Hot Topics (2/14): Too fat to fly?

[Cafe GroupAdmin]

Director Thrown Off Oakland Flight Over Weight

A cult-favorite movie director has claimed that he was thrown off a Southwest Airlines flight out of Oakland due to a dispute over his weight.

Kevin Smith, the creator of movies like Clerks, Dogma, and the upcoming Cop Out, posted a series of angry, sarcastic messages on his Twitter feed (@ThatKevinSmith) blasting Southwest Airlines for allegedly throwing him off a flight at Oakland International Airport after he had already been seated and buckled in.

According to Smith, a flight attendant told him the flight captain had deemed him a safety risk and requested that he leave the flight.

"I broke no regulation, offered no 'safety risk,' (what, was I gonna roll on a fellow passenger?)," he wrote. "I'm way fat... But I'm not THERE just yet."

Smith's followers (numbering more than 1.6 million) flooded Twitter with support for the filmmaker and insults for Southwest Airlines' official Twitter page.

The Southwest Airlines' Twitter feed posted several messages saying they were aware of Smith's allegations and promised to investigate.

Smith seemed less than willing to accept an apology and continued posting pointed jabs laced with profanity, even as he sat on another Southwest Airlines flight to Burbank.

"Dear @SouthwestAir, I'm on another one of your planes, safely seated & buckled-in again, waiting to be dragged off in front of the normies," he wrote. Smith soon posted a picture of himself on the flight with the caption, "Look how fat I am on your plane! Quick! Throw me off!"

Kevin Smith agreed with a follower's suggestion to air his grievances on his wildly popular podcasting series, dubbed SModcast.

"Wanna tell me I'm too wide for the sky? Totally cool. But fair warning, folks: IF YOU LOOK LIKE ME, YOU MAY BE EJECTED FROM @SOUTHWESTAIR," Smith wrote.

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Should overweight passengers be kicked off flights if they are deemed a 'risk'? 

What are your thoughts about this situation?

Are you Team Southwest Airlines or Team Kevin Smith?

[JamieLeigh02]

I am team Kevin Smith. Unless he has drastically changed, I don't remember him being that big of a guy,

[izzybear0217]

I am team Kevin Smith. I don't think he was too big for the seat. Yeah hes a little fat but if he can sit down and buckle then why kick him off

[EireLass]

If he was already in the seat and buckled then how fat was he really? Obviously he fit in the seat. I think prior to boarding, the staff knows who's going to fit and who's not. They don't need to make a scene of "kicking them off". If you're too big to fit in one seat, and a 2nd is needed, by moving the arm rest, then you should have to pay for 2 seats. And I always fly Southwest.

[Aslen]

Team Kevin Smith...he's big, but I don't think he's THAT big!

[unspecified42]

Gotta agree with everyone else. I see nothing wrong with charging overweight people who cannot contain their rear ends in one seat the price of two tickets, but if they can I'm not totally sure what kind of a risk he's posing. Is an airplane really not capable of carrying an extra 100 pounds or whatever? They cut it THAT close with the fuel? Really?

[purestambition]

Fat people have been flying for awhile now....I know now they charge them like for two seats.   Why all of the sudden start kicking them out?  I mean as fat goes....I think Kevin is on the skinny side compared to my hippoish MIL.  My MIL has a pacemaker, a valve in her heart, needs oxygen like 24-7, she's mean as hell and would most likely start a fight on board and they STILL let her fly!

[jlizgar]

How fat does a person have to be to be considered a "safety risk" and what exactly are they afraid a fat person will do or cause? Im confused! I think its only fair to charge for two tickets if a person is so big they take up two seats but if they paid for the extra seat then great, no biggie, no reason to kick anyone off the plane ya know. Are they afraid they might knock into other passengers when they walk the aisles?

[RunninRagged64]

I honestly think that airlines need to have a few extra-large seats for large people on each plane. 

[Wyldbutterfly]

I'm confused. How is he a safety risk? That makes absolutely no sense to me. I fly Southwest all the time when I do fly. Just recently went to Florida and the guy I sat next to on the plain was bigger than Kevin. **scratches head**

[Randi02]

If you're too fat for the flight, why would you expect them to let you stay?

They have weight and size regulations for a reason. You're flying hundreds of thousands of feet in the air. If you're considered a risk, why would they put all of the others in that position?