On February 13, 2010 Actor-Director Kevin Smith was kicked off a southwest airlines flight because he was deemed a "security risk" because he was so fat that he needed two seats but they only had one available. Smith responded with a flood of tweets bashing southwest. He tweeted " "So, @SouthwestAir, go f*** yourself. I broke no regulation, offered no "safety risk" (what, was I gonna roll on a fellow passenger?)" When he later boarded another flight, he posted a picture of himself in the seat, writing, "Hey @SouthwestAir Look how fat I am on your plane! Quick! Throw me off!" " (http://abcnews.go.com/WN/kevin-smith-fat-fly/story?id=9837268). Southwest responded by posting an apology to Smith on their blog. (in case you don't know, Kevin Smith is famous for his role as 'silent bob' in the movies 'clerks' and 'mallrats'. the character 'silent bob' never says a word in the films). Is Southwest's apology less sincere because they titled their blog post "not so silent bob"? Does Smith even deserve an apology since he usually bought two seats? Should Southwest apologize for upholding thier policies?
southwest's apology: http://www.blogsouthwest.com/blog/not-so-silent-bob
I believe Southwest had every right to politely ask Mr. Smith to exit the plane after boarding standby. They have had a Customer of size policy for 25 years and it is issued to protect passengers on their aircraft. Mr. Smith usually buys two seats when flying Southwest and therefore should have taken that into account when accepting the standby seat. Southwest deserves respect for personally calling Mr. Smith and apologizing as well as writing this blog to the public. They were simply upholding a policy that is important for the safety of their customers.
ReplyDeleteI think that Kevin Smith just overreacted to the situation and caused a scene. When he purchases two seats every time, he should have expected nothing less and when he was offered one seat instead of two, I think that he should have denied it himself. I also think that Southwest messed up a little as well. If a person purchases two seats, they should have found a flight that had two seats open and if that would have happened, they could have avoided this whole thing. I think that it's humorous that southwest titled their apology as such because they really shouldn't be apologizing for holding to policy and more generally to the laws of physics.
ReplyDeleteI think the title is unnecessary for the apology. They could have simply stated it as “Our Dearest Apologies to Kevin Smith.” On the other hand, I believe that the apology was very formal and well worded. Southwest not only explained the whole situation with an apology, but also offered an insight into their policy of why they do what they do. I think that Smith handled the situation very poorly. I don’t believe that he has been wronged because Southwest was simply following their procedures. He was also the one who decided to change flights, Because of this, I don’t think Smith is entitled to an apology. Furthermore, I think the way he handled the situation was an immature reaction out of anger. It would have been more respectful for him to simply voice his opinion via email to the airline.
ReplyDeleteSouthwest Air definitely needed to apologize, not for Kevin Smith, but for their own personal image. This type of occurence happens on a fairly regular basis (I have seen it happen twice in about five or six flights) and it wasn't a big deal to the people who were affected. The difference between these being Kevin Smith's likeability and presence in the social media. I personally like Kevin Smith and his movies, but he can't be mad about a policy that has been in place for 25 years. It is difficult in his situation because he is on the borderline of this policy, but at the same time the workers on the flight were only doing their job and following company procedures. Since he had (supposedly) purchased two tickets to begin with, he was apparently aware of the policy and shouldn't be angry that they pointed out that he was breaking the rules.
ReplyDeleteNow to the actual apology: The title of the apologetic blog post was a poor decision, but it was also interesting. Southwest needed to apologize to Kevin Smith only to save face, and at that they did an excellent job. They pointed out the comfort and safety issues and reiterated that it is a policy that must be enforced.
Firstly, I think Kevin Smith was outrageous in his claims. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. If he was honestly upset with this- he could have left out all of his vulgar jargon and put out a statement to the public and probably could have gotten a better rise out of SWA and would still have his dignity. With that being said, I believe this apology could have been pulled out of some SWA exec's filing cabinet and Kevin Smith's name was written in over the last person's name who had the same complaint. All they do is explain the situation, claim they've made an apology, and then stand by their policies. This was a man who was publicly humiliated- not a chance for SWA to give a shout out to their policies. What they did was disrespectful and could have been handled better on all fronts.
