Kevin Smith vs. Southwest Airlines

mca47

Anyone else following this?
I think it's great!

http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/02/15/k ... index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Movies/ ... index.html

Let me start by saying I am a Kevin Smith fan. I really enjoy his movies, but I do not support him on this at all.

Kevin Smith who frequently flies Southwest, also used to frequently purchase two standard tickets...as a means for extra room on a flight.

For those of you who don't fly Southwest, you don't get assigned seats, rather you are boarded by sections. Once you get on the plane, you can sit where ever there is an open seat.
Anyways, what's great about Southwest is that you don't necessarily have to fly your scheduled flight. If you want, you can catch an earlier flight (for no extra cost), but you have to be put on the stand-by list. As a frequent flier myself, I take advantage of this ALL the time! It's part of a number of reasons why Southwest is my #1 airline (I typically fly around twice a week).
On the standby list, you have less options and you are boarded last...but you almost always get on (especially regional).

So Smith wants to get on an earlier flight, but he's deemed "too fat" (probably a middle seat, as that's usually all that's left - Southwest only flies 737s...3 seats on each side of the aisle) for one seat, and is taken off. He makes a big fuss but I cannot support him at all!

For someone who travels all the f'n time, I deal with the Kevin Smith's all the damn time and it's horrible! Sitting next to that is not fair to anyone next to them! I could tell you stories all night about flights I've had with "Kevin Smiths".

Anyways, I'd like to hear some other perspectives...
CNN did a poll and the last I checked 60% of people sided with Southwest (as I do).

marcos

I agree with Southwest as well. And I realize that Kevin Smith is probably using this as a publicity thing as he needs it as his latest movies have performed poorly at the box office. So any press is good press for him at this point I suppose. But I think he is a really talented director and still has a bright future. I just hope he learns something from this such that obesity is not a good thing as Michelle Obama is now seeking to educate young Americans. I really applaud her effort as educating people about the dangers of poor health is true health reform. I love most of Kevin Smith's films and truly hopes he takes something away from this beyond his obvious publicity ploy.

LaFours

I read his tweets, and listen to SModcast. Kevin is under no delusion that he's fat, he told the story of breaking a toilet seat once. As he said he's that fat that he can't fly Southwest, which he does all the time. This wasn't him being pulled off for being too fat, the plane was packed, the captain wanted everyone settled so they can take off. Someone made a judgment call that he was the one to go (read his last blog about this). Who that person was no one knows I guess. But he took a later flight on Southwest by the way.
I suggest getting his last SModcast to get his side of what happened before backing a corporation. I mean this is an airline that has booted a woman for showing too much leg, a person that was wearing a bush cheney rice shirt that read meet the fuckers...sooo go ahead and align yourselves with the greyhound bus of the skies. I'm backin Silent Bob.

milarso

mca47 wrote:

Anyone else following this?
I think it's great!

http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/02/15/k ... index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Movies/ ... index.html

Let me start by saying I am a Kevin Smith fan. I really enjoy his movies, but I do not support him on this at all.

Kevin Smith who frequently flies Southwest, also used to frequently purchase two standard tickets...as a means for extra room on a flight.

For those of you who don't fly Southwest, you don't get assigned seats, rather you are boarded by sections. Once you get on the plane, you can sit where ever there is an open seat.
Anyways, what's great about Southwest is that you don't necessarily have to fly your scheduled flight. If you want, you can catch an earlier flight (for no extra cost), but you have to be put on the stand-by list. As a frequent flier myself, I take advantage of this ALL the time! It's part of a number of reasons why Southwest is my #1 airline (I typically fly around twice a week).
On the standby list, you have less options and you are boarded last...but you almost always get on (especially regional).

So Smith wants to get on an earlier flight, but he's deemed "too fat" (probably a middle seat, as that's usually all that's left - Southwest only flies 737s...3 seats on each side of the aisle) for one seat, and is taken off. He makes a big fuss but I cannot support him at all!

For someone who travels all the f'n time, I deal with the Kevin Smith's all the damn time and it's horrible! Sitting next to that is not fair to anyone next to them! I could tell you stories all night about flights I've had with "Kevin Smiths".

Anyways, I'd like to hear some other perspectives...
CNN did a poll and the last I checked 60% of people sided with Southwest (as I do).

You should listen to his podcast. http://www.smodcast.com
I know it's just his side of the story, but it sounds like he kinda got screwed.
He also went to great lengths to elaborate on why he normally buys two seats, and it's not because he can't fit into one, rather that SW is cheap, he is rich and he doesn't like to talk to people on airplanes.
He said he has flown several times on SW with just one seat, and it was never a problem until the other day...seems odd to me.
You said yourself- you've flown with several "Kevin Smiths" in your day- apparently the only one they let get on the plane, get settled, and then haul off in front of 200 people is the one that they recognize from TV...

milarso

marcos wrote:

And I realize that Kevin Smith is probably using this as a publicity thing as he needs it as his latest movies have performed poorly at the box office.

