Too Fat To Fly?

So, I don't know who else has heard about this but it has pissed me off to no end. And maybe it's because I myself am a "larger" person, but there are plenty of "normal" people who agree with me...

A few days ago (I believe it was Saturday) Kevin Smith [director/actor] was flying SouthWest Airlines. He was hoping to catch an earlier flight and decided to try standby. He was let on a flight and after he had already sat down... he was booted off the flight. Why? Well, because he was deemed a "safety hazard." The woman (I believe a gate agent) said it was unsafe for him to be on board if he couldn't put the arm rests down. Smith explained that the arm rests were up when he sat down, and showed that they did indeed go down and he fit in the seat just fine. He even asked the two women on either side of him if they were comfortable and they said they were fine, and if not it was only an hour flight. Regardless of this, they still forced him off the flight.

For the full-length story (including SWA's later horrible treatment of a larger woman on his LATER flight) go to smodcast (dot) com. Also, his blog (http://silentbobspeaks.com/?p=393).

Now, you could also go to SWA's blog and see what they say. They say sorry, but in a backhanded "you're still too fat for our planes" way. You can go here (http://www.blogsouthwest.com/blog/my-conversation-with-kevin-smith-0) for that.

What is ALSO disgusting? Some of the comments responding to SWA's blog. Things like "thank you SWA for ensuring normal people like us can still fly comfortably and safely, in case of an emergency I don't want to climb over a morbidly obese person. And I also hate when they spill over into MY seat."

Um... 1) how ignorant. Are we going to start segregating "fat" and "thin" people now? "Large" people have to fly too, I know it sucks for "normal" people but that's life. They're still people, so try to treat them humanely for God's sake.

2) KEVIN SMITH ISN'T THAT FAT. He admits he is a large guy, yes, BUT he fit into SWA's policy. His arm rests could go down, he could buckle up without an extender, and yet they went on and kicked him off anyway.

If SWA would just admit that they were wrong, life could be fine and dandy. But they just keep covering up and covering up and it's bullshit.

Anyway. That's all. :)

Roses,

Allison