ReplyDeleteI do not think Southwest should have to apologize to Mr. Smith for the situation and I don't see this post as a blog or an apology. I see it as Southwest just trying to maintain its public image after angry comments by an upset person. I believe Mr. Smith should apologize to Southwest because he was the one who decided to change his flight. Southwest has had their policy on people of size for over 20 years. Just because Mr. Smith feels he has been wronged doesn't mean Southwest needs to apologize. They made their decision because of the comfort of the people who would have to sit beside him. I think Mr. Smith just over reacted and should apologize at some point.
ReplyDeleteI think it really sucks that Kevin was kicked off the plane, and it sucks to have to be told that you are too big to do something. I think it was necessary however and it was obvious that Kevin was aware of this policy or that he was more comfortable himself when he had two seats. I think he was over dramatic, and if he was sincerely hurt by what happened, he could have conveyed that to Southwest and I'm sure they would've apologized and given him more than just a $100 voucher. I think Southwest was somewhat forced to reply because it would've looked bad on their ethos if they did not apologize about something made so public and dramatic. I don't think that they were wrong by their actions, but I think they could've possibly had a different solution. I'm sure not all of the seats were full on the flight, they could have tried to find a solution for him to stay on the plane first, before kicking him off. If they would have showed Kevin that they were trying to fix the problem, he would have been more understanding.
ReplyDeleteI think Southwest went above and beyond what they needed to do. This guy is a complete jerk for being such a five year old about this. With the economy as fragile as it is and the airline industry hurting for money, having a customer bashing you company as much as this guy did is bad news bears. Kevin deserved an apology and that is exactly what he got. It is understandable to be upset in a situation like this, but the rules were sufficently outlined. I think the blog question should have asked what we thought about the NAAFA boycotting Southwest and other airlines that are not accomidating for fat people. Here is what I think... Every discriminated group in histroy had a problem they couldnt cange: a perminant loss of mobility, the color of their skin, or their gender. GO TO THE GYM ITS AN EASY FIX.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I do not think that Southwest needed to apologize, I think with the title it was less sincere than it could have been. I think Kevin Smith overreacted to the situation, and I believe the airline handled it properly.I think if Kevin were a little more sincere in his complaint, maybe it would have been proper for Southwest to offer an apology but due to the vulgar language of Smith's tweet I do not believe it was even necessary for Southwest to aknowledge the complaint.
ReplyDeleteI think that the apology from Southwest Airlines was well written, although i believe that an apology was not needed. Smith over reacted to the whole situation and just blew it way out of proportion. The company was just following their own policy that has been set in stone for years. They can not change it just for Smith or else they would have to change for everyone. I think that Southwest handeled the whole situation the best possible way that they could, and the only onen at fault here was Smith.
ReplyDeleteI personally don’t think that Southwest airlines needed to apologize to Mr. Kevin Smith; however it was nice of them to make a personal phone call to Smith to apologize for any offense. The title, on the other hand, was pretty unprofessional and discredits the apology, but I do feel that this blog wasn’t so much an apology as it was a way to explain to the public what happened and their policy regarding the two seats. After reading that Mr. Smith had gotten two seats on a regular basis, I didn’t feel bad for him at all. He knew going onto the airplane that getting kicked off was a possibility. The Airline was only looking out for the safety and comfort of all of their passengers, and that is respectable.
ReplyDeleteFrom my point of view, the blog Southwest Air posted is more an explanation to the public than an apology to Kevin Smith, as we can also indicate from the title. But it is smart. Because on one hand it did mention "sorry" at the very beginning, while on the other hand, it explains and reveals the whole picture to the public so that they would not be misled by biased statements. In fact, Southwest Air did the right thing. To the consideration of other costomers' safety and comfort , they are supposed to kick big Smith off the plane. Every single adults should be sensible enough to understand that. In this case, Kevin Smith doesn't deserve our sympathy.
