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15 February 2010

Director Kevin Smith Gets Kicked Off Southwest Air

Posted by Michelle Snow under: travel news .

The following story is not only a tale of caution to plus-size fliers, but also an ode to the power of social media in today’s world of travel.

It all started when director/actor Kevin Smith boarded a Southwest Airlines flight this weekend. He had originally bought two seats on one flight because he wanted to have that buffer when he flew. Understandable. But when a standby seat opened on an earlier flight, he decided to take it.

Well, that’s when the trouble started.

It appears that some Southwest employee on that flight deemed Mr. Smith was not able to fit the seat (even though he proved he could) and he was asked to leave the plane.

What happened first was a flurry of Tweets by Smith to Southwest asking why he was booted. Then came a volley of back and forth Tweets between the two.

Smith detailed on a series of Tweets (starting with this one) what happened. He even posted the self-portrait photo to the left via Twitpic.

Then Southwest issued this press release on the issue claiming they did indeed ask him to leave the plane due to concerns about him not fitting the seat. At the time, he was offered a $100 travel voucher for his “inconvenience.”

Things became even more involved following that, with several phone calls back and forth, and earlier today, a Southwest blogger named Linda posted an apology to Smith online but still stating that while the situation was handled badly, the airline stands by their policy of requiring those who cannot it into a seat to buy two. Essentially stating that even though Smith proved he could fit a seat, they will still eject single seat passengers for being basically too fat to fly — as determined by the crew of that plane.

Smith then published one final blog post on the subject stating while he accepts the apology and the offered refund on this tickets, he still takes offense at the implication that he is still too fat to fly in one seat.

As I wasn’t present at what actually has transpired, and can only go by this whole “he said, she said” interaction, it appears that there are still plenty of unanswered questions as to why exactly he was asked to leave the plane if he wasn’t deemed “too fat to fly” by a crew member of that Southwest flight.

I happen to be a plus-sized flier. I, too, can fit a seat with the arm down. But everytime I board a Southwest flight, I have to worry that at the whim of a crew member, I could be asked to leave the plane. This makes me not want to fly Southwest, unless I can afford to buy two seats. Which kind of defeats the whole reason I would fly the airline – the cheap seats.

If this rule is all about the comfort of the travelers seated around me, then why do I have to put up with fliers who reek of cigarettes or bad perfume, and children who insist on crawling all over me? What about the business travelers who sprawl out their laptops and work folders so I have so little room as to be able to turn the page on my book?

Anyways, regardless of your feelings on the issue, this whole incident is also an interesting snapshot of how social media has revolutionized customer service. Sure we’ve had the power of phone calls and emails for years. But there’s no denying that Twitter has played a huge role in drawing attention to this incident and perhaps, even the resolution.

So next time you travel, make sure you have not just the customer service number and email on hand for your travel providers (air, hotel, etc.), but also the Twitter IDs. It could provide the quick resolution you’re seeking.

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