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Kevin Smith Too Fat to Fly on Southwest

Posted on Feb 17th 2010 2:00PM by Martha Edwards

Filed Under: Celebs & Entertainment

"I'm way fat," actor and director Kevin Smith recently tweeted. And it seems Southwest Airlines noticed, too -- they recently kicked Smith off of a flight for being too fat to fly comfortably in one seat. But he's definitely not staying silent on the subject -- Smith took to twitter to vent his anger in a few dozen colorful tweets on what he feels is an unfair case of "Fatty Ejection."

Was Southwest justified in their decision? You might remember that a couple of years ago, Smith admitted that he was so heavy he broke his toilet seat. But Smith was already seated when he was ejected from the flight and had flown with the airline a few days earlier with no trouble.

"I'm not [that fat] just yet. But if I am, why wait til my bag is up, and I'm seated with arm rests down in front of a packed plane with a bunch of folks who'd already identified me," he wrote. Interestingly, those arm rests play a key role Southwest's policy on overweight passenger. "Customers who are unable to lower both armrests ... should proactively book the number of seats needed prior to travel. The armrest is considered to be the definitive boundary between seats," they state on their website. Why, then, would they eject someone who could sit with the arm rests down?

For their part, Southwest Airlines is also using Twitter as a way to defend themselves. They initially offered Smith a $100 voucher, but that wasn't enough for Smith so they had Linda Rutherford, a rep for Southwest Air, contact Smith directly on the issue. "Our Employees made the decision to remove Kevin after a quick judgment call that he might have needed more than one seat for his comfort and those seated next to him," she said, admitting that "the communication among our Employees was not as sharp as it should have been and it's apparent that Southwest could have handled this situation differently."

It's Southwest's policy that overweight and obese passengers who can't fit into one seat comfortably need to buy another one -- however, if the plane isn't full, they can get a refund on the extra seat. Other carriers in the USA also have a similar policies, though Southwest maintains that they're the only one who offers a refund. However, in countries like Canada, it's illegal to force someone to buy an extra seat, so the airline has to swallow the cost of accommodating obese passengers comfortably.

While Smith is struggling with the seatbelt, check out how one healthy flyer, Uma Thurman, uses her plane time to get fit.

7 Comment

Tags: air travel, AirTravel, fat tax, FatTax, fatty ejection, flight, kevin smith, overweight passengers, southwest airlines

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Steve D 8-12-2010 @ 8:38PM

If he's too overweight to fit into an airline seat, then he should have to buy another seat or get off the plane. I hate sitting next to fat people that "overflow" into the seats around them. I shouldn't have to have their bodies in my seat either.

Melody M 8-12-2010 @ 10:24PM

Is that because at one time you were obese or heavy yourself. I have come to realize that people who have been heavy in the past and lost the weight are the first ones to come down on others that are heavy. I'm not saying all ex-heavies do but a lot do. So is that why you "hate being by fat people." You know sometimes people that are over-weight can't help it. Sometimes its a medical problem that is causing the weight not necessarily because of their eating habits. I wouldn't be to quick to judge people if I were you.

alice 8-12-2010 @ 11:13PM

You don't have to be formerly heavy to not appreciate an obese person sitting next to you. It is frequently warm and stuffy in the plane, and having someone and their body heat up against you for several hours is not a pleasant sensation. You don't have room to move at all. I wish they would make the plane seats bigger for all involved.

JAKE 8-12-2010 @ 11:50PM

YES, they should have to purchase 2 seats, you don't have the right to "flow" into my seat that puts my safety in jeopardy if there is an emergency!!!

smb2115 8-13-2010 @ 4:08PM

It depends how overweight the person is. The airlines say the armrest must be in the down position and the person cannot flow into the next seat. That seems reasonable to me.
I have had really big men with very wide shoulders sit next to me and I have had to hunch over to even feel comfortable in the seat.
The last time I flew, I just moved my seat but the flight was not full.

MJ 8-13-2010 @ 8:57AM

Southwest's policy is absolutely reasonable and as respectful as possible to all involved. If you are opposed to making overly large people buy two seats if they need two seats, then you must also be in favor of denying boarding to a perfectly average sized person who bought a legitimate ticket and simply had the misfortune of being one of the last to board. It is as simple as that: in the case of a sold out flight where there is one seat left but it is unusable because another passenger is using two seats, do you deny boarding to the person who bought one seat and only needs one seat or to the passenger who only bought one seat but actually needs two? Southwest is perfectly in the right and their refund policy covers all other situations because it allows those passengers to buy only one seat but use two as long as the extra seat wasn't already purchased by another passenger. So if you're opposed to requiring people to buy the space they need, think about what you're advocating.