both armrests down and buckle his seat belt, which is Southwest’s standard.
Smith is the director of the new Bruce Willis movie “Cop Out,” and previously directed the films “Clerks” and “Chasing Amy.”
Celebrity jail mugs
I think that this is a great new policy. I for one wouldn’t want to be sitting by someone who is “overflowing” into my seat that I paid for. If you’re overweight and can’t fit, buy two seats!!
seriously, c’mon fat ass. quit your bitching. Like you don’t have the money to buy two seats to accomodate your fatness. Be quiet, keep your fat rolls off of me, and stop making a big deal about nothing. “oh no, i’m too fat and they won’t let me get by with one seat. Waaaahhhhh…” Ever thought about getting on the treadmill…
Read the article dumma. It states that he DID buy 2 seats on his original flight but then decided to fly standby to catch an earlier flight. They didn’t have 2 seats to accomodate him. They should have indicated this to him at the GATE, not while he was already on board the plane.
Cravings are over soon , fat is forever.
Yeah right… time for these fatties to pay for two seats. Why must I sit squeezed in for a ticket I paid for?
Last I checked he’s not nearly as portly as Michael Moore. And he said he fit in the seat, didn’t have a problem with the seatbelt, etc.
At any rate — Oakland-to-Burbank? Dude, you could’ve driven.
He is such a hotshot why doesn’t he charter his own plane or have a limo. I would have told him to pound sand before opologizing. If your fat arse cannot fit in 1 seat you should be buying 2 or not flying. It is rude to the passengers next to you.
I love how they gave him a 100 bucks. thats awsome! its like they wanted to buy him lunch and expected him to spend every penny to stuff his fat face to he can get even fatter and never fly southwest again!
It could have been worse, you could have stayed along side him like Plans..Trains and Automobils. ” A if your kid spills milk ? do you slap him in their head”
If the seat dont fit….then you dont sit!
Southwest should NOT have apologized. This man did pay for two seats on the first leg of his trip so he realized that he was too fat to sit in one seat and was being considerate of others who would have to sit squeezed against the side of the plane if he had only boughth one seat. He also had enough money to fly first class on other airlines so he is the one who owes Southwest an apology and not the other way around.
The fact is he did purchase 2 seats on another flight, and somehow bumped up to an earlier flight that only had one seat. Southwest, should have told him that he would have to wait, and not board this flight. Southwest screwed up by allowing him on the plane to begin with. This guy is bitching about a policy that he was aware of and actually complied with, although on another flight. I’ve been on trains and planes with obese people and it is very uncomfortable to be sitting next to someone. We all need our “space”…
If you would all care to read the article—he did pay for 2 seats! You are all unbelievably cruel! How would you like to be humiliated in public like he was? No I am not an overweight passenger–just someone who has a heart unlike the rest of you!
About time they lowered the boom.
Thats what I am saying…..if this dude cant fit in the seat and needs to get off. Why cant this dude lose some weight? Bro if it is affecting your life; might be time to lose the weight. And any of his fans/friends who were supporting him must be fat too….
With 33% of Americans clasified as being overweight it seems unlikly that everyone in this forum looks like twiggy. Some of you people are cold hearted as hell and I hope each of you get the opportunity to be humiliated in public sometime soon. Perhaps Southwest is making their seats too small in the interest of profits. I for one refuse to fly Southwest because of their discrimination policies and as they say, you have a choice when selecting an airline so I will chose one that does not discriminate. Screw Southwest, they will not be getting any of my money ever.
Anyone who has settled into their seat and heard the passenger that will sit next to them request a seat belt extender – cringes when they see them walk down the aisle. Buy 2 seats – buy a first class seat – but dont squeeze your fat butt into my seat!!!
Yeh Rah Southwest – Keep it up you are the best airline.
I do appreciate the challenges many people have with weight and am sympathetic. However as a frequent traveler, there is nothing worse than having an extremely obese person in the seat next to me who is overflowing into my seat and touching me. I paid for my ticket just like the next guy and shouldn’t have to have someone in my space. Perhaps the airlines need to accomodate and offer the second seat at a discounted price.
I was on a flight across country and had a window seat with two other seats beside me. A husband and wife got on the flight and both were huge. They both required seat belt extenders. The husbands butt kept overflowing into my seat and he kept trying to lift the arm rest. I finally had to get PO’d and tell him if he needed to lift that arm rest he better move now because I was calling the stewardess over and have him moved.
Flying is uncomfortable enough – we do not need this kind of help to make it more so.
Good going Southwest, I will go out of my way to fly Southwest from now on! This man knew that he needed two seats.
Folks, Mr. Smith *did* pay for two seats. He asked to take an earlier flight on standby, which is his right and as a lot of people do and was willing to trade his two seats for one, at his own expense of dollars and comfort. That the Southwest personnel on that flight did not want to seat him appears to be their right and policy and they did it. No worse a travesty than those seasoned frequent flyers who stuff their sofa-sized carry-on luggage into your overhead bin.
Move along, no story here.
He admits that he is ‘fat’, purchsing two seats on his original flight shows that he knows he is too ‘fat’, so what is he complaining about? You cann’t suck in your stomach on the entire flight just to prove you can buckle your seat belt and put down the arm rest.
Maybe he direct the Biggest Loser….or, better yet, star in the show.
I have found Southwest lacks customer service as well as compassion!
I saw ads for “Cop Out” and thought it looked like a funny movie that I wanted to see. I had no idea that Smith was the director! Now I’ll definitely see it! (I just borrowed “Chasing Amy” from the local library just last week, in fact–to watch it again after about 10 years since the last time. It’s still a great one.)
The fact that Smith originally purchased TWO seats appears to be a tacit admission that he himself knows he cannot fit properly into ONE seat. So it makes no sense to me that he took umbrage at being told he could not remain on the flight if he had only one seat for himself. That was already something that was understood, correct?
There’s no reason for Southwest Airlines to have made a concession to Smith and given him $100 for free, since what the airline did was in line with what Smith already understood to be necessary. That $100 cost will be, of course, passed on to all other paying customers, making flying more expensive for all of us.
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