(Famous) Fat person kicked off airline

[miera_c]

https://twitter.com/ThatKevinSmith

Kevin Smith, movie director, was pulled off a Southwest Airlines flight earlier tonight - AFTER he was seated with the seatbelt on and the arm rests down - for being "too fat to fly."

No, reallyHe was put onto another SW flight, but he's clearly a

Comments

[stexgirl2000]

Heh, they picked on the wrong person. Kevin Smith isn't going to let this die, oh no.

[lilacsigil]

I'm glad that this time they've picked on someone famous and I'm even more pleased that it's a guy. I find their bullying especially amusing considering that Smith states that he *did* have the armrests down (as many fat men but few even slightly fat women can do) and there *were* empty seats on the plane. Bigotry and bullying exposed!

[miera_c]

He's also talking about a woman who was on the flight with him who got publicly chastized for not buying a second seat. He's going to give the details on a program going live on the web tonight. I'll update when it's up.

Also Southwest kicked 2 women off flights not long ago for not being "properly dressed" to be seen in public. This airline is a train wreck, if you'll pardon the pun.

[mylittleredgirl]

... wow. I thought about going to flight attendant school when I got laid off a few years ago, but now I'm incredibly glad that I didn't go that route. I can't imagine having to publically humiliate someone like that based on such a terrible policy! EEK.

[merlins_sister]

*blinks*

Seriously? How can this policy not be illegal??

Some companies just have it coming to them.

[miera_c]

They're protecting other passengers from being uncomfortable due to fat people taking up more than their alloted space in a single seat. At least, that's the justification. Of course, try to imagine them requiring a black person to wait until they can find a flight with an empty seat so the nervous white passenger doesn't have to sit next to hir, and then yeah, you wonder how on earth this can be legal.

But the bottom line is there's no case law or precedent regarding discrimination against people for being too fat, and won't be until one of these cases sparks a lawsuit.

[cat63]

If a person is "too fat to fly" why are they putting them on another plane?

It's not only probably illegal and nasty, it doesn't even make any sense!

But I agree that they're going to regret doing this to a high-profile sort of person, and serve them right.

[miera_c]

They have to wait for a plane with 2 empty seats so the fat person can have the two seats and not disturb the other passengers by being fat at them on a plane where they might have to touch.

Except when someone at the gate realizes this is Kevin Smith, the movie director, so they find him another flight fast in a desperate attempt to contain the damage.

[cat63]

They have to wait for a plane with 2 empty seats so the fat person can have the two seats and not disturb the other passengers by being fat at them on a plane where they might have to touch.

I have not the words.

But I bet Kevin Smith has, and I hope he uses them to flay these people.