Sometimes I really think the end of the republic is nigh. A large man who usually buys two seats (because he is so large) wants to snag an earlier flight which has only one seat, cannot fit without discomfort to himself and his hapless row-mates, so he cries, “discrimination!” Oh, and he also has a new film coming out soon. Hmmmmm. Grrrrrr.
According to a story in the Newark Star-Ledger website, Kevin Smith fit into the middle seat with the armrests down, but the flight crew believed he was a safety risk and removed him from the aircraft. Smith activated his 1.6 million Twitter followers to take Southwest Airlines to task.
The story clips from several bloggers, including Sonny Gill, the HuffPo and a couple of others. The debate seems to be over whether airlines need to make accommodations for “persons of size.”
Southwest has a policy. If you’re big, buy two seats. Smith knew the policy and often did so, according to numerous media reports. As a frequent traveler, I know that it’s good to get home early if you can. But if my choice is to wait a while and have my comfy two seats instead of being a human Panini, I’m waiting.
We all know that air travel today is like bus travel in 1966 (which I remember, thanks) — crowded into old, creaky seats, mashed together, with substandard sanitary facilities and somewhat, er, limited cuisine. Southwest does a fab job, in my book, of making a rather unpleasant task bearable, mostly with good cheer, Heineken and tasty bags of peanuts.
I don’t think they needed to apologize.
I can’t shake the idea that the esteemed Mr. Smith is subscribing to the old adage that all publicity is good. I wonder if we compare movie openings press coverage, that his clip count will be higher this time around.
Tags: Blog, effective communication, Journalism, Media Relations, PR, PR measurement, Public Relations, reputation management, Social Media, Twitter
Sean, I think it would be a good thing to listen to Kevin Smith’s side of the story because you are making huge assumptions with some of your statements.
He doesn’t buy two (and three!) seats at a clip because he’s fat. He buys them because a) he can afford to do so; b) because he doesn’t like to sit next to people (arrogant, but fine, he can afford it); and c) if his wife travels with him (who is, BTW, a super skinny actress) they can have a whole row.
There are several issues at play here.
One, SWA is NOT following their policy consistently. There was another ‘person of size’ three rows behind Kevin. Why wasn’t he asked to leave too? In fact, why weren’t ALL people of size asked to leave or forced to buy two seats if there was SUCH a safety concern. Hmmm, perhaps they were smart enough to know a class-action lawsuit when they see one.
Two, the SWA folks made an assumption that Kevin buys two seats due to his size versus his privacy. I doubt they even knew who he was…so that tells me, they profiled him and made the wrong assumptions.
Three, SWA is a “social” company. As such, they should be prepared for ANY type of social media issue that might occur with ANY person (Heck, it could have been you or me!).
There are a lot of issues with this story, on both sides. Methinks the truth is somewhere in between.
Thanks Beth — no doubt, there are myriad facts I’m not aware of, including, what his behavior was during the imbroglio, and what pressures the flight crew were under, etc.
I agree that the truth is somewhere in between — and indeed, perhaps they’re applying their policy haphazardly.
One could ask, too, whether the increasing size of American passengers will lead to bigger, not smaller, seats and larger aircraft — 29″ pitch is mighty tight for even a 5’9″ 185 pounder like me!
Thanks again for taking the time to comment. I appreciate it!
We don’t know the whole story, of course. But what DO we know?
Kevin Smith CHOSE to fly SWA.
He has flown SWA previously.
He is self described as “fat” and has been for a while.
SWA has a policy regarding “customers of size.”
So, in my opinion, enough from Kevin Smith. And SWA, you’ve apologized for the inconvenience, as you have done via social media with plenty of passengers previously. I thought SWA was prepared and handled it in a way that is consistent with their corporate personality. You can stop apologizing now.
Finally, if privacy is an issue and the reason he’s buying two seats, why is he on SWA? Fly another airline that’s got a VIP lounge where he can wait and board into a big first-class or business seat where nobody’s going to bother him.
Ed, thanks for jumping in.
Some years ago, my brother-in-law observed that people, generally, seemed to expect that they will go through life without ever being offended. Further, that being offended by something is a grievous personal slight, punishable by law.
I don’t like it one bit.
I don’t like that attitude either. And it’s coming around again today with Tiger Woods. The media attention on this event today has been around two things: a) What do you want to hear him say? and b) It’s a bogus event because the attendance is limited, there are no questions, etc.
On each count…
a) Who cares what he says? And why would anyone think they are so important that their opinion of what Tiger should say counts for anything? Why should I — or anyone — care what ESPN’s Mike Tirico wants to hear him say? Tiger cheated on his wife. That behavior — and any response — is between him and his wife/family. And for the media who say, “Yes, but he presented this image of being an honorable man, blahblahblah…” well, shame on us for buying it.
b) If it’s a bogus event, don’t cover it. Don’t go along, don’t buy it. Ignore him. It’ll start the process of not falling for this cult of personality. And if the response is “well, it’s news, so we have to cover it.” OK, then stop whining.
Sheeshhh….
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by CommAMMO: Driving Me Crazy: Southwest Didn’t Err http://bit.ly/bZpwCd Anyone else smell “publicity stunt?”…