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Old 02-20-2010, 08:48 AM   #1
DoctorWho
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Thumbs up Kevin Smith (Silent Bob-fame) battles Southwest Air

Quick version. Last weekend, Kevin Smith had an opportunity to get on an earlier flight from Oakland, CA to Burbank, CA on Southwest Air, which he used frequently for short trips around the Western US. He had originally had 2 tickets bought for himself, not so much because of his size (he is a fat man, as he freely admits to), but so he could have some privacy on the flight. This earlier flight only had one seat available on reserve. So he went ahead and got the reserve ticket. He got called for the flight and boarded. After settling into his seat between two older ladies, a customer service rep came on and ask him to leave the plane because they had a "safety concern" with him on board. Even though Kevin could easily put down the armrests and the ladies in the seats next to him were fine, the lady still made him leave the plane. Needless to say, this infuriated Kevin as they never gave him a straight answer as to why he was really being removed, even though he knew it was because of his size. The hypocrisy of this is that there were other even heavier people on the plane, but Kevin took the bullet as he did not want the other heavy folk on the plane to get the same treatment. He put this all over his Twitter account http://twitter.com/ThatKevinSmith.

On the next flight he was on, he got two seats. After he was seated, another lady sat down next to the empty seat that was Kevin's 2nd seat. She was also of size. Another representative asked her to come to the front. She came back looking very disturbed and later told Kevin that they wanted her to buy a second seat, even though the seat next to her was empty. When Kevin heard this, this outraged him more as this was the second time in 2 hours this happened, but now to someone else.

After he got home, he posted a special episode of his podcast, Smodcast, spending 90 minutes going over the whole ordeal. Warning, Kevin is very frank with his language, but that just fuels his passion. (Besides, they're just words like any other.) http://smodcast.com/smods/smodcast106.html

A couple of days later, the lady who sat next to him contacted him, and he then recorded another 30 minute episode with her explaining what happened to her. http://smodcast.com/smods/smodcast107.html

The twist is that with Kevin lambasting SWA on Twitter and getting this picked up in the media, they issued an apology but admitted no guilt. Kevin called them on that, and the misrepresentation of facts that they reported. They came out with a second statement, now saying somethings mentioned before didn't exactly happen as stated, but still did not give blame to anyone.

So Kevin made a written post to try and put his final words over the situation.
http://silentbobspeaks.com/?p=394

So we have a case were someone who has a level of fame using the internet to bring light to this big corporate hypocrisy and bigoty.
Bill "the Doctor"

Last edited by DoctorWho; 02-20-2010 at 08:52 AM.
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Old 02-20-2010, 01:08 PM   #2
NXS
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Default Re: Kevin Smith (Silent Bob-fame) battles Southwest Air

I've always been a fan of Kevin Smith. He has a tendency to use foul language, but he's a 'everyman' kinda guy. I'm glad to see him taking a stand against this kind of behavior. As a larger person myself, I have been subject to similar ridicule, though not this particular type, as i try to avoid flying like the plague... lol.
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Old 02-20-2010, 07:28 PM   #3
DoctorWho
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Default Re: Kevin Smith (Silent Bob-fame) battles Southwest Air

Well as he has mentioned in the past, he is the son of a poor USPS Employee and a stay at home mom from Red Bank, NJ area. So he was from a lower-middle class upbringing, hence the everyman mentality. And he's a retired Catholic, too. Look at Dogma.
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Old 02-20-2010, 07:35 PM   #4
Céline
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Default Re: Kevin Smith (Silent Bob-fame) battles Southwest Air

i have been following this story and i find myself filled with respect for Kevin.
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Old 02-20-2010, 09:02 PM   #5
NeedForSpeed
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Default Re: Kevin Smith (Silent Bob-fame) battles Southwest Air

These companies need to go out of business.
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Old 02-21-2010, 01:58 PM   #6
NXS
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Default Re: Kevin Smith (Silent Bob-fame) battles Southwest Air

Quote:
Originally Posted by DoctorWho View Post
Well as he has mentioned in the past, he is the son of a poor USPS Employee and a stay at home mom from Red Bank, NJ area. So he was from a lower-middle class upbringing, hence the everyman mentality. And he's a retired Catholic, too. Look at Dogma.
Bill "the Doctor"
Absolutely. I've been a fan of Kevin Smith since Clerks was released on the big screen back in 94. I've seen every flick he's ever did or appeared in and I was also lucky enough to be on hand for the taping of "A Threevening With Kevin Smith".

He's a good guy that tells it how he sees it. I love the fact that his films are dialogue-driven, as opposed to endless oodles of CGI and other special effects. While I'm very proud of him for taking a stand against Southwest for their atrocious behavior, I'm also proud to say I'm a fan of the man behind the reputation he's built for himself. The world could use more folks like Kevin Smith.
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Old 02-21-2010, 10:21 PM   #7
SteveX
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Default Re: Kevin Smith (Silent Bob-fame) battles Southwest Air

I'm not one for health and bloody safty but don't block the drinks dolly.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/news...ure-taken.html
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Old 02-23-2010, 03:54 AM   #8
DoctorWho
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Default Re: Kevin Smith (Silent Bob-fame) battles Southwest Air

Ironically, SteveX, Kevin has used that photo to show how is not that obese, although that guy in the photo is very tall too.
Bill "the Doctor"
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Old 02-23-2010, 10:27 AM   #9
Heretic
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Default Re: Kevin Smith (Silent Bob-fame) battles Southwest Air

strange things are always afoot in the view askew universe
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Old 02-23-2010, 10:33 AM   #10
SteveX
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Default Re: Kevin Smith (Silent Bob-fame) battles Southwest Air

The part in this storey I don't like is how they charged Kevin and the woman for the same spare seat. A tad naughty me thinks. As for the whole size charging thing there's little we can say about it. It is a private business and first class or what ever name they spin first class with, does give it's customers more room. Buy 2 economy tickets or one 1st class?
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