A Twitter storm has reportedly erupted over the ejection of an American film director from a Southwest Airlines flight for being too fat.

Published: 17 Feb 2010

A Twitter storm has reportedly erupted over the ejection of an American film director from a Southwest Airlines flight for being too fat.

Kevin Smith, who enjoys more than 1.6 million Twitter followers, took to microblogging his displeasure at twitter.com/ThatKevinSmith.

According to Reuters, Smith has reignited a heated debate about airlines’ treatment of overweight passengers. An angry tirade posted on his Twitter page about the way he was treated by Southwest Airlines last weekend has fueled a wave of protests from some angry passengers while other travellers have stood by the airline's decision.

“If you look like me, you may be ejected from Southwest Air,” wrote Smith, posting a photograph of himself on the plane, puffing out his cheeks.

Southwest’s “Customer of Size” policy requires larger passengers to purchase two seats if they cannot be comfortably accommodated in a single seat. It has been in place for 25 years.

Airlines’ response

Southwest issued an apology to the director via Twitter and its website.

In a statement, the airline said: “We would like to echo our tweets and again offer our heartfelt apologies to you.” It continued: “Our pilots are responsible for the safety and comfort of all customers on the aircraft and therefore, made the determination that Mr Smith needed more than one seat to complete his flight.”

It added it accommodated the director on a later flight, offered him a $100 voucher and apologised by phone.

A statement on the airline’s blog said: “This policy is not unique to Southwest Airlines and it is not a revenue generator... If a customer cannot comfortably lower the armrest and infringes on a portion of another seat, a customer seated adjacent would be very uncomfortable and a timely exit from the aircraft in the event of an emergency might be compromised if we allow a cramped, restricted seating arrangement.”