Most everyone is aware of the controversy going on between director Kevin Smith and Southwest Airlines.  SWA removed him from a flight stating they believed him to be too big to fit the seat.  Kevin Smith tweeted and blogged about the issue, SWA has responded a number of times with apologies, etc. 

Well, I just read SWA’s Nuts About Southwest Blog post about Kevin Smith HERE.  I have to say that I had decided early on to not report or comment on this because, frankly, my reading of the incident yesterday caused me to believe both were a bit wrong in their actions and responses.  Now, I kind of wonder what’s going on at SWA quite a bit more than I wonder what’s going on with Kevin Smith.

You see, one of the very telling things about Kevin Smith’s tweets and blog posts is that he got names.  Names of captains, flight attendants and gate agents.  Another item of interest to me is that no one disputes that he fit into the seat with armrests down and no seat belt extender.  Yeah, he’s a big guy but he isn’t *that* big of a guy.  He certainly isn’t THIS person.  Any of the photos I’ve seen of him over the past 2 days leads me to believe he’d fit just fine on Southwest’s seats. 

First, the captain wants him off.  Then, it wasn’t the captain but other staff and in order to expedite the flight.  Huh?  This was an Oakland to LA flight.  It’s not that long.  You seriously want to tell me that comfort was the issue for anyone?  Do you really want to say this was in order to expedite the departure of a flight when he was already seated and no one appears to have complained?

I’m not sure if some person or persons are lying at SWA.  I don’t believe that SWA is malicious like this as a corporation.  But someone is either not telling the complete truth or, worse, concealing a hidden reason for these actions. 

Southwest has apologized, yes.  Unfortunately, by engaging in this debate, their apology is a bit hollow this time around.  They should investigate deeper, admit any issues whether they had to do with capriciously applied corporate policy or poor judgement on an individual basis.  To me, it just seems as if there is more to this story than is being told completely.  The odd part is that the story has evolved considerably on SWA’s part and not at all on Kevin Smith’s part.  Stranger still, SWA continues to not refute any facts cited by Kevin Smith.

Filed under: Airline News by ajax