Airline gets twitter storm from passenger of size

[mmurray]

So this apparently well known film person who is overweight was thrown off his flight on the grounds that:

"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.

Kevin Smith 'Too Fat' to Fly Southwest - Kevin Smith : People.com (http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20344142,00.html)

He had bought two seats but decided to fly standby on an earlier flight which had only one seat left. He beat up a storm of complaints and got the airline to apologise.

I can't see his problem. No media seemed to interview the people seated on either side of him.

Last time this happened to me I was on the aisle of a three from Singapore to Sydney. The guy in the middle wasn't even fat but after awhile I realised he had been working out and couldn't tuck his arms in far enough not to take both armrests. 7 hours with my back bent wasn't that great and leaning in the aisle just risked a trolley in the head.

Michael

[Xeque]

Well, there's one airline, at least, that understands the problem for other passengers and is prepared to do something about it. Well done Southwest!

[Capot]

Well done Southwest!

Yes, well, up to the point where they started grovelling, giving him vouchers and apologising because he is not only obese and unable to occupy a single seat,
he is also a celeb.

Would a non-celeb have been grovelled to? Nope, and rightly so.

[thepotato232]

While fat pax eating up an entire row of seats is a sadly common problem, the Southwest policy tends to be exercised without the requisite application of brain power. The letter of the law is that if a pax cannot sit in the seat with the armrest fully down, they must buy an extra seat. The policy may or may not be enforced to the letter. With the all-coach "cattle car" configuration at SWA, the seat is usually 17" wide (actually fairly roomy by modern coach standards).

The problem I have is that my pelvic bone is 17" wide. I was one of those glandular freak, blunt-instrument American football linebacker types in a former life. Ask me how well I fit into a Learjet cockpit. By almost any standard (cardiological, muscle mass, body fat %), I'm in excellent physical condition. Just don't look at my BMI. That said, if I was to eat a big breakfast one morning, or was forced to board an aircraft while holding in a fart, I may or may not comply with the letter of the law.

All that said, Kevin Smith is not in excellent physical condition. He is one of those borderline cases. On the grand spectrum of American fatness, he registers somewhere between "Couch Potato" and "Roly-Poly". He came under scrutiny because he bought two tickets for an earlier flight that was later canceled, then stood by for a single seat. This raises a red flag to a crew that will then pay very close attention to whether he complies with the letter of the law. The fact that they apologized, paid him off, then put his ample butt on another plane no questions asked, suggests that it wasn't really a safety issue this time, and that they realized they'd over-applied the policy.

[radeng]

Even without allowing for obesity, people have been steadily getting bigger over the last century. Unfortunately, airlines haven't figured out that 17 inches isn't really wide enough these days for many westerners. Even some of the CC I've seen would have a hard time meeting the criteria of getting the armrest down.

[flyingfemme]

It's not just the armrests - as already pointed out, shoulders are often the widest point. My shoulders need 17" and I'm smaller than the average man. Legroom is also a factor; my knees are aften hard against the seatback in front.
Cheap flights are all very well but I'm not prepared to be uncomfortable for long unless I actually need to go somewhere. I love to travel but airlines don't get much of my business any more.
Sadly most people don't fly often enough to register what poor value they are getting. Unless a minimum size is mandated by law they will squeeze in as many cattle as they can.

[Load Toad]

Kevin Smith says his weight is out of control: 'I broke a toilet. That's how heavy I am.' | Hero Complex | Los Angeles Times (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomplex/2008/10/kevin-smith-say.html)

He's the size of a house - do you want him sat next to you when you are in trog class?

The following from the web site EHOWA:

when you get punted off a plane for being a "customer of size"? Do us all a favor and don't ******* cry about it. I'm sure it was embarassing for you but there were a lot of ways you could have handled what happened. Like for starters, don't be so ******* fat. Instead, and in typical celeb fashion, you chose the path of least resistance; blame everybody but yourself. Here's a newsflash, Kevin. It's not Southwest's fault that you decided to give up your two seat-wide berth in order to try and shoehorn yourself into a single seat on an earlier flight. It's not Southwest's fault that you CNN's headlines read, "Kevin Smith too fat to fly on Southwest" -- it's your own ******* fault. If they didn't have to kill seven cows to make you a belt, this wouldn't have happened. If you're embarassed that you're being portrayed as a two ton fatty in the media, then the only person you have to blame is yourself. How about you take some Goddamned responsibility for what happened? Wanna bitch about someone? Bitch about that fat guy in the mirror. Want to [encourage] your fans about a scortched earth policy? Why don't you try scorching your abs with some situps first. And suggesting that you were punted not because of your size, but because someone at Southwest didn't like your movies? Dude, get over yourself. You're not that important. God damn, Silent Bob, man the **** up. Being able to buckle a seat belt should be an everyday event, not a ******* cause for celebration. So instead of bragging about how you can afford to always buy two plane tickets, why don't you try spending a little of that dough on a gym membership. Me thinks you're dangerously close to turn into into just another Hollywood asshole. How deliciously appropriate that your upcoming movie is titled, Cop Out.

[Businesstraveller]

Celeb? - that's a bit generous in this case don't you think?

As far as sitting next to fat people is concerned, I certainly wouldn't want someone who couldn't fit into their seat to be spilling into mine. It would be rather likehaving a flat with a designated parking bay, which was impractical to use due to your neighbour parking a Hummer in the next bay!

If you have to fly, either get next to an empty seat, purchase a second seat or purchase a business class seat.