Kevin Smith Is Too Fat To Fly
Actor/Director Kevin Smith, 39, was deemed too fat to fly, at least according to Southwest Airlines.
Smith was kicked off a Southwest Air flight because he didn’t fit comfortably into the seat.
“You [messed] with the wrong sedentary processed-foods eater!” he posted on Twitter.
Smith originally purchased two tickets “as he’s been known to do when traveling Southwest,” the airline noted, but when he decided to fly standby on an earlier flight, only one seat remained. Although he had been seated, he was asked to leave.
“If a customer cannot comfortably lower the armrest and infringes on a portion of another seat, a customer seated adjacent would be very uncomfortable and a timely exit from the aircraft in the event of an emergency might be compromised if we allow a cramped, restricted seating arrangement,” Southwest said.
“I broke no regulation, offered no ’safety risk’ (what, was I gonna roll on a fellow passenger?)” he Tweeted. “I saw someone bigger than me on THAT flight! But I wasn’t about to throw a fellow Fatty under the plane as I’m being profiled. But he & I made eye contact, & he was like ‘Please don’t tell…’”
After landing in Burbank, Smith wrote, “Don’t worry: wall of the plane was opened & I was airlifted out while Richard Simmons supervised.”
Southwest issued an apology to the director via Twitter and its website.
In a statement titled, “Not So Silent Bob” (a jab at the Silent Bob character Smith plays in several of his films) the airline said: “We would like to echo our tweets and again offer our heartfelt apologies to you.”
The statement continued: “Our pilots are responsible for the safety and comfort of all customers on the aircraft and therefore, made the determination that Mr. Smith needed more than one seat to complete his flight.”
It added it accommodated the director on a later flight, offered him a $100 voucher.
The airline said its customer of size policy states travellers must be able to fit safely and comfortably in one seat or must purchase an additional seat.
However, Smith insists that he was able to put both armrests down and buckle his seat belt.
He challenged the airline to bring a row of seats on to a US chat show for him to prove he fit into them.
“If I don’t fit, I’ll donate $10k to the 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 & a lot less corporate when they pull a poor girl off the plane & shame her,” he wrote.
Failure To Launch
