Someone at Southwest Airlines is going to be having a very bad Monday.

The airline that for years has touted it's champion customer service received quite a blow this Valentine's Day Weekend when a pilot  required an already seated (with the arm rests down, I might add) Kevin Smith to deplane due to his weight.  Kevin, the director and writer of such cult classic films as Clerks, Mallrats and Chasing Amy, is widely admired by both Gen X and Gen Y for his sardonic and amusing observations on everyday life. His Twitter feed, @thatkevinsmith, boasts 1,664,067 at the time of this blog writing, and even if you figure in a third of those people as being sex bots, that's still a pretty hefty following. 

Southwest's own policy states that passengers will be asked to buy an additional seat if they cannot put the arm rest down.  As Kevin was already seated with his carry on stowed and the arm rests fully down, this was not in violation of that policy.   In front of a plane full of people, his weight was called out and he was asked to leave.  Bad Form.  Even a flight attendant admitted later that he should not have been asked to leave.  And now, Southwest Air will have to fall on the Social Media Sword that they've successfully swung this last year.

Kevin tells the story through his Twitter feed, in his unique voice.  As I read it last night, I was stunned.  I couldn't understand why Southwest Air  would have done things this way, especially when it comes to ticking off a very vocal and talented writer and film maker.  The thing about filmmakers, they kind of know how the media works.  The thing about writers, they know how to tell a story.  The combination of the two will spell out some public relations mess that's going to stick to the shoes of Southwest for a while.

Then, upon my awakening this morning, I see the posted response from the Southwest Air Blog.  Their response is best summed up by Kevin himself:

@Southwest air "Our apology to Kevin smith and more details regarding the events from last night: http://cot.ag/96KHC7 " So your apology is "Sorry, sir. But you ARE kinda fat..."? I flew out AND back IN ONE SEAT, YOU PIECES OF SHIT! SModcast in two hrs tells WHOLE story.

They cite his earlier purchase of two seats, and indicate that it was for weight reasons.  No.  If I were Kevin Smith, the last thing I'd want to do is end up seated next to....well, me.  I talk to the people around me sometimes, and I know that's annoying.   And he's KEVIN SMITH.  People are going to talk to him.  Everyone knows someone, has written something, thinks something that they'd like to shove in the face of a successful Hollywood type.  An extra seat seems a small price to pay to stay out of "pitchland hell" for a flight.

Am I a bit Team Kevin on this one?  You bet. I can't side with stupidity, especially not consistently enforced stupidity.
This is just another great example of how careful we have to be with our customers.  The customer is not only right, ladies and gentlemen, but the customer is someone you have to respect.  They've got a voice, with teeth, and they're not afraid to use it.

Oh, and I'll never purchase a ticket on Southwest Air again.  Ever.