Kevin Smith Flies Southwest Again For The First Time Since Weight Incident

Back in 2010, after Kevin Smith was ejected from a Southwest Airlines flight because he was told [...]

kevinsmith-southwest

Back in 2010, after Kevin Smith was ejected from a Southwest Airlines flight because he was told — in a politically correct manner — that he was too fat to fly, the Clerks and Mallrats filmmaker famously vowed that he would never use that airline again. On Friday, Smith was forced to end his six-year boycott with the airline in order to get to Planet Comicon in Kansas City on time. Never say never, right?

"Since @delta delayed my flight 4 hours, I now can't get to #KansasCity & @PlanetComicon unless I fly on @SouthwestAir," he tweeted. "So f--k you, #Delta. OK @SouthwestAir. Haven't been in you since our incident years back. But you're my only option to get to @PlanetComicon now. So let's dance."

For those of you that need a refresher on Smith's feud with Southwest, it involved the company's hush-hush policy of asking overweight passengers to book a second seat, and if they didn't or there wasn't a second seat available next to the one they purchased, the airline would eject them from the flight. Before Smith's humiliating incident, he had frequently used Southwest out of convenience, but he never encountered that policy because he often purchased multiple seats (sometimes a row) for privacy, not because of his girth. But on February 13, 2010, Smith was eager to get home to his wife and boarded an earlier flight. Because it was packed, Smith wasn't able to get an additional seat next to him. So he sat down between two petite women near the front of the plane, but after doing so, he was immediately confronted by a Southwest employee who told him he had to leave the plane. The airline claimed Smith wasn't able to lower both his armrests due to his size; however, Smith claimed that he demonstrated that he could and was still booted from the plane.

Once he unboarded the plane, Smith made the incident public, tweeting an endless supply of angry tweets detailing the encounter to his then 1.6 million followers. The airline quickly apologized and offered a $100 voucher, but Smith didn't accept either and used his immense platform to expose the unjust policy.

You can also listen to Smith recount the story in the video below.

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