Really?
Zack and Miri grossed $31 million at the box office and Clerks 2 did like $24 million.
Both covered costs and made significant profits.
I know they aren't Dark Knight numbers, but to say his pictures have done poorly is absurd.
I would agree with you that he's using this as publicity, but more because he is a self-proclaimed media-whore than because he is feeling heat because of his movies.

Clearly, I'm a fan. I think he's hugely entertaining. A little more emphasis on the huge part these days...

Porchsitter

I'm backing Smith in this and not out of some "anti-corporate" stance or whatnot. I think he has a point in that if his weight was going to be an issue they shouldn't have let him board the plane in the first place. His problem was they waited til he got on, stowed away his bags, and sat down before they moved in to publicly humiliate him in front of everybody. If they have a stance that fat people should buy two seats (and most airlines do), they should not have let him get that far and that is why I blame Southwest. They should've stopped him at the gate before he got on the plane if his weight was going to be problem, but they were too embarrassed to do so so they passed the humiliation on to him. It's bullshit.

FirstExit

Kevin Smith is hilarious...


...but the dude should seriously lose some weight.

Kel Varnsen

What I want to know is what the hell is Kevin Smith doing, flying economy class on Southwest Airlines? Can't the dude afford to spring for business class?

pandora

I really like him- I think him very handsome and sweet and quite perfect as long as he is at peace with himself.
It seems to me too that Southwest screwed him on this one. I don't think its publicity he is enjoying either.

Nothingman54

i dont back him in this. get over it and go back to making bad movies. do some jumping jacks and get the weight off.

eyedclaar

He should be chased by tigers until he can fit in one seat.

milarso

Kel Varnsen wrote:

What I want to know is what the hell is Kevin Smith doing, flying economy class on Southwest Airlines? Can't the dude afford to spring for business class?

Apparently Southwest doesn't have a business class.
But he said he only flies Southwest to go to San Francisco/Oakland or Vegas, just because it is one of the few airlines that flies in and out Burbank, which he said is a really nice/convenient airport for him to fly out of.

Kel Varnsen

FirstExit wrote:

Kevin Smith is hilarious...


...but the dude should seriously lose some weight.

What I don't get is that if you are rich, rich enough to live in Ben Affleck's old Hollywood house, how the hell do you get so fat. I mean if you are rich it should be nothing to hire a trainer to make sure you get regular exercise and a chef to make sure all your meals are healthy food that tastes awesome. Yet when I used to read his blog the guy was hitting the McDonalds drive thru all the time. Wha

milarso

Kel Varnsen wrote:

What I don't get is that if you are rich, rich enough to live in Ben Affleck's old Hollywood house, how the hell do you get so fat.

You buy lots of really expensive food?

pandora

Kel Varnsen wrote:

FirstExit wrote:

Kevin Smith is hilarious...


...but the dude should seriously lose some weight.

What I don't get is that if you are rich, rich enough to live in Ben Affleck's old Hollywood house, how the hell do you get so fat. I mean if you are rich it should be nothing to hire a trainer to make sure you get regular exercise and a chef to make sure all your meals are healthy food that tastes awesome. Yet when I used to read his blog the guy was hitting the McDonalds drive thru all the time. Wha

McD's is a very addictive drug for some

mca47

LaFours wrote:

I read his tweets, and listen to SModcast. Kevin is under no delusion that he's fat, he told the story of breaking a toilet seat once. As he said he's that fat that he can't fly Southwest, which he does all the time. This wasn't him being pulled off for being too fat, the plane was packed, the captain wanted everyone settled so they can take off. Someone made a judgment call that he was the one to go (read his last blog about this). Who that person was no one knows I guess. But he took a later flight on Southwest by the way.
I suggest getting his last SModcast to get his side of what happened before backing a corporation. I mean this is an airline that has booted a woman for showing too much leg, a person that was wearing a bush cheney rice shirt that read meet the fuckers...sooo go ahead and align yourselves with the greyhound bus of the skies. I'm backin Silent Bob.

It has nothing to do with "backing a corporation", rather the logistics of how the airline works.
He had his two tickets for his regularly scheduled flight. He decided that he wanted to catch an earlier flight, so he was put on the standby list. My guess as a frequent flier on Southwest he was atop that list (I know I am when I fly with them).
If he was printed a new boarding pass, he likely had one or two of the last seats on the plane. And for those that don't fly SW, it is certainly a center seat.

