Dammit! i thought I was up on my celebrity fat people shows. 
I believe they’re called shants.
If you’re all that big, you SHOULD be forced to buy two tickets.
Haven’t flown in a couple of years, but the biggest problem I see is the ever-shrinking seats and leg room. I’m 5"11 and 230 pounds. Heavy, but not HUGE.
HOWEVER, the average airline seat width, according to several sources, is a mere 17.2" (the average car seat is 22" wide). My shoulders are about 22" wide, so I have no choice but to overflow at shoulder height into the seat next to me. (And nearly came to blows with a guy sitting next to me on one flight who kept accusing me of ‘leaning’ into his seat space and trying to shove me into the wall to get me to move over.) My legs are not particular long, but I also have severe problems with the leg room they provide. Thus the problem really boils down to the fact that they are trying to force people into very small “average size” seats that DO NOT accomodate people who are in any respect larger than that average. Hell, you could be a 6’2" and 140 pound toothpick and you’re still going to have problems with the leg room and shoulder width.
It’s kinda like the old coffin business, where they made standard sized coffins and anyone larger ended up having body parts cut off to make 'em fit. It’s not like there’s ‘overflow’ space on an airplane for the vast number of people who happen to be any larger than the absurd ‘average’ size model they use.
This is clearly a marketing opportunity for airlines; they could probably install a couple of rows of “couch” seats and upsell them to larger passengers–or even couples. They wouldn’t have any additional amenities like first class, they’d just be sold at a big premium.
I’ve been an armpit sandwich between 2 fat people before on a 3 hr flight. It was ridiculous that I was subjected to it. Neither of them was close to Smith’s girth. There is no way this person is fitting into one seat. If he is too thick headed to understand this then screw him. I sincerely hope he boycotts NW airlines.
That doesn’t solve anything. “I’m sorry sir/madam, all the lardo seats are taken”. It would have to be a convertible system that allows any of the 3 seats to be converted to 2 seats and on a full flight it would screw the airline out of the full price of the third seat so we’re back to selling 2 seats.
Kinda sad to note that Kevin had reduced to the low 200s, then gained it all back while making Zack & Miri. Perhaps he was sublimating his desire for Elizabeth Banks.
As they say, “all of our seats are first class.” :rolleyes:
I hate SW Airlines, and avoid them at all costs.
Back to the op, kicking Kevin Smith off the plane wasn’t a brilliant PR move.
I suspect - though I can not prove - that it’s a combination of inept customer “service” on the part of airline staff (which could be just a bad apple rather than their entire line up) and Mr. Smith’s Ever Expanding Waistline.
I’m 5’3" and I even fall into the “normal” range on the BMI scale. I find a Southwest seat to be cramped. It boggles my mind that Mr. Smith could “fit” into one of those seats. I’m sorry, maybe he should buy two seats.
That said - there is an art to approaching a customer on a sensitive subject. I would expect that “you are too big to fit into that single seat” would come under that category. The airline can probably improve how their people deal with these situations.
Perhaps he was in first class? If it was just a regular coach seat I would be a bit surprised if he could fit into it. The last time I flew I was with a friend who is probably about 5’8" and about 240 pounds and although my friend fit in the seat and could fasten the seat belt they weren’t comfortable at all until we raised the armrest and they spilled into about half of my seat.
He has made comments to the effect that he’s willing to go on the Daily Show and publicly sit in the SW Airline chairs if they provide them to show that he could fit. If he cannot fit, he’s stated he’ll donate $10k to a charity of their choice. He seems quite insistent that he could fit in the seat, and prefers buying two seats because he simply is anti-social and shy- and doesn’t want to talk to someone next to him if he can prefer it.
Obviously, you’ve never flown Southwest. They only have ONE class of seat. Just one. They’re all alike. That’s why the extra large
people need to buy two.
But they let this guy fly?
Granted that is American Airlines but shouldn’t all the airlines have the same policy?
I felt bad for that guy when the picture came out but that cannot be safe or comfortable for anybody.
I want to see him do that Daily Show bit.
Obese people are the new smokers. Now that the nicotine-addicted have been thinned out, the food-addicted are next on the list. Soon you’ll hear about how obesity is driving up health care costs more than doctor/insurance greed. There’ll be reports about how much cheaper air travel would be if capacity was raised by filling the aircraft with seats sized for “normal” sized people. That kind of stuff.
The politically correct get antsy when they can’t find anyone to complain about.
The article I read said that he had purchased TWO seats, so obviously he was aware of the policy; but was on “standby” for an earlier flight. There was a single seat available on the earlier flight, and he tried to sit in it; he claimed that he was able to lower the two armrests (SW’s requirement) but the crew said he could not. SW has already apologized to him, he was able to get on a later flight, they have given him a $100 voucher for a future flight. I can’t see what else they could do to make it up to a guy who was aware of the policy (and obviously believed he would not be able to fit into a single seat, that’s why he originally bought two).