ReplyDeleteIn my point of view, in the blog post southwest's apology seems not to be very sincere with the title " Not so silent Bob". From the entire article, southwest tried to explain the reasons that the situation happened rather than apologized. They keep saying their policy is like that even before 25 years ago, and nobody breaks the rule.According to southwest's act,it means that they think Kevin Smith is overacting about this incident. However,in the first place, Kevin Smith deserves a apology because he has bought two seats all the time when he travel with Southwest. He already know he is probably too "big" for only one seat. The problem is Smith's action was disrespectful to Southwest.Southwest wasn't doing wrong for upholding their policy,it's not necessary to apologize for that. The thing is, Southwest needs to apologize for the inconvenience caused to Kevin Smith.
ReplyDeleteI think Southwest does not need to apologize to Kevin Smith, since they operate their company under the approperiate policies. But they did not handle this situation well. It is their fault to ask Kevin Smith get on board, who needed two seats, however, there was only one there. They should not got him on and kicked him off later. It is really insulted to anybody. Although this apologize blog was well orgnized and used serious words, the title is a little bit inapproperate. On the other hand, Kevin Smith over reacted to this. He should understand that it was the policy that traveller need to purchase two seats if they overweighted. There is no need to make this so big.
ReplyDeleteSouthwest, just like all other big commpanies is worried about protecting their images when incidents occur. I do not feel like the apology had any sincerity in it at all, even the title is a joke. Although I think Smith blew the situation out of proportion, I still think he deserved some sort of an apology. Most of blog was about what Southwest did and the company policy, it was never focused on the passenger. I think it was good that they cleared up any confusion about the policy, but they went about it in a stuck up way. Southwest never really admitted to doing any wrong and stuck strictly to business.
ReplyDeleteI think South Airlines did an excellent job in the statement except for the title which was “Not so silent Bob”. This title makes me feel like that South Airlines are over cynical and offensive towards Kevin Smith’s issue which has a bad influence to their fame. South Airlines successfully stated the whole thing and how did they deal with Kevin’s issue according to their reasonable claimed procedures in the statement. I also regard Kevin’s reaction to the treatment as overdone. He didn’t say he was changing his original flights in his claim and appeared to be too angry. Hence, I believe this is an irrational fight between two big guys either of whom is intended to step back.
ReplyDeleteI think there is no doubt that southwest did a right decision to ask Mr. Smith to leave the airplane. The airline company has to take responsibility to every costumers. they have to make sure costumers get a safe and comfortable trip. Policy is policy. On the other hand, Air company should have a public apologize to Mr. Smith. It seems not sincere because of a aggressive tittle " not so silent Bob". Although airline was following the rules, Bob deserves a apologize.
ReplyDeleteSouthwest has established policies that must be enforced across the entire board as to not show favoritism. I do not think that either party was "in the right," they both seemed to take a bad and uncomfortable situation and make it worse. They both should be embarrassed. And the title as many have pointed out just shows how casually Southwest handled the situation. And Mr. Smiths comments were ridiculous. He put himself in that situation as much as Southwest put him in that situation.
ReplyDeleteBy apologzing to Kevin Smith, Southwest wanted to show its tolerance and respects to its customer. No matter who is right, taking the responsibility in this situation is a proper way for a large corporation to save its image. The title used by Southwest is a good choice. I felt it was ironic to Kevin Smith. In this blog, Southwest did apologize to Kevin West, but did not admit itself had done something wrong, since it just sticked to its policy.
ReplyDeleteI thought Southwest Airlines was very rude in the title of this blog, but other than that, the apology seemed very sincere. This alone though takes away from much of the credibility of the company. Southwest goes from utmost professionalism to returning insults, which is not good. Mr. Smith handled this entire situation very immaturely by carrying out the issue for such a long while. I do not understand why Mr. Smith made such a big deal about it, possibly he was embarrassed, because Southwest clearly stated in their apology (and several other places) what the policy was. It makes me angry that adults still act like little kids when their feelings get hurt, and I think most of Kevin Smith's fans realized that. Safety first, then laughs.
ReplyDeleteI think the apology was rather sincere, although the title of the blog was rather insulting. I think Kevin Smith kind of made a big deal about it by posting that on his twitter, and could have went about it in a more proffessional way.
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