Kevin Smith’s most famous role is a guy who rarely speaks. But he’s got a lot to say – much of it profane – after being kicked off a Southwest Air flight because he didn’t fit comfortably into the seat. “You [messed] with the wrong sedentary processed-foods eater!” Smith, whose next film, Cop Out, comes out Feb. 26, posted on Twitter.
Smith, 39, 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. Smith, who played Silent Bob in his Clerks movies and who has battled his weight for years – “I know I’m fat,” he confesses – was given a $100 voucher and arrived in Burbank on a later flight. But he was in no mood to accept an apology.
“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…’” Smith added that while the ordeal was embarrassing, his “Jersey Girl training” (the 2004 flop starring Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez) was helping him cope.
Well, at least he didn’t pull the “don’t you know who I am” routine. And please…no “Silent Blob” jokes.
Heh! My favorite movie quote was from Smith in Mallrats.
“Fly, fat ass, fly”
Somewhat inappropriate to bring that up now though I guess.
As someone who’s 6’4″ and 280lbs, most airline seats don’t fit. They are designed for average people, not those of us who are above average ;oP
If they have to grease your thighs to get you in the door at Wal-Mart, you’re too fucking fat to fly.
http://bit.ly/63bu60
I’m 145 – 155 lbs, 5’9″; I cannot really fit into airline seats comfortably. They keep getting smaller is the real problem. People shouldn’t be so skinny and they should move around more. Size of these seats doesn’t help either problem.
Follow his Twitter feed. The man is the most self aware, self deprecating guy there. He refuses to pull the “Do you know who I am?” BS, instead ranting about it on a customer service level, which is what it really comes down to.
As far as flying coach, yeah, he’s got money, but he’s to first to admit he’s no Speilberg in the pantheon of directors, so he doesn’t have that much money and he doesn’t see to point in flying first class on a commuter flight. Cross country, yeah makes sense even if your not loaded to pay extra for first class if you can swing it, but from Oakland to Burbank?
There are reports that smith was drunk and being loud. He did get the next flight after sobering up.
Ya ever check out those armrests in the middle, that’s right, only big enough for one arm, so somebody’s got one arm too many. Or of you’re 6′ or taller and the person in front of you needs to recline all the way, well, you have to experience it to believe it. Ohh, the pain, after a transatlantic flight I had a liquid build up in my left knee that had me limping for days. I found a soultion though, I stopped flying.
On the side of real news, there’s something very interesting happening among the big airlines. It’s called oneworld ( http://oneworld.com ). They’ve been competing themselves into bankruptcy. So they’ve decided to get together and slice up the pie so to speak. The way I understand it they’re going to divide up routes where they can and control prices where they can’t. Good for them, bad for the consumer.
On TWiT tonight Leo read the response by SouthWest. Kevin purchased 2 seats as he usually does. He wanted a earlier fligh so he took stand-by. There was only one seat open for him. The pilot, under his proper legal authority, requested his removal. Kevin was given a $100 voucher and was booked on a later flight.
I don’t like SouthWest’s policies. The pilot did what was the correct thing to do, but SouthWest was still wrong for putting him on a plane with one seat when he paid for two.
If I have to buy two seats because I’m bigger than average weight, then I feel, to be fair, people under average weight should pay less.
Could be worse, Dvorak said that a Japanese airline wants its passengers to take a crap before flight…
The airlines treat passengers like livestock being loaded into a trailer, then yell at them for being market weight. I’m surprised they don’t load us with cattle prods.
Even confinement hogs have mores space than airline passengers.
>> Zybch said, on February 14th, 2010 at 4:52 pm
>> #10 Did you even read the article at all?
Did you?
The article says — ?Smith, 39, 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.”
So, I’ll say it again, this guy KNEW he needed two seats but try to fly in only one, anyway.
Those “oneworld airlines” don’t compete in many or maybe any markets. I mean look at the airlines. There is only one US carrier.
http://www.oneworld.com/ow/member-airlines
#29
Listen his podcast, Smodcast #106 to hear his explanation on WHY he buys 2 seats. I’ll give you a hint, it not necessarily about his size. Also he explains what happens to another passenger right after him who is even more of a victim than he is, but doesn’t have his notoriety, so chances are their humiliation at the the hands of SouthWest wouldn’t get the press his situation is getting.
I have met Kevin Smith personally during a signing for his latest book. I can tell you he’s not that obese. I like the fact that the Southwest blog went down because of this situation.
#30 GigG
Don’t do much international travel then? Amongst themselves they have about all the international routes covered. For example, flying from Madrid Spain to Philadelphia PA, I could’ve gone Iberia, Air France, Lufthansa or British Airways. All locked up in a price war to give the cheapest flight, times were good for travelling. Anyways the US Gov has given them assurances that they won’t use anti-trust legislation against them and they’re already moving ahead to start in on the US. Google news and one world airlines and see for yourself. Once the airlines figure out that this is going to be the only way to survive, they’ll all get on board, this is going to raise airfare for everyone, and I’m sure they won’t make the seating any more comfortable than it is today. Personally I think they should do like the spaceliner in the flick ‘the 5th Element’ everybody horizontal in racks and drugged.
This story has been featured on the news around here. It’s amazing to me that nobody has considered or mentioned the poor person who would have had to sit next to him.
I was forced to sit next to an obese person on a long flight. while his hips fit between the armrest, his flab overflowed into my seating area substantially and he was agressive about taking up as much of my room as he cared to. Not a pleasant trip for me.
By the way, the seats are chosen by the airline and do not reflect the choice of the manufacturer of the aircraft.
#13
When you’re suggesting ideas of removing plastic utensils to save money then yes I would have to say airlines are trying to make the most buck they can, at the cost of whatever the hell they choose to do.
There’s nothing you or I can do about it except choose another competitor and hope for the best.
You know things are getting anal when they tell you that you have exceeded their oxygen quota for the flight.
I’ve heard of needing publicity for one’s new movie but this is ridiculous!
#25 – if you knew anything about Smith, you’d know how stupid the reports on him being ‘drunk’ are.
It’s amazing how many people are jumping to conclusions without the facts. “oh, kevin buys two seats anyway because he’s fat and he knows it” – WRONG. Listen to his smodcast #106 – he bought two tickets NOT because of his weight (he meets the TSA/SWA requirements of armrests down and seatbelt fastened without an extension – so the ‘weight’ thing is no longer a factor) but because he doesn’t want to be bothered by people sitting next to him the whole flight trying to talk to him (“DUDE! You’re SILENT BOB! COOOOLLL!!!”). He likes to be left alone – pretty much like the rest of us, eh?
Bottom line is, SWA screwed up and isn’t admitting fault. There was zero reason for him to be ejected from the flight. The two people he sat between even told the stewardess who ejected him that he was ‘no problem’ and that it was ‘only an hour flight’ yet they ejected him anyway. Not to mention, how many times has he flown SWA in a single seat and never had an issue ’till now?
The worst part is, SWA (and some of you other bozos) continue to play the ‘too fat to fly’ card when that has NOTHING to do with the situation at hand.