Comments for Kellie Parker

Comment on Southwest Fails Kevin Smith and Themselves (Now with Update!) by Karen OBrien

Karen OBrien — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 00:42:33 +0000

Kellie – Thanks for such a thoughtful posting. As a larger girl myself I often cringe at Southwests policies and I wonder when will the madness end? I have been jammed up in planes beside “athletic” men with buldging biceps and shoulders that encroach on others space – yet no one is asking them to buy an extra seat to accomodate their freakishly large shoulders…nor am I intolerant as a passenger. With so many American’s getting larger, it still surprises me the level of intolerance and discrimination that exists.

At any rate I think that Southwest’s handling of the situation (including the post incident response) was very badly handled and demonstrates that they really just don’t get it.

Comment on Southwest Fails Kevin Smith and Themselves (Now with Update!) by Keith Ketover

Keith Ketover — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:00:55 +0000

Well said, Kellie! I’m saddened that 57% of CNN poll respondents currently side with SWA.

Comment on Southwest Fails Kevin Smith and Themselves (Now with Update!) by jenne the niftywench

jenne the niftywench — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 14:36:47 +0000

as always, you ROCK. Thank you for saying things i wish i could and for helping me realize I should not be afraid of saying what i feel. and just your usual amount of awesomeness.

Comment on Southwest Fails Kevin Smith and Themselves (Now with Update!) by ilene hoffman

ilene hoffman — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 07:15:05 +0000

Wonderful and thoughtful piece. Nice to see an advocate for a problem you’ve dealt with in such a stylish manner. Can you tackle the society’s previous and current leper problem, i.e. smoker discrimination?

Thanks!

Comment on Southwest Fails Kevin Smith and Themselves (Now with Update!) by Eileen

Eileen — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 06:04:07 +0000

As another “person of size” I agree with what you have said here. The number of responses to Southwest’s blogs that have said “Thanks for saving us from the fatties” or “just lose some weight” have made me so mad. I almost always have a “skinny” person sitting next to me who sits with their legs wide apart and pressed against mine and with their elbow planted into my side as they use the arm rest. Not sure who decided that I never get the arm rest but the other person always does but it really pisses me off.

I am torn now because I like Southwest because they are convenient (out of Oakland which is just minutes from me) and they have many cheap flight daily to San Diego (a destination I go to). If Jet Blue flew from Oakland to San Diego I would choose them first but I could only get there by flying through Salt Lake City or Phoenix.

Comment on Southwest Fails Kevin Smith and Themselves (Now with Update!) by Kristen McHugh

Kristen McHugh — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 06:03:04 +0000

As I’ve been watching this unfold, waiting to see if Southwest would own up to the fact that they violated their own policy, (step one,) I’ve seen Kevin Smith walking the fine line between personal outrage and something that is flat-out wrong. Southwest’s, “Person of Size,” policy, (and KS is right, they should just call it Too Fat To Fly,) is discriminatory, which you’ve outlined so well, above. What is even more repugnant, is that they’ve either violated their own policy, or needlessly humiliated an individual who just happens to have a high-profile platform to respond from.
Here’s my thing: *If* an airline wants to set size guidelines for the, “Safety and comfort,” of passengers, then they should measure every seat on every plane and draw up a height/weight chart for them. That way, most of us who aren’t skeletal, could tell whether we were signing up for potential humiliation BEFORE we bought a ticket.
You’re also spot on about the way the initial response from SWA devolved into a no-apology apology.
Oh, and I’m a pear, too. The lack of standardization in seats has given me pause, esp on small jets.

Comment on Southwest Fails Kevin Smith and Themselves (Now with Update!) by Roxie

Roxie — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 23:09:45 +0000

Fantastic post. I don’t think you’re wandering at all

Comment on Southwest Fails Kevin Smith and Themselves (Now with Update!) by Rachel Makool

Rachel Makool — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 23:01:50 +0000

Really gutsy Kellie! I applaud you for writing this post and have even more respect for you. Any policy that is ambiguous or only applied occasionally leads to situations like Kevin Smith’s incident. Discrimation can come in all forms to all people. Just depends on the people and/or situation. It’s unfortunate but posts like this help to make people think before they say or do.

Comment on Social Media “Experts” are Killing Us by Matt

Matt — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 22:50:18 +0000

great article..I can honestly claim I’m not a social media expert, I just like stuff and babble about whatever’s on the top of my grey cells. Simple male geek here

Comment on Southwest Fails Kevin Smith and Themselves (Now with Update!) by Steven Fisher

Steven Fisher — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 22:29:29 +0000

Good summary of the situation.

Of course, I wasn’t with Mr. Smith so I can’t say for sure his recap is correct (though I’d bet it is). But

Southwest’s handling of it was just awful. That “Not So Silent Bob” title was a huge red flag, and Southwest really didn’t get any better after that.