If this is the case, and it sounds like it is, the plane at this point is ready to backoff from the gate...just waiting on that last person.
My guess was that the overhead bins were packed (as they always are in this case) so they made him gate-check a bag...also delaying the flight a couple minutes. I don't know who he tried to squeeze in between (they could also be large), but I'm guessing it was probably incredibly tight and the other passengers were complaining.

Because the airline was doing him a favor by putting him on that flight, I'm guessing there was a lot of fuss between himself, the other passengers, and the flight attendant.
Ultimately, it was likely the pilot who decided to toss him.

A guy who could barely fit in his seat (where he admittedly buys two so he can fit better) and causing the plane to be delayed...I have no problem with them tossing him.

And besides, he THEN got on his regular/booked flight without an issue.

Poor fat man!

mca47

milarso wrote:

You should listen to his podcast. http://www.smodcast.com
I know it's just his side of the story, but it sounds like he kinda got screwed.
He also went to great lengths to elaborate on why he normally buys two seats, and it's not because he can't fit into one, rather that SW is cheap, he is rich and he doesn't like to talk to people on airplanes.
He said he has flown several times on SW with just one seat, and it was never a problem until the other day...seems odd to me.
You said yourself- you've flown with several "Kevin Smiths" in your day- apparently the only one they let get on the plane, get settled, and then haul off in front of 200 people is the one that they recognize from TV...

If he buys two tickets to "not sit next to someone because he doesn't like talking to people", wouldn't he have to purchase three then?
With Southwest, you have no control over who sits in your row. If he had two seats, there is still one more, and with a full flight, someone is sitting in that third...and therefore could chat him up, which he hates so much.


I'm sure he does and can squeeze into one seat, but I don't buy his reasoning "for not wanting to talk to people". It is strange why he got the boot, but if you read my latest post above, my guess there was more to the story than then picking him out because he is famous.
Yeah, he has a podcast out, but it would also be interesting to hear a podcast from a flight attendant, another passenger, or the pilot...

milarso

mca47 wrote:

It has nothing to do with "backing a corporation", rather the logistics of how the airline works.
He had his two tickets for his regularly scheduled flight. He decided that he wanted to catch an earlier flight, so he was put on the standby list. My guess as a frequent flier on Southwest he was atop that list (I know I am when I fly with them).
If he was printed a new boarding pass, he likely had one or two of the last seats on the plane. And for those that don't fly SW, it is certainly a center seat.

If this is the case, and it sounds like it is, the plane at this point is ready to backoff from the gate...just waiting on that last person.
My guess was that the overhead bins were packed (as they always are in this case) so they made him gate-check a bag...also delaying the flight a couple minutes. I don't know who he tried to squeeze in between (they could also be large), but I'm guessing it was probably incredibly tight and the other passengers were complaining.

Because the airline was doing him a favor by putting him on that flight, I'm guessing there was a lot of fuss between himself, the other passengers, and the flight attendant.
Ultimately, it was likely the pilot who decided to toss him.

A guy who could barely fit in his seat (where he admittedly buys two so he can fit better) and causing the plane to be delayed...I have no problem with them tossing him.

And besides, he THEN got on his regular/booked flight without an issue.

Poor fat man!

You really should listen to the podcast, it will help with all of the guessing...

mca47

Kel Varnsen wrote:

What I want to know is what the hell is Kevin Smith doing, flying economy class on Southwest Airlines? Can't the dude afford to spring for business class?

Southwest is an economy airline. They don't have first class or business class.

Regionally, they are incredibly convenient. They have flights pretty much every hour, and they fly to destinations others don't.
They also allow you to catch earlier flights for no extra cost if there is room.
I fly in and out of LA and Burbank all the time, and I've seen quite a few celeb-types flying them.

milarso

mca47 wrote:

If he buys two tickets to "not sit next to someone because he doesn't like talking to people", wouldn't he have to purchase three then?

On the Podcast, he said the only time he buys two seats for himself is when he flies with his wife, so they can have a whole row. So, yeah, he does buy three tickets on those occasions.
He also said that he flies SW regularly and the times that he buys two tickets for himself are "few and far between." So my assertion of it being normal was incorrect.

Kel Varnsen

mca47 wrote:

Kel Varnsen wrote:

What I want to know is what the hell is Kevin Smith doing, flying economy class on Southwest Airlines? Can't the dude afford to spring for business class?

Southwest is an economy airline. They don't have first class or business class.

Regionally, they are incredibly convenient. They have flights pretty much every hour, and they fly to destinations others don't.
They also allow you to catch earlier flights for no extra cost if there is room.
I fly in and out of LA and Burbank all the time, and I've seen quite a few celeb-types flying them.

Well my original question was why he was flying a discount airline to begin with? But the convenience factor makes it make a little bit more sense I guess. But do no airlines with first class or business class fly out of Burbank?