You’re right, I’ve never flown Southwest. Buying two seats sounds reasonable.
I went to a medical seminar three years ago that was about this very thing. It was glaringly obvious that obesity was going to become the new thing to focus on, and I don’t think we’ve even seen the tip of it yet.
I have no doubt about doctor greed but obesity absolutely is causing health care costs to increase. Forgetting all about obesity related illnesses, the equipment alone is staggeringly expensive. Everything from larger wheelchairs to bigger beds to scales to lifts that need to accommodate 1000 pounds or more.
Believe it or not, the seminar I attended wasn’t about demonizing the obese. It was about obtaining more education to help them both with losing weight and treating them carefully, compassionately, and learning more about their specific needs.
More than any other health related issue there is more misinformation about weight out there than any other. Part of the problem is that weight loss is a multi-billion dollar industry and so many people want to believe in the quick fix or magic bullet. There is none. The hostility toward the obese is damaging and yet on the other side there are many in the fat acceptance movement who are doing far more harm than good spreading their absolute bullshit.
Through working with morbidly obese patients I’ve discovered (mostly by info given to me by them) that there is a swelling movement of people who want to sell them just as much garbage that there is nothing they can do about their weight; that they are just a helpless victim of their genetics.
There are already employers (a southern state, Alabama maybe?) who are charging their obese employees more for their health insurance than their non-obese employees. There are other employers (Whole Foods) who are giving bigger discounts to their normal BMI employees. I believe we’re going to see more and more of this. I can’t imagine how it’s going to turn out.
Yikes, what a hijack… sorry! It really could be it’s own thread but I wouldn’t know where to start.
Yes, I phrased my response poorly. My point was that I expect the obese will be subjected to more scrutiny and less tolerance in the future. People like to feel that they are inherently superior to others.
I also am peeved when a morbidly obese person intrudes on my personal space and wished that the rules were uniformly enforced. I agree that obesity is a contributing factor in many ailments. There are many reasons for being overweight but I think that many who cite medical reasons simply don’t exercise enough for their caloric intake.
It appears to me that Kevin Smith is a large person and that I would be uncomfortable sitting next to him on a flight regardless of whether he could put the armrests down. Maybe he was lashing out to cover his embarrassment. He knows he’s grossly overweight, but having made a stand, he’s reluctant to admit that he overreacted because he was tired or stressed. Additionally, strangers are now rushing to condemn him for being overweight or expecting special treatment. To paraphrase his blog, it’s one thing to know you’re huge and another to have people come out off the woodwork and point fingers at you for being huge.
What the hell was he doing flying Southwest anyway? I’m no celebrity or even someone with extra cash to spare, and I’ve never flown Southwest. Never will. I made that decision back when they used to do the cattle call seating. I heard they switched to assigned seating since, but I still won’t fly them after seeing the series on A&E I think it was.
There’s being an unassuming celebrity, and then there’s just being painfully cheap. If he wants to take the super cheap route, he can expect to be treated cheaply.
Not that I agree with how everything went down, but it shouldn’t have been a surprise to anybody.
I am not wealthy, but I have flown a lot, on all of the major US carriers and on over a dozen different airlines based in various countries around the world.
I think Southwest is HANDS DOWN the best US airline (their service is typically miles above and beyond Delta, Continental, United, Jet Blue etc.) and one of the best all around airlines in operation anywhere.
I think this Kevin Smith situation was handled poorly, but overall, Southwest (who still has first-come seating, NOT assigned seats) does an amazing job, and just about any person who flies regularly on several different airlines (so as to be able to compare) will tell you the same…
The woman was in the window seat while he was in the aisle seat (on the flight he ultimately got home on) with the middle seat empty, because he had purchased it. Nevertheless the woman was told that she should’ve purchased a second seat, even though there was an empty seat, and the policy does not apply on flights that aren’t full. When she told the employee that the seat was empty, the employee said that technically the woman should have to ask Smith if he was bothered that some of her fat might spill over into his empty seat. She was humiliated for no reason whatsoever.
Which they didn’t.
She wasn’t kicked off, but was hassled.
No, he normally buys two seats for the privacy. He bought two for the flight, but only one seat was available.
That isn’t the Southwest standard. It’s in the seat, armrests down, seatbelt on without an extender, period.
Southwest flies in and out of Burbank, which is more convenient to his home than LAX. Southwest has one of the best on-time ratings of any airline. And so long as you’re not fat (or worse fat and female or the trifecta, fat, female and black) Southwest has pretty good customer service. He flies a lot, should he pay more and go to a less convenient airport to fly on an airline with arguably worse service just because he has the money to pay more for those non-perks?