Even living in the provinces of the Philippines, I am aware that Southwest Airlines has a “buy two seats if you are too big” policy.
So now, an overweight Hollywood guy that only the “hip” have ever heard of has decided to milk the policy for all it’s worth. If the guy is so “hip” and well known, why is he using this to get publicity?
Because he is all over the news, and is planning to discuss this on Larry King Live (and yes, we get CNN International here in the provinces of the Philippines too).
The media is all over it, including questioning why he was taken off one flight and then promptly given a seat on another flight.
Well, the NYTimes cuts through the publicity stunt and explains:
In its statement Southwest said that Mr. Smith, right, originally bought two seats for a flight from Oakland, Calif., to Burbank — “as he’s been known to do when traveling on Southwest†— but went standby on an earlier flight, where only a single seat was available. The pilots decided that Mr. Smith needed more than one seat…
This is a safety decision, not discrimination.
Someone who is (how should I put this gently) morbidly obese (the term we use in medicine) often has his or her body impinge on the comfort of those sitting in ajoining seats. Fully packed airlines are bad enough without worrying that every move you make will result in elbowing the guy next to you, or having his or her elbow settle on your bosom because it has nowhere else to go. Then there is the problem of meal service, and bathroom breaks.
The UKTelegraph has a nice photo HERE of the problem. And there is an interesting discussion about the photo and the problem at FlightGlobal.
A lot of the comments expose the hatred of obese people, which in the health conscious US is now a big “sin”, while the obese and largeboned post back with the PC idea that “obesity is a disability/illness and you aren’t allowed to discriminate”. Others, who are big boned and tall, point out that maybe the seats themselves are part of the problem.
All of this is beside the point. Your “rights” stop at my face, and this includes your “right” to a single airline seat if you are obese, big boned, or otherwise larger than average so that it means you take up part of my seating space and make my flight miserable.
But, in case of an accident, this becomes a safety hazard, both for the overweight person and for those sitting next to him.
As for me: my definition of hell is the 12 plus hour flight over the Pacific.
I’d be happy if larger seats, more leg room, and allowing us to walk up the aisles whenever we wanted so we don’t get deep vein thrombosis.
On the other hand, if airlines did that, the tickets would be so expensive that few of us on limited incomes could afford to travel.
As for Mr. “silent Bob”: he’s milking it for all the publicity that it’s worth. Of course.
But the dirty little secret is that, if SouthWest Airlines sticks to their guns and insists their policy on two seats for the morbidly obese is correct, they will end up with a lot more customers.
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Nancy Reyes is a retired physician living in the rural Philippines. She writes on medical matters at HeyDoc Xanga blog.
5 users commented in " Fat Actor’s Publicity Stunt. Nope. Don’t Sit Next to Me "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackConsidering that SW is an American based airlines and 30% of Americans are considered too fat to fly SW, I don’t see how this helps SW. Will this stop the reeking guy who has been in Vegas for three days drinking from slobbering on me as he finally passes out? Will this stop the mom and her lap toddler who insists on putting their sticky fingers in my hair? Will this stop that 6’5″ guy from kicking me repeatedly? No. It may stop the obese from flying SW, but not likely since SW only randomly enforces this 25 year old policy. This was not even about Smith and his bulk, if it was then they would have booted off the other just-as-fat passengers on the flight.
This is a stupid policy on SouthWest’s part. I am tiny and barely weigh a 100 pounds, and fly long haul flights (14-15 1/2 hours) regularly. I’d rather sit beside a polite, considerate fat person than so many passengers. Kids kick you from behind, grab your hair from over the seat and scream quite regularly. Drunks spill drinks on you and spit on you. I’ve been in the center seat on flights, where despite the fact that the normal size people on either side of me have one armrest to themselves, both have taken the only armrests available to me. Some people act like you’ve committed a mortal sin if you ask them to allow you out to use the washrooms.
But the worst of the worst, and a true risk to many passengers’ health, are the heavy perfume wearers. With a large number of people including children suffering from asthma, and with approximately 70% of those getting asthma attacks caused by perfumes, and being one of those people, I can assure you, they are the worst people to sit beside or even near. Often the stewardesses are even worse than the passengers and I get asthmatic every time they pass me going up and down the aisle. That should not be allowed as it poses a serious risk to many passengers’ health. In fact, in Nova Scotia, Canada, it is illegal to wear perfumes in public places, for that very reason….at least in public, if I encounter someone with heavy perfume, I can get away from them….no such luck on a plane.
Airlines need to make their seats larger…plain and simple. If they are truly concerned about the health and safety of their passengers, they should make flights perfume free and ban their staff from using perfumes (as they already do in many work places).
This is just discrimination on SW’s part, and in my opinion, a bad business decision. I wonder how many people decide not to fly with them for fear of being embarassed by them?
BTW, you say only a few people know Kevin Smith…that is soooo wrong…you might want to wiki him. A very accomplished director and actor and any movie goer would know who he was, not just the trendy ones. And, he’s not very fat at all…looks like many other Americans.
Peg, although 30percent of Americans are overweight, only 5 percent are morbidly obese.
I’m going to agree that you may want to google Kevin Smith. The man has written, directed, and/or produced a slew of movies which are extremely popular with a specific demographic of viewers. He has also guest-written many comic books at the invitation of the publishers.
It is obvious that you foster a hatred for the obese. Do you also hate little people? What about those with deformities? If a guy has a broken leg, do you feel he is impinging on your rights because his splinted leg is in the aisle?
I assume writing is a part-time gig for you and that your real job is judging those you find less worthy of life than yourself, but you might want to try a little empathy and imagine yourself as a “morbidly obese” individual. I am sure you would say that it could never happen to you and all the regular blah, blah, blah that morons like yourself consistently employ when you feel you are superior to someone in a different position, but you might consider that for some, it may not be a choice, and for those that it is, they may have much more serious problems that led to their current state.
Would it be ok with you if SouthWest decided to longer allow anyone with a specific hair color or who practices a specific religion to no longer be allowed to fly, perhaps because they might be a terrorist and that is certainly a safety issue and their rights end when you get concerned??
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