Cindy Claveau

6. People who talk too much about nothing I care about - I'm not there to hear your stories, I'm there to get where I'm going and maybe grab a nap on the way!

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Decaf is for cowards.

Surreal

I've flown with kids and although sometimes it's a hassle, you can keep them quiet and well-behaved.... it takes some fore-thought, but mostly its the will to reign in your monster.

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Cindy Claveau

In my experience (if they're old enough to appreciate it), giving the kid the window seat keeps most of them occupied for a long time.

The little ones, though, should have a bottle or a pacifier to fight the pressure change. I completely understand them crying because their ears hurt.

Chip Midnight

That costs extra

Aimee Weber

Kevin Smith is a funny guy to follow in twitter. One running theme he's had through all this is that he would like to be interviewed by Oprah.

Well just now Larry King (@kingsthings ) tweeted that he would like to interview Kevin Smith tonight. Smiths response was "do you know @Oprah?"

LOL!

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The first amendment was never intended to protect speech that *I* don't like.

All the cool kids are following me on Twitter! http://twitter.com/aimee

(Warning, cool results may vary. Consult a physician if symptoms persist.)

Lum Lumley

I take it you haven't flown Southwest recently.

Dancien Graves

Amen, my standard policy is that if you make me take off my headphones 3 times to hear you talk then I'm going to take off the headphones and glare at you the entire flight.

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virrginia tombola

Caveating this with "I'm not a mom, but I've been told..." benadryl can do wonders for a child in flight. Despite what some think, it's not drugging them to put them out, it's the fact that children are much more prone towards sinus blockage with the pressure changes. Their eustachian tubes are smaller and mucus clogs them more easily.

Aimee Weber

From Kevin Smith's Twitter:

"If the call I just had was legit, a Linda from @SouthwestAir just apologized & said the Pilot DID NOT single me out for Fatty-ejection. Waiting on call back now."

(Note that despite Southwest claiming all day yesterday that they had called him and apologized, this was the first call he actually received.)

Isablan Neva

What has been rather fascinating is the public response I've seen, which is running 50/50 that Kevin Smith should just STFU and lose some weight vs outrage at the continued harassment of people who have some extra to love. You want to see some anti-obesity attitudes, just read the comments sections where ever this kerfuffle has been blogged. People who would never make a judgment on race or even sexual preference seem to feel right comfy in making judgments about people based on their weight. Makes you realize just how prevalent the attitude is in our society.

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SLU: I came for the community. I stayed for the derails.

Aimee Weber

Looking at @southwestair I'm seeing about 90% in favor of Smith, and 10% in favor of SWA.

One problem with comments to media stories is that Southwest has lied on almost every count, including by misrepresenting or not mentioning the fact that Smith actually passed their safety test of being able to buckle the seatbelt (without an extender) and being able to put the arms up and down.

So Smith was pretty much wrongfully ejected. But since the news is reporting that he was indeed too fat to fly, that created sympathy for Southwest.

In the last tweet Smith said he would sign something agreeing not to sue the airline if they released a statement explaining what really happened and corrected their lies.


ADDED: One other thing Southwest had done. They issued a statement that Smith usually purchased two seats when he flew with SWA. Smith is denying this, saying that he had only purchased two seats the previous week. This is a no-win for SWA because it either means the airline is lying, or the airline is telling the truth ... and is publicly releasing personal flight information about one of their customers.

Ayu Sura

lol "twitter is over capacity"

There were some links to so-called "balanced" articles about people "of a size" - wtf is that? And nobody clarifies what that size is. Are you of "that" size if you can fit between the arms and buckle the seat belt, or no?

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"You broke the rules! Now I pull out all your pubic hair!" - Tenacious D

Aimee Weber

LOL Somebody just wrote: "Twitter's fail whale never showed better comic timing ... :-D"


While Smith has been furiously exposing Southwest for how they treat customers ... he's pretty laid back about fans taking shots at his weight. he's rolled with a lot of the jokes and seems pretty cool about it.

Ayu Sura

lol "fail whale"

Lum Lumley

Well, what's his other option? "You're wrong, I'm not fat, ignore the empirical evidence?"

As a "person of size" (gak gak at euphemism) myself, there's usually three ways that work in dealing with the jokes and high school cruelty:

Good-natured jokes: returned in kind.
Edgy "why don't you just quit eating cheetos lardball" online: very rarely does one get this in person. Online, ignore and move on.
Above, but in person: stare silently, with no expression. You'd be surprised how quickly that unnerves people.

Aimee Weber

I knew a guy who did exactly that. Unnerve wasn't the word. Grown men were terrified of him.

Isablan Neva

Aimee, read some of these:

Director Kevin Smith thrown off SW flight - 2/14/10 - Los Angeles-Southern California-LA Breaking News, Weather, Traffic, Sports - abc7.com

Update: The Kevin Smith Southwest Airlines Fat-Flight Tweakout of Epic Proportion - Kevin Smith - Gawker

Kevin Smith Booted from Flight for Being "Too Wide for the Sky" - Today's News: Our Take | TVGuide.com

Lianne Marten

Listening to the podcast, it was amusing and a little silly, but when he gets to what happened on his second flight... I got pissed off. That's just bullshit.

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I hope that whoever you are, you escape this place. I hope that the world turns and that things get better. But what I hope most of all is that you understand what I mean when I tell you that even though I do not know you, and even though I may never meet you, laugh with you, cry with you, or kiss you, I love you. With all my heart, I love you.

-Valerie

Aimee Weber

Yeah, the podcast is ultimately the best source. Unfortunately it's long, and the press doesn't have time to sit there and listen to it. So for the most part, Southwest's statements are what's being reported.

Smith needs to issue a bullet point press statement. That's what motivates the press.

Isablan, those stories repeated some of the errors I've been mentioning. And WTF is up with Defamer?! Check out: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%40SouthwestAir

But most importantly, have a listen to #106: http://www.smodcast.com/

Aimee Weber

I'm just remembering, Southwest was the airline that was nearly booting women off their planes for dressing too "slutty"

Thrown off plane for too-skimpy outfit - TODAY People

Setara Qassim





So maybe Smith should feel flattered!

Dancien Graves

You do realize I just received a mental image of Kevin Smith in that outfit and now I must plot your destruction yes?

Aimee Weber

I would deserve it.

Isablan Neva

Aimee, I wasn't pointing to the stories, I was pointing to the vile level of commentary that went with them.

Aimee Weber

Latest tweet from Smith:

Aimee Weber

Looks like Smith's last word on the subject:

My Boring Ass Life Running out of gas